Newbi needs help with harman kardon e46 stereo want to put and extra amp and sub

[bainsforlife]

hi there, i am totally new to the works so this mite be a bit difficult. the problem i have is i have a lovly 330ci club sport wich has a harman kardon speaker package which i think sounds quite good. But i want to add an extra sub and amp the the OEM stereo, i dont want to upgrade stereo and all of that, i want to tap into the wiring harness and connect 1 mono amp so i can run a sub with out ripping out all the car. if possable i want to do all this at the back of the car. if any body could help i would be rather greatfull. and also im looking for some sort of ipod connection, i have the 6cd changer in the boot which i dont mind losing but once again i want all the connections in the boot i dont want to run lots of wires behind the stereo if possable. any recommendations cheers peeps.

[witeshark]

Moved to audio/electronics.

[da_bull]

to werkz...

The easiest way is to make sure the amp you bought has a high level (i.e. speaker level input). You can then tap off the factory sub speaker wire to feed the input to your amp. A lot of amplifiers use this speaker level input to turn on the amp so you dont have to run a remote turn on wire. If you have to run a remote, you can just tap off the cd changer wire that turns on with the key. Make sure it DOES turn off with the key, because I am thinking there is one wire that stays hot all the time. You will still need to run a fused power wire from the battery. You can ground it in the trunk though. Hope this helps.

[bainsforlife]

so basicly the best way for me to do it from what you guys are sayig, is to connect my new sub and amp the the wiring going to be harman kardon sub on the shelf of the car. If your saying thats the best way, do you know what wire is which? all need is a remote wire and a left/right signl for the amp as its a mono block power amp and would you recomend using a cache audio converter or normal OEM to rca converter because i have a JL audio line driver and i was going to use this. its just some guy in a shop said the are better (the cache audio thing).

cheers

[da_bull]

not sure what the cache piece is but if you have a speaker level to RCA convertor (roughly 20-40 bucks), it'll work. And as far as the polarity of the sub wire it really wont matter, just tie one wire into BOTH positives of your LOC (line out convertor), and tie the other wire to the negatives of your LOC. If you have them backwards at the sub wire connection, you wont really notice it in the polarity of the aftermarket stuff.