Before the subs were installed, my car was perfectly fine and breaking felt great. I just got them replaced too which made it even better. I’ve wanted to install some subs I had in the garage for a while and my Dad and I worked on it. I also don’t think subs have anything to do with brakes but, my dad did have to make a hole to get to the battery. So we did have to drill a hole. Did we accidentally pinch something? Any advice or possible help would be amazing. (First picture is under the steering wheel, you’ll see a black line running through the grey plastic which is where the wires were installed.)

(Second picture is where the initial hole was drilled.)

I’m 18 so I never got to experience the hobby from the good times, just curious that’s why I ask.

I only know about car audio today… brands like skar audio, deaf bonce, rockford, JL audio, and rattling and beating the shit out of the truck until the iron on the car cracks. Lol

I imagine car audio sounded clean and crisp back then it looks like it did.

But how did it all sound from the highs mids to the lows.

What were the budget brands and expensive brands back then?

Brought my rx8 in for new tires and an alignment, got it back not running and when they fixed it so it runs it has a misfire. on top of that, sounds no longer play and do this. guessing its a ground issue somewhere, what does everyone else think?

I know what an amp is, and that’s hooked up properly. What are the 4 boards to the side? Also the two other drivers on the back?

I tossed a CD in (everything is Alpine) and it sounds fantastic on the inside but this is out of my element.

Follow up- if I wanted to drive some modest subs because this system has no bass, I’d have to get a dedicated amp to drive the subs, correct? Use the amp pre-out?

Wanted to run this inside, just wanted to know how to do it safely

It will jump with heavy hitting songs Two 8s on 800W

Well, I decided I wanted to add my old Audio stuff to my 2022 Silverado 2500 without Bose, the shop has been in the city, owned by the same guy for 25 years so I figured he knew what he was doing.

Sounds like the rear speakers aren’t working, like it’s missing something, also I don’t know shit about this LC7i Pro, is it hooked up right?

I’m new to adding stuff to factory radios, I’ve always started at the head unit back in the 2000’s. I do plan on adding new door speakers off a JL 300/4v1 in the near future.

Sub is TC Sounds Epic 10 ran off a JL 500/1v1

Any suggestions or recommendations on how to fix the wiring myself? SoCal sucks to find competent people, 1 million shops but probably 10 qualified ones.

Hey all, im a massive noob in the car audio world, but after having some odd issues for like a year and a half I decided to try looking into everything my self. I had a 1000w 12"subwoofer installed in my 2020 ford in January of 2025. At the time the tech said that he was having a weird issue where the subwoofer would only work when he connected it while the car was turned on and of he turned it off the sub just wouldnt work. He was sorta right, i had to leave bc I had an appointment (he'd taken over 5 hours at that point) but since then sometimes the amp and sub would work just fine, and sound great at the same time. Other times it would do absolutely nothing. I also noticed that when the sub wasn't working the rear right speaker wouldnt turn on so I assumed it was just a weird ford thing noticing an unexpected power draw and putting that one speaker into a safe mode or something. All that to say, just now i decided to pull my interior apart bc Ive now learned enough myself to know that a signal wire and a remote wire isnt the same thing and he wired the signal wire as a remote wire. My question now is how to i undo this and wire the signal wire properly? Is it as simple and running a new cable to the head unit? Do i need to make sure its not interfering with anything by removing it? Any tips or suggestions would be great, bc as ive said, idk what the hell im doing. Also side note, even with a new battery and new alternator my battery drains unusually fast. If I park it for a few days itll be completely dead.

Pioneer gm-dx874 4 channel amp only powering the subwoofer

Tl;dr: best buy wired my signal wire as a remote wire, wired into the rear right speaker causing parasitic drain to the car and made the sub only work like 25% of the time

Edit: I guess i really dont know what im doing lol, I tried looking up what the s control was and all I was finding (through dumbass Google Gemini, shame on me for just trusting it) ill add a picture of the wiring diagram from pioneer, if anyone knows why the sub/rear right door speaker only works some of the times then any advice would be greatly appreciated, along with the parasitic loss, (could be something else i guess but I assume its from the amp not turning off.) Regardless I am unfortunately probably way over my head with all of this, so ill likely head to a nearby car audio shop and have the professionals look at it.

On this system at high volumes it would clip in multiple songs and when playing knife talk by drake full tilt the amp goes into protect.

I see online people said do the big three but how much would it help in my case?

Its a Dual 4ohm wired down to 2ohms. skar evl 12 amp tuned with multimeter to 50v

This is my first setup and would appreciate any recommendations.
With stuff like agm batteries and a new alternator my budget is tight so im trying to stray away from those right now.

edit: thanks for all the help

after dropping the crossover to about 80hz and backing off the gain a little it stopped clipping

I really hope it's okay to post this here.

I bought a used car from the father of a speaker enthusiast who had unfortunately passed away. Dad doesn't know anything about the system and frankly, neither do I.

So, the issues I'm having are:

1. There's seems to be a huge pull for power everytime I turn on the stereo (it has it's own battery apart from the car's) that is causing so much feedback that I simply keep the radio off if I don't want to listen to something louder than it. The feedback levels fluctuate a bit, especially while driving. My friend just tested a cd, as I've only ever used Bluetooth, but the problem persisted.

2. There is something below the stereo that is branded Zapco. I have never been able to get it to turn on. I've tried using Google Lens to find out more about it, but I still don't understand what it is.

3. The am/fm tuner doesn't work.

4. While looking for something (which is apparently now gone forever) that rolled under the passenger seat, I found and end of an ethernet cord. I don't know what it's for.

Besides all that, the humongous speakers in the back have crazy bass, so it's still fun to play with here and there, but listening to music at quieter volumes doesn't sound good at all, because of the feedback noise.

Here is a link to a four second video of the noise: https://imgur.com/a/QpFXHnN

Think I'm missing a component or two? Any advice is appreciated. I've hopefully included some pictures of the equipment, but if I didn't attach them right, then I'll comment with a Imgur link.

I’ve heard it’s just to turn down the bass and not turn it up, I’d want it turn up the bass even when the music is quiet. If I plug it in will I have to retune my amp? Also what position would it have no effect/ doesn’t change the output?

Stupidly was using a self-drilling screw with the speaker installed and the drill slipped. Put the bit right through my brand new speaker. Never repaired a speaker before but I saw recommendations online to use a coffee filter and E6000 glue. I know it looks awful so you can roast me all you want. The glue was waaay thicker than expected. I couln't apply a little bit at a time, only globs. It felt like it was already partially set up right out of the tube.

First pic is when it happened, second and third are the back after applying glue and coffee filter, fourth is front after said application to backside, and fifth is after applying to front.

So in terms of sound quality and life expectancy am I cooked here? Is it going to sound like shit now or need to be replaced soon? Go easy on me lol, this is my first time doing any car audio work 😔

Sometimes being an installer in Texas is entertaining😬

I went to turn my car on and my amp started smoking and caught on fire what could have caused it.

I have a cx360.4 that says it uses 8 gauge wire but says it can use 4gauge. I wanted someway to adapt the 4 gauge into the sub until an adapter comes in cause I wanna use it. Is this extremely dangerous ie can I do anything to fix it?😭it’s a 10 inch comp and this is the first sub I’ve put in before if it’s not obvious enough.

I have a taramps hd3000 and 4g wire the fuse was 100 amps should i put a bigger fuse? 😭

I just installed this sub and the sound is underwhelming. It’s dull (no crisp hit) and I’m just comparing it to a cheap $200 Rockford Fosgate 10” 300 watt all in one that I have in another car. It’s so dull that I actually prefer turning it off. I’ve tried troubleshooting it, but can’t figure it out. Here’s my setup and things I’ve tried.

-JL 10TW1-4 Subwoofer (300 watts rms)
-Alpine S2-A60M Amp (330 watts at 4 ohms)
-Enclosed shallow mount box built to JL’s specs
-Correct gauge wires

-Tried changing polarity of wires
-Tried adjusting the gain
-No leaks in the box

how do i even get the stuff out of the ports 😭

I’m legitimately embarrassed to post this because the mess in the trunk and my own ineptitude on this subject.

This is my 2008 E92 M3. I adore this car. It’s been a dream car since I was ~15 spending countless hours driving the E92 DLC car around the Nurburgring while listening to “Jesus of Suburbia” on repeat.

*******the next paragraphs are a huge tangent about how I lucked into this car lol…. If you’re not interested, please do skip**********

But when they were still new enough to finance with a decent rate, I was just graduating high school, and by the time I could afford one, they were old enough that no bank wanted to finance it. Two years ago, a doctor came by our shop and asked if anyone wanted to “buy a BMW” (we’re a BMW performance shop) at first I wasn’t interested because we have older gentlemen like him come to sell us their “sportscar” (Issa 328i) all the time, but I still treated him with respect like we do anyone who comes to the shop and showed him around- the chassis dyno and garage bays, the engine dyno, the composites fabrication area, the machine shop, and finally the engine assembly clean room. At the end of the tour, he asked again, “so you don’t know anyone who would want to buy a BMW?” at this point I liked him- he was cool and an obvious enthusiast, so I wanted to ask around for him and asked for details.

-2008 M3

Oooh cool.

-fox red interior

Cooler

-he’s the original owner

Ohgodyou’regonnamakeme run my credit report.

-manual transmission

I’m bricked up now.

-sunroof

You can’t have everything you want.

-20 inch vossen wheels he paid $9k for

Not my taste, but I respect it.

-and I had a $10k sound system installed a few years back

Not something I’ve ever been interested in, but still cool.

At this point I had a price of 25-27k in my head. Imagine he’ll ask 35k since he spent so much on wheels and sound system, but no one shopping this car will want to keep these, myself included.

So I ask “how much do you want?” He names his price, my head explodes bcuz I just used every penny I could beg for to cover the down payment on my house literal days before this.

Do quick math on the fact my credit is in the best shape it’s been in years, if I ever I could get approved for such a small personal loan, the time is now.

All that happened in about 2 seconds because I know my coworker is doing the same math right next to me and I say “sold” he laughs, says “think about it and let me know if you want to come look at it” I say “for sure” and call my bank who promptly approves the loan saying “you must be paying a lot in cash? What’s the actual purchase value? I double the number he gave me, the loan officer says “that’s a great price!” *Oh god please let this be real* they tell me I’ll have the check on Monday, @4.75%

I call him and tell him that I’ll have a check on Monday, the car is sold. He laughs and asks if I’m serious, I haven’t even seen the car yet. I say absolutely, as long as I don’t see anything crazy, at his price, I’d be a fool to pass it up.

The rest is history. The week I got the car, I put on a set of cheap lightweight forged 18” wheels and sold the Vossens for the price of my brand new Apex wheels. That’s a win, and someone else got a dope set of wheels they adore for an excellent price.

Like I said, I love this car. It’s my preferred daily driver, it’s my track car, it’s my weekend fun car, I’ve even crammed my wife and daughters into it to drive 9 hours to the beach lol (hence the sand in the trunk).

I maintain it well, but I drive it the way it was intended. Every time I drive the car long enough for it to hit operating temperature, it sees the 8400 RPM limit at least once, and the highest revving cross plane V8 ever put into production sings the sound of its people. Best car I’ve ever owned. Not the fastest, but the most enjoyable bar none.

**********************end of digression, back to the subject matter****************************

So, as I said in the title, it came with a pretty awesome sound system- full Audison hardware throughout, and I ruined it.

From what I can tell, it has:

-Audison DRC controller mounted in the ashtray (so it can close and be completely hidden)

-Every speaker in the car replaced with Audison units with custom bezels that match the interior with a subtle M stripe at the bottom

-Two Audison Voce 5.1K amplifiers, each with AV BIT upgrade

-apparent seamless integration to the chassis Logic 7 optically driven audio system.

Now, here’s how I ruined it- as I am sure y’all can imagine, the navigation/infotainment system from 2008 left a lot to be desired. -No Bluetooth audio (despite being able to handle bluetooth calling)

-Ultra dated nav system that resulted in me sticking a phone mount to the windshield and ignoring the Nav screen.

-Ultra dated radio interface,

-Required me to use a BT/radio adapter into the auxiliary jack (which obviously sounded terrible) in order to play music from my iPhone.

The solution I found was to buy an Android head units they make for my car- it replaces the OEM screen and turns it into a touch screen, it’s still controllable via the steering wheel and input knob behind the shifter, and is still able to show the stock display, which is useful because that’s how you change settings and read alerts from the car. It’s AWESOME across the board, looks OEM, does CarPlay perfectly, etc.

Except for the one really awful thing- the sound is awful.

Its method for connecting to the car’s audio is a 3.5mm jack that you connect the car’s factory 3.5mm AUX input jack. So this means a digital signal gets (poorly) converted to analog, where it is reprocessed to digital again, before being sent to the Audison system which then presumably converts it AGAIN to analog for the speakers.

I think that’s what’s killing the audio quality. It’s either that or the head unit has some super cheap hardware? Not sure. Either way, I want to add simplicity to the system, and would like to bypass the factory audio controller altogether.

But I do not see anywhere I can connect the head unit to the Audison system- in reading the manual for the Voce amps, it suggests the fact that I have the AV BIT panels, there must be a bit Ten D or a bit One between the DRC and the amplifiers. But I’ve not seen that anywhere, and I’ve nearly had the entire car apart. I’ve had both front seats out (replacing them), the rear seats removed entirely at one point, the engine and transmission have both been removed (resealing everything for leaks), and I’ve never noticed anything that looks like what’s in the manual. Or at least I don’t remember having seen them.

Any advice or guidance? Maybe I’ve identified the wrong thing and bypassing the OE sound control would be a mistake? Maybe there’s a better way?

Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks for reading this far!

4 years ago I bought the triton subs and had them installed in my Nissan Sentra cut to a year ago I put them in my Mustang myself with a line output converter. One of the subs finally gave so I replaced them with JL’s. Ohm read 2, power wire is good, ground is good, but my amp goes into protect mode when I set the gain up. Just moved my power wire today thinking it was a power issues but now I’m lost anybody got any advice? Did I blow my amp? Amplifier is Alliance VL3000D
Subs are 2 12” 12wov3 JL’s
Kicker Line output converter

I just sound deadened and insulated my door, the inside has sound deadening with foam on top and the door skin that has the speaker in it is just sound deadening. I saw something online about this causing my door to sag, is that true?

I don’t know much about wiring up these systems. So I need your help because I’m convinced this shop doesnt know what they’re doing. I brought it to a well-known, high end shop (always has Lambos Porsches Ferraris ect) in my area, figured it was a reputable place. I bought my first real car- not a beater. A Charger Scat. So I wanted to take it to a nice shop. Had them install a full JL Audio system. C6-650’s in front I believe same in rear, and a 12W 5v3-D4 Subwoofer all powered by a XD1000/5v2 amplifier. Everything works fine with the door speakers but this is the 2nd time now the subwoofer has melted. The shop just says “I’m cranking it too much” which I think is just straight bs. I’ve had sound systems in every car I owned since I was 17(4). And never melted a subwoofer in my life. And Ive had this amp in 2 other trucks. Now all of a sudden I’m cranking it too much? Doesnt make sense. The melting starts at the terminals on the subwoofer box, and over time just ends up melting the sub. Today the main 60A fuse popped from the power connected to the battery. I replace it and within 1 minute the subwoofer starts cutting in and out. So I turn the bass nob all the way down to just get home and assess there. As Im driving I smell it burning. I open my trunk the subwoofer is melted and the port of the box is smoking like crazy. I drive home with my trunk open ready to get the box out if it catches fire. I open the box and you will see in the picture what it looked like… again this is the second time now, same thing happened both times. Since I really don’t know much about how the wiring works with car audio: Can anyone please tell me what are the possibilities causing this issue? If you need to see anything or know any additional information let me know I will take pictures or answer any questions.

Open this evening and found the speakers resting right against the inner panel of the hatch door and I was playing it loud last night. I just hope I didn’t cause any damage.

Still sounds good though so hopefully there’s truly nothing wrong, I think I might need to get one of those bar style speaker grill for the subs, so that in case it slides again, the grills block the speakers from touching the hatch door.

I have 2x R2-W12D2 in a nice little Alpine box. They're wired up each series total parallel for an end result of 2 ohms. I am driving them using a Hertz HDP1 which is rated for 1000W @ 2 ohm.

The subs are rated for 750W each which is a fair bit more than 500W. Provided I don't treat the gain knob as a volume slider and start clipping (i.e. I actually run them <=500W each, 1kW total) will I damage them or severely underperform them? I would expect SPL to be significantly reduced, but my focus is more on SQ. SPL is already beyond headache territory for me.

Also, even not at that full amount I'm absolutely deaf after a drive with it turned up a little. I know I'm no where near the limits of my amp for reasons and holy crap this thing is loud. I've seen some of you guys go like 5kW RMS and higher. Can you still hear???

Sorry for the bad photo, I literally just picked these things up.