heres the deal, i have a factory amp, and supposedly there was subs in the sail panels with 4x6's. the subs are not in the sail panel! if anyone knows where the subs could be anywhere else in the car please tell me! and if it's what i think it is, (someone ripped them out), where are the wires back there that are juiced by the amp??? any help guys?

 

Help us out a little... what IS back where the sail panels are. Someone could've easily removed the subwoofer/4x6 module and put 6x9s in the place...

Also, I don't mean this in an accusatory way, but what tells you that you have the subwoofer? Got the switch in the dash w/ the slider? etc...

As far as the amp goes, if you do have it i'm pretty sure it only is for the subwoofers, and not the rears (someone might need to back me up on this fact, I don't have the diagram in front of me currently). And if it does only amplify the subs, its not much power at all, not worth converting for use w/ an aftermarket head unit.

What are your intentions for your radio system? Do you wish to return it to stock form with upgraded speakers or? etc...

Sorry if I'm answering questions with MORE questions I hope I can help with definite facts for you after your next reply

 

ok, yes i have the gain slider and on/off music note switch, i found the amp in the dash on the passenger side also. In the sail panels, there are some speakers, (i think 4x6's, definately not 6x9). My intentions are to get an original head unit, and get the original(or close) subs that were there. thanks!

 

also i'd like to note that the 4x6's(i think) that are there just don't look like something GM does!(my first thirdgen, not quite sure) haven't found any extra wires either.

 

factory subwoofer system was a rare option.

system consists of a plastic box to replace each of the rear 6x9's & a small amplifier located under the dash. each box has a 4x6 inch speaker & a 5 inch "woofer". speakers in the dash are the standard 4x6's that gm used in all the fbodies of the era.

 

well, theres no woofer there, but there is definately an amp. any suggestions?

 

if you're really gung-ho about restoring it to "stock"-like condition, I'd say look on the web and car audio sites for a decent brand of mid-bass speaker (i think all the major companies make them, at the least i know MTX has a line), and then just run wires from the output of the amp or find the old ones.

 

i had a funny thought just a lil while ago, i was thinking, how far down in the panel is this box??? i took of the panel, noticed it wasn't there, got a lil mad, and tossed the panel back on. is it possible i missed it or would it be in plain view???also if it was hung somehow, could it have fallen???

 

i'd like to add a question here, is it worth restoring back for history purposes? i've had a few people tell me this was a fairly rare option, and that why i was concerned with redoing it. if it doesn't mean jack sh*t, then i wonder if it's worth it. also, how many watts would you say that factory amp is, maybe i could run it back to some 6x9's???

 

the 5" speakers are run off of one channel, they are not stereo. each 5" speaker has the same sound coming out as the other one.

dash mounted amp is physically small. power range is probably somewhere around 10 or 15watts.

you can get better sound in your ride using aftermarket components than you will with the factory stuff.

 

If you enjoy having a better sounding audio system over having the car's originality, then go for it. I never even knew that option existed. It sounds like it is very rare, and if thats the case, I would leave it like it is. Not because it'll make the car more valuable (which it might, not sure) but because you'll be one of the few guys with that option from factory and still have it in the car. Thats just me though. You do what you like best.

 

the module is about as large as the metal panel that the 6x9 is susposed to bolt to, maybe 1' by 2' maximum, most likely smaller. it'd be hard to miss in that tight space. Might wanna check with the regulars on the history/resto board about the actual rarity of the factory subwoofer. as a point of reference, in 5 years of going to junkyards and looking at for-sale f-bodies i've managed to see 3 or 4 cars with that option. In fact, the subwoofer control i have for my aftermarket system is a factory subwoofer switch i found on a wrecked TA with the system.

The power output of the amp is minimal, I'd say don't bother hooking it up to anything and rip it out, unless you go back to "stock" with new sub-spkrs. Be aware that this amp also takes a speaker-level signal from your radio, drops it down to line level, then uses its amp to pump it back up to speaker level again, it tends to cause plenty of distortion if you want to turn it up at all. One of the advantages an aftermarket system would offer is that the radio/cd signal will come out of your head unit at line level and go directly to the new amp.

Sorry if i ramble, its getting late

 

well, the factory head unit isn't present anyways, and i can't find the f'n subs, so i was thinking, could i use the factory switch and gain slider with an aftermarket amp and sub combo??? any suggestions (mild to wild) would be awesome, this is my fun project, so nothing is too crazy and nothing is being overlooked on it. thanks alot!:hail:

 

I have the same option in mine. Unfortunately, the previous owner installed an aftermarket stereo and kind of butchered the wiring. I decided to turn on the factory amp with the gain switch and ended up blowing fuses. I don't know how things got messed up (I hate inhereting junk like this), but I decided to just unplug the connector on the back of the dash switch.

However, the subs were still in place, but he just disconnected them. The subs are little 5-inchers that sit right below the 4x6 in the sail panel. You can't miss them when you pull the sail panel cover off - if you can see the 4x6 and nothing else, they are gone.

I bought a small aftermarket amp and connected it to the pre-outs in the Pioneer deck, then ran new speaker wire to each of the subs. So now the deck powers the dash and rear 4x6s and the amp drives the subs. There isn't a whole lot of bass there, but I have a pretty ****ty deck, and I am not willing to sacrifice the space to install a big subwoofer system. Once I get a new head unit it should make a HUGE difference.

Have fun!

 

Shibby,
I have my subwoofer's level hooked up to the factory gain switch. It works GREAT I was asked about a year ago to provide the details of it, but never got around to posting. I'd like to make up for that, I'll post the wire connections I made to make things work in this post when I get home from school tonight.

 

Ok here we go:

The basic idea is to first convert your 2 (or 1) RCA plugs coming from the back of your head unit to a single wire (and ground), put it through the switch/slider, and convert it back to RCA plugs.

There might be differences with what you want to do and what I did:
-I have a stereo pre-amp output on my head unit, but the slider only supports mono
-This is probably only good for low frequency signals, anything high-frequency will probably pick up some noise when it goes through the slider. Besides, since you can only do it in mono, it wouldn't be worth sacrificing stereo for.
-You can also hook up the sub on/off switch in line to the amp. You'll now have a control for whether or not you want the sub on AT ALL.

Ok, I'll start by going over every wire coming from the switch/slider, and then briefly talk about the RCAs, the rest'll be up to you.

Grey-ParkingLight(+) if you already have this switch in your car, just leave the grey alone, its the positive trigger for the light inside the switch. It'll come on as backlighting to the switch when the dash lights are on, just like the defroster and fog light buttons.

Black-Ground(-) also easy, but we'll also be hooking the ground from the RCAs into this later...

Pink-Amp-on trigger(+) This is commonly the blue lead from the aftermarket head unit, telling the amp in the trunk to turn on when the radio is on. By interupting it w/ the switch, you can turn your bass completely off, for whatever reason you might want. (This has come in handy for me for listening to Opie and Anthony no bass needed for talk).

White-Output to Amp to turn on (+) This is the output of the previous wire, and should continue on to the power-on connection on your amp.

Ok, break for the RCA part.....

All you have to do is connect the RCA's tip to the signal wire and the sleeve to ground. It'd probably be best to get a 4-pack of female RCA connectors from radio shack and attach them with small foot-long leads to the switch, that way you can disconnect the switch in the future easily.

Purple-BassIn (+) Take the tip of the RCA and connect it to this wire. this is the input to the slider. When the slider is all the way up the amp will get the full signal of whatever is coming from this wire. If you have 2 RCAs (left and right) coming from your head unit, you can combine the tips of both the left and right RCAs, as well as tieing all the grounds to black.

Red-BassOut (+) The same as purple, but now the signal is coming out of the switch and going to whatever RCA cable that leads to the signal input of your amp. If you need to run stereo inputs to your amp (even though your signal is now mono anyway), you can split this wire to both the tip of the left and tip of the right with no problem.

Ok that covers every wire and their function. If you have basic car-audio knowledge you probably won't need to read more than the first sentence for each wire before you get the idea

Questions, comments, and opinions welcome I hope this helps at least someone

 

hey Jim 86 Bird, thats a awesome write-up.. did u post that on the audio forum.. im sure the guys there would love to have that.. its defiently something to be considered to be put up on the tech articles..

-mike (loomdog)

- edit - i hope u dont mind, but i posted the write up in the car audio forum..

 

Mike,
thanks nope I don't mind at all if its posted to the audio forum. Like I said I was asked about the install I did almost a year ago, but forgot to take the time to write up everything

 

Here is a pic of the panels, removed from the car..

 

So if i have the slider, and the music note switches, does that mean i had the sub/amps originaly in my car??
-crash

 

dude that post was exactly what i needed! wonderfully detailed, but could i get a lil more info on the RCA wire bussiness? never converted them to neg/positive

 

Ok Shibby I'll try, but someone might have a better explanation.

Warning: Possiblity of Rambling Ahead

Ok take your average RCA connector. Its got a tip in the center, and surrounding it is a metal circle, I guess I'll call this the sleeve for now. The audio signal coming through the RCA cable is carried on the tip. The sleeve carries its reference to ground. The same as a radio, battery, etc, they all need a reference to ground.

Since there's no audio info being carried on the sleeve of ANY of the RCAs involved here, you can tie them all to ground (the black wire since it is right there on the connector anyway)

The signal being carried on the tip is what we're controlling the volume of (or gain to be more precise). So that has to be connected to the input to the slider, and the output of the slider gets connected in the same manner to the new set of RCA cables going out.

Also, for just about any RCA cable, inside the cable itself, the wire surrounding the center tube is the sleeve connection, and the wire contained inside the center tube is the tip connection.

If you have 2 (red & white, right & left, whatever you wanna call em) RCAs coming out of your head unit, the TIP of each one has to be tied together.

Be aware that instead of having a stereo signal, you'd now have only mono. But, since this is being used for a sub, it shouldn't be a problem. OPINION: If you're running two subwoofers off of an amp and you want them stereo, IMO its better to just make them mono, its REALLY hard to get good stereo separation at bass frequencies.

 

sorry if this sounds rude but i should have been specific, i meant how exactly to physically connect the tips of the rca's. how could you connect the tip and sleeve? tape wire to them or something? this is something i can't figure out, and it's good you posted the thoery on it, cause i might know it but everyone doesn't! it's all for the good of the whle i guess. thanks for the help.

 

Ok, first off you're not connecting the tips of the RCAs to other tips, you're plugging them into female RCA sockets that accept male RCA plugs.

On the back of your head unit are Female RCA jacks. You're going to need some typical male-to-male RCA cables to extend up to the subwoofer switch....

once you're in the area of the switch, use female RCA connectors (buy a pack of 4 from radioshack) with open connections on them. One connection should make its way to the tip, and one to the sleeve. (you should be able to see where each one goes by close inspection.)

from the female connectors, attach wires for the tip and sleeve, and run them to the signal input and ground (respectively).

The process is the exact opposite for the output signal, which comes out as a wire and needs to be converted back to an RCA jack. This is where you use the other 2 female RCA sockets.

Like I said I'm a little sketchy on HOW to explain the RCA part to you, but the basic idea is that you're making an adaptor to go between the first set of RCAs and the second. Part of that adaptor is the female RCA sockets that the RCA plugs (male) can easily plug into (and can also be dis-connected quickly)

hope that helps some more, keep the questions coming, althought i'm running out of ways to describe the RCA part

 

ok man i fully understand what your saying now. i wasn't aware they sold RCA adapters to change into regular neg/positive connections, but i am now! ok i'm ready to go on this now! thanks for your help, it'll brighten my whole interior up!