DIY-Adding a Sub/Amp to a BA system via RCA splicing

[SWRocket]

Has anyone replaced the BA amp altogether? I'm going to put in an amp for the front and an amp for the subs, do I just splice into the front and sub lowlevel outs in the same manner as the OP outlined for the subs?

[severianb]

Originally Posted by Bad Karma

Updated with the new picture and wiring diagram link so that it will be connected to the right (low level) signals.

Enjoy all!
Ivan

Great job. This should be a sticky. I'm planning on getting the non-BA base audio system, but I bet all these connectors are there, even if the amp is not.

[babarudy]

i just spent the last month rounding up the supplies needed for the amp and woofer install. thanks to this thread i was able to do it correctly and neatly.i purchased the 1200 watt 4 channel amp(45$) and 10 inch square 1200 watt pyle woofer (40$)from jc whitney the box i made myself, i used 8 gauge wire for power and ground a 80 amp fuse and fuse from west marine (35$) all connections were soldered, the only thing left out of the info was which of the rca shielded audio cable wires is the ground, the answer is........the shielded line is the line you use to attach to the - line before the amp. it works great i got the box demesions form the internet. if i was to do it again i would make the box shorter. other than that. i relied on this thread very much and kept referencing it till i almost new what i was doinghttp://www.camaro5.com/forums/images/smilies/headbang.gif

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Pump it up!!

Found this to be useful for one of my local Camaro guys today....keepin it fresh, saving you some duckets!

Have a great weekend guys,
Ivan @ Southwest Speed

[Topdown]

Why not just get the PAC Adapter and run RCA's without all the cutting/splicing? or if you have the BA system, buy the adapter from ******** and avoid the cutting/splicing?

[2010SLVRBULIT]

just going to use hi/lo converter, for now..j/c whitney still around?..cool.

[Hicompression]

Just use the ******** harness adapter! No cutting, No splicing required. Talk about resurrecting an old thread...

[IMG]http://********.com/images/5g-x3rca.JPG[/IMG]

[JohnnyComeLately]

Great thread. I'd just mention that I'd avoid the V-splice connectors in an automotive environment. Vibration makes the V eventually cut the wire and then you're chasing intermittent drops in signal. When I professionally installed, we pulled those out if a customer brought in a car with one. We either soldered or used butt connectors/crimped.

[JohnnyComeLately]

Question: DId you do anything with the drain wires for the low level inputs? For some reason I'm wanting to say that previously I've grounded drain wires and had interference. Pulled off the drain and the interference cleared. Any way, pulling back the cloth tape it looks like they just fold it back on itself. I guess I could answer this question in the morning by checking resistance between ground and the shield.

I did a Google and found a Cat5 shielded wiki page that said shields (aka drains) should be grounded to properly work, which is what I would normally think...

Just curious what you did.

While I'm thinking about it, did you splice into the ground from the harness and ground at the same spot as the amps? When I used to install car stereo's for a living, I'd run two sets of RCAs from the head back to amps. One I'd use the pigtail for remote on and hte other for grounding the head unit back at the amp. I never had an install come back for engine noise, and I'm wondering if this works wiht a factory head, harness and ground.

[camarofroggy]

Perfect instructions!!!! Did mine today and it took me about 45 minutes from start to finish and it sounds awesome! Thanks for posting!!!!

[IOM Black Diamond]

Thank you for all of the great info

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by JohnnyComeLately

Question: DId you do anything with the drain wires for the low level inputs? For some reason I'm wanting to say that previously I've grounded drain wires and had interference. Pulled off the drain and the interference cleared. Any way, pulling back the cloth tape it looks like they just fold it back on itself. I guess I could answer this question in the morning by checking resistance between ground and the shield.

I did a Google and found a Cat5 shielded wiki page that said shields (aka drains) should be grounded to properly work, which is what I would normally think...

Just curious what you did.

While I'm thinking about it, did you splice into the ground from the harness and ground at the same spot as the amps? When I used to install car stereo's for a living, I'd run two sets of RCAs from the head back to amps. One I'd use the pigtail for remote on and hte other for grounding the head unit back at the amp. I never had an install come back for engine noise, and I'm wondering if this works wiht a factory head, harness and ground.

Uhhhhh....no. Did nothing with "drain wires." LOL

Originally Posted by camarofroggy

Perfect instructions!!!! Did mine today and it took me about 45 minutes from start to finish and it sounds awesome! Thanks for posting!!!!

Originally Posted by DirtNMyTeeth

Thank you for all of the great info

Word! Glad to help.
Ivan

[Jodean]

Super! Worked great!

One Infinity Kappa perfect 12, holy crap this car with one sub sounds like my other cars with two! Amazing, might have to get the second one as well as soon as ******** makes a pass side box......

Grounded my amp back to battery with same 4 gauge wire as POS

[Slomo051]

Murphys law crept in as usual...

Just to make sure I have the splice configuration correct I have the RCA spliced/configured as follows

Tan # 4----right rear (-) low level
Dark Blue # 12----right rear (+) low level
These two together make one RCA jack (RED RCA input)
Brown #5----left rear (-) low level
brown/white #13----left rear (+) low level
These two together make one RCA jack (WHITE RCA input)

Turned on after all was said and done and there was thumping for about 2 minutes then.................FLATLINE.

Indicator on Sony Xplod amp lights up red which indicates "speaker outputs are shorted" and fix that...that is all the manual has for troubleshooting. I continuity checked all splices for opens/shorts, checked grounds and all is good.

I disconected sub speaker wires from amp to isolate that, no help. I left the speaker wires disconnected and then disconnected RCA's from amp and the RED indicator on the amp disapperars...normal indication. I then plugged in one (Red/right channel) RCA jack and immediately indicator went RED again. Unplugged that and tried just the White/left channel and same thing...RED indicator for short condition. Hoping I could isolate down to one set.

Again I visually and meter checked the splices, inspected for nick, gouges, rogue strands and nothing.

At this point I believe my brand new amp just doesn't work or i'm missing something simple...and hoping I didn't fry anything, especially the factory amp but the stereo works perfect still so I should be good there. There were no power surges, i have fuses, etc...I even waited to hook up power till last during install.

I know this was lengthy but wanted to get details of effort out...any tips would be great!!

Thanks