"Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's" (africantacoman)
07/23/2019 at 03:05 • Filed to: None
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"Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's" (africantacoman)
07/23/2019 at 03:05 • Filed to: None | 0
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Hey yall I’m looking to add an aftermarket subwoofer and a mono-amp to power it to my 1998 Ls400. It has the Nakamichi sound system, which sounds absolutely amazing, but the stock subwoofer died on me and I got a hold of a replacement sony sub for the rear deck. Having an impedance rating of 5ohms makes finding a new quality subwoofer difficult, it has plenty of hit but it is a bit buzzy and id like more low-volume bass.
My question is how to send the sub signal to the amp im going to install. This system only has wiring for the FL, FR, RL, and RR speakers. Instead of a direct signal for the sub, it uses the Nakamichi amplifier to send the high pass signals to the door speakers and the remaining low pass signals to the subwoofer. How do I send that low pass signal to my trunk amplifier for the subwoofer? It seems to me I need to tap into the nakamichi amplifier and not the signal from the headunit, since it doesnt have wiring for the subwoofer integrated into it. I believe I have a full wiring diagram for the system on my computer somewhere that I could post up on here if that helps. Thanks for any suggestions!
Maybe a pic for attention?
Echo51
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 05:18 |
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You have a full level signal out of the headunit, and then the amplifier does high-pass/low-pass filtering between sub/door speakers right? Tap the full signal before amp and hook into after-market amplifier?
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 06:09 |
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no ideas
kanadanmajava1
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 06:42 |
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My colleague is replacing his IS300's stock audio system with some Alpine system. The car had a separate amplifier unit hidden inside the dash. He replaced this amplifier with some
compact
Alpine amplifier. I did see quite detailed shop manual pictures for the amplifier wiring. Maybe your system would have similar wiring and you could find the input wires going to the amplifier?
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 07:50 |
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One of these should be able to tap off that sub feed and provide you with something you can patch into your amp. Then you wire up the amp as you normally would and run a set of rca cables between this module and the amp.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Echo51
07/23/2019 at 08:56 |
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I understand a bit of what you mean, but it doesn’t seem to me that there is just 1 full level signal out of the headunit. I’ll attach a wiring diagram for a 2000 Nakamichi LS400 (exactly the same as the 1998) the diagram shows the subwoofer at the bottom right and the door speaker signal wires on the left. Theres just a + and - for each door speaker and a SGND , which I assume is signal ground. Enlighten me if it makes sense to you . This is all new lingo to me.
It seems to me I would need to bypass or splice into a set of the signal wires that go to 1 of the door speakers and wire that signal to the aftermarket amp, and then set the amp up to do a low-pass filter and just pull the low bass signal out of the mix. That seems a bit janky though and I may lose the sound to one of my door speakers or weaken it’s output from splicing the signal off of it.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 09:02 |
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Little update, I got a wiring diagram for a 2000 Nakamichi system, identical to mine. Also an excerpt from a lexusownersclub forum about this specific scenario but it doesn’t make 100% sense to me.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 09:03 |
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/23/2019 at 09:06 |
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I’ll definitely be using one of these, I’m just not sure yet where to tap into to get the feed for the sub. I attached a wiring diagram and an excerpt about this scenario from lexusownersclub but none of it makes it clear to me how to get the signal from the headunit to my aftermarket amp. Appreciate the tip!
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 09:43 |
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I assume the sub is in the parcel shelf into the trunk, so you find where it goes to the current sub and use those wires.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/23/2019 at 11:04 |
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Is it actually that simple?? Is it because in my system, the subwoofer signal is being sent from the amplifier and not all the way up in the headunit? Everything ive read requires that you splice into the speaker outputs from your headunit and wire them back to the subwoofer. But I assume that since the amp in my car handles the sub output, I can just wire the amp im adding straight to the existing 2 wires for my shelf subwoofer? If so that makes this really ridiculously easy, the only wiring I need to run it up to the battery for the 12v power source.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> kanadanmajava1
07/23/2019 at 11:08 |
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The nakamichi system in my car is rather different from basically any other system ive dealt with. Ive installed headunits in Acura's and my girlfriends ES300 but they were dead simple with outputs for every speaker and a signal wire for the stock amplifier. I am not replacing my stock amplifier, it sounds fantastic and I like the nakamichi name lol
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 11:46 |
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It’s that simple. Those high level converters are made for that specifically.They typically have an adjustment screw in them as well to allow you to balance the signal going to the amp via the module. You should only have to tap up front for your amp power( right off the battery) and your remote sensing power, the (switched power to power on your amp when the stereo is powered up) that wire you will possibly need a wiring diagram.
You’ll pull the feeds for the sub from the sub speaker wires and the ground for tbt amp can just go to the car body in the trunk with a sheet metal screw. You will probably only use one of the sides of the speaker module converter, because you are using the sub mono input. But I think you can combine the wires for each channel and hook them up to speaker output if you want to power both channels for the module. So then you can run two rca cables to the amp, if necessary.
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 11:51 |
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The top one is the speaker wires you want to tap into, and the bottom are the wires you can tap to run to the amp to tell it to power up.
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> Echo51
07/23/2019 at 11:57 |
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It looks like there is no sub input into the amp, the amp pulls that signal out internally and outputs a signal to the sub.
My Chrysler Sebring was similar meaning, I had four channels Into a factory amp, but got 6 channels out, the front signal was split into a larger door speaker and a dash tweeter. So the amp split the signal internally.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/23/2019 at 13:26 |
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Thank you so much, I think I have a very good understanding for a simple install. I suppose this method is what “pre-amp” refers t o, so ill just need to adjust the mono-amp to a level that provides clean sound from the sub. I like that I only need to deal with like 3 wires, and ive even seen amps that will use the subwoofer input signal as a source signal to turn them on, instead of running a wire all the way up to the headunit. Ill post and update when I get some goodies ordered and installed next week.
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 14:08 |
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Sounds good. The hardest part for me was always running the power wire to the trunk. I don’t miss those days....
Reminds me, I need to refresh my stereo in my Dakota.... I’ve got about 800 watts between tbt sub amp and the main amp going to some old ass kicker components and a RF 12”. It used to sound nice, but the more modern OEM stereos have spoiled me, and now it sounds subpar in comparison.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/23/2019 at 15:19 |
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I ha ve a pretty good idea of how to run the power cable and keep it hidden. The door kick panels are easy to remove and theres several grometted-holes in the firewall to pass through.
Whats great is that modern tech has made quality audio components wayy cheaper with good performance. $400 amps are completely unecessary, component speakers are $50 a pair for decent stuff. Its all gotten so much cheaper and so much better quality.
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> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 15:31 |
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That’s for sure. Definitely not as costly as it once was.
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Echo51
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 17:19 |
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Shouldn’t weaken it to splice of. You’ll need either an amplifier with hi-level input or a hi-low converter to make it into a low-level(RCA plugs) signal for the amplifier, if the door speakers get the full range signal.
Yes set low-pass on the amp.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Echo51
07/23/2019 at 18:24 |
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So get an amp with hi-lev el input, and the option for a low-pass filter? It seems most on the market have hi and low level input and variable low-pass filters so I should be good
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 19:10 |
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Since you seem to know your stuff, my research tells me that high-level input is the same as speaker level input. Would this alpine mrv-m500 fit the bill? Ive got a friend at best buy who can get it for me for at-cost price so decently cheap.
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Echo51
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
07/23/2019 at 19:14 |
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yes, High/speaker level is the same. That alpine should do plenty fine for adding a bit of thump :) From your description it sounds like the OEM amp piggybacks off the speaker-level signal from the rear speakers already, so no reason you doing the same shouldn’t work aswell.
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Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Echo51
07/23/2019 at 20:35 |
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Awesome, im not looking for earth shattering bass just a little more at low volume and to get rid of the buzzy subwoofer I currently have. Will post results and thank you very much for the info! I learned a good bit about car audio today