eman88

This my current situation: 2006 Honda Accord coupe, stock everything. I plan on keeping the stock door speakers and just adding a subwoofer. I have: Pioneer DEH-p6000 headunit Sundown SAE-1000D amp SSA 10" Icon Subwoofer I had everything hooked up in my xterra, but recently sold that and bought the accord. This is what the radio/climate control area looks like The only adapter I have found is this for ~$150 which I think looks pretty bad. Ignore the lower headunit in that picture. I am thinking about just buying an AUX or Ipod input for music, and staying with the stock headunit. I did some research, and it seems like a line out converter would allow me to hook up my amp and sub. How is the quality with a line out converter vs a quality headunit connected to the amp with RCAs? Are there any line out converters you all would recommend? I I tried to do a search but didn't find much about specific models. Thanks!!!

Just to clarify, can I use that and still power my speakers off the headunit? I will only be adding an amp for a subwoofer.

Stevemead - Are you referring to this item? PAC AOEM-HON20 HONDA ADD AN AMPLIFIER AMP INTEGRATION - eBay (item 170495081395 end time Jul-03-10 18:27:16 PDT) Have you used their products?

Sorry for the confusion, I am trying to avoid adding a headunit since I feel like the install looks bad. I will use a LOC assuming the signal is still good.

I had my sub and box out of my car because I was moving and didn't want to damage it. It was just sitting on a table in my house, and I went to put it back in my car, and the cone is dented. I have no idea whether someone in my house pushed on it or how it happened. Regardless, will this have a impact on how the sub works? I can take a picture later and post it, its about a 3 inch diameter dent on a 10" icon. Also, is there anyway to pop it back out?

Thanks guys, I got the dent out!

Yes, its only the dust cap that's dented, it looks like there might also be crease on the edge of the dent because it is near the edge of the dust cap. if you can gently stick some kind of rod or end of a ratchet through the poll piece and pop it out from the back side of it, thats a quick fix for you. Thanks guys for your advice, I will try that later today!

Yes, its only the dust cap that's dented, it looks like there might also be crease on the edge of the dent because it is near the edge of the dust cap.

Thanks for everyone's help!! My amp is barely getting warm now.

I just hooked up my amp, set my gains, hooked up the sub, and I am getting zero output out of the sub. The sub is an SSA Icon D2 10", wired in parallel to 1ohm. The amp is a Sundown SAE-1000D, bought refurbished from DB-r. Headunit is a Pioneer DEH-P6000D for reference. It is hooked up exactly like this, except I only have one positive and one negative coming from the subwoofer, and they are connected to the positive on the left, and the negative on the left. I played a 50hz test tune, set my volume to 45/60, and adjusted the gain until it was at 30V at the speaker terminals on the amp. (a little below 31.6, figured that would keep me on the safe side) Then I hooked up the sub to the amp, and when I play anything, I'm getting absolutely zero output from the sub. Any suggestions? Another thing to note, after having the amp on for just a few minutes adjusting the gains, it is very hot. I can still hold my hand on it, but just barely. This doesnt seem normal, but this is also my first system. Is something wrong with my amp?

It had a huge signifigance on the heat, what else did you do besides switch out the ground for the amp if nothing(then that should answer your own question for ya). As long as the wire is the same size as the power wire in the amp or bigger your cool. What size power wire did you have compared to the ground wire at first and the ground wire you have now? I ran 4gauge from the battery to the amp, and 4 gauge for the ground on the amp. I didn't change the ground for the amp tonight, that already was 4 gauge. The only thing I changed today was the wire from the frame to the negative battery terminal to 4 gauge. It was pretty small stuff, 8 or 10 gauge maybe, but it was also less than a foot long. It also seemed like there was still paint on the frame where this ground was mounted so I sanded that off. I imagine this was a limiting point in the circuit from the battery to the amp, to the frame, and back to the battery. I was wondering if changing that wire may have had an effect. I'll check on my amp again tomorrow when it is 95+ degrees out, but it seems like it is all good now.

I checked some voltages tonight. With the car on, and system off, It was at 14.1 volts at both the battery and amp. With the car on, and the system at the volume I set the gains at, it was at 13.8 volts at both the battery and amp. With the car off, at the battery, the voltage is 12.7 volts. I checked the resistance on my ground to the amp and it is good. I also replaced the ground wire from the frame to the battery with 4 gauge wire. It was just a short wire, but was pretty thin. My amp seems to not be getting very hot, but I will continue to monitor that. Do you think upgrading that ground had a significant impact on the heat, or is it a coincidence?

Thanks, I was trying to have someone from Sundown see it. Thanks for the information, this is my first amp and sub in my car, and I don't have anything to gauge the temperature against. It just seemed to be high. I will check the voltages tonight and see how that checks out.

Thanks for the heads up. That does make more sense.

Ok I will check that tomorrow night probably. Is there a way to check whether I have a good ground or not? I read about checking the resistance, can I just do that by unhooking the + wire and ground from the amp, and measuring the resistance across these two wires?

Its a 96 honda accord ex, 4cylinder. Stock alternator, I will check on the battery later. I bought the car last May with the current battery, I'm not sure how old it is. Where should I check the voltage?

Well I'm a dumbass, I had the sub wired incorrectly in the box. So everything works now, however, the amp is still getting pretty hot. I can't hold my hand on it for more than ~8seconds. It is 95 degrees out, but I don't think the amp should be getting this hot at all... Is this normal? If not, what should I look into?

I figured it out. I tried to use a battery to make the subwoofer pop out, and it wasnt moving. I took the sub back out of the box and checked each voice coil seperately, and then hooked it all back up again. So i must have had a bad connection or hooked it up improperly in the box. My concern is that the amp is still getting fairly hot. Granted it is 95 degrees out, but after holding my hand on the top of the amp for about 8-10seconds, it starts to burn. I assume this isn't normal?

email sundown and see what they can tell you. The only thing I can think that is making it hot that fast (is a bad ground or your remote turn-on is hooked up to a 12v+ power source instead of a remote or ignition wire). The no sound can be bad rca's, check all your setting on your head-unit. Its either got to be a bad ground(check your headunit and battery) or incorrect remote turn on. Thanks. I posted over in the sundown forum about this. My remote turn-on only shows 12V when the headunit is on, and 0 when its off, so that seems correct. If the voltage at the speaker outputs on the amp change as i adjusted the volume on the headunit, that would indicate that the RCAs are good, right? Do u you have a ipod or a handheld cd player?? Also do u have another rca laying around?? Also do u have a an adapter that takes the rcas ends and turns them into a headphone jack?? So you are saying I should connect my ipod directly to the amp, and see if that works? I have an RCA to headphone jack adapater, I'll go try this now. I can use a battery to test the subwoofer, correct? By attaching the battery directly to the sub, the sub should move, right?

email sundown and see what they can tell you. The only thing I can think that is making it hot that fast (is a bad ground or your remote turn-on is hooked up to a 12v+ power source instead of a remote or ignition wire). The no sound can be bad rca's, check all your setting on your head-unit. Its either got to be a bad ground(check your headunit and battery) or incorrect remote turn on. Thanks. I posted over in the sundown forum about this. My remote turn-on only shows 12V when the headunit is on, and 0 when its off, so that seems correct. If the voltage at the speaker outputs on the amp change as i adjusted the volume on the headunit, that would indicate that the RCAs are good, right?

I posted this over in the electrical forum, and it was suggested I talk to Sundown directly. I just hooked up my amp, set my gains, hooked up the sub, and I am getting zero output out of the sub. The sub is an SSA Icon D2 10", wired in parallel to 1ohm. The amp is a Sundown SAE-1000D, bought refurbished from DB-r. Headunit is a Pioneer DEH-P6000D for reference. It is hooked up exactly like this, except I only have one positive and one negative coming from the subwoofer, and they are connected to the "speaker A" connections. I played a 50hz test tune, set my volume to 45/60, and adjusted the gain until it was at 30V at the speaker terminals on the amp. (a little below 31.6, figured that would keep me on the safe side) Then I hooked up the sub to the amp, and when I play anything, I'm getting absolutely zero output from the sub. Another thing to note, after having the amp on for just a few minutes, it is very hot. I can still hold my hand on it, but just barely. This doesnt seem normal, but this is also my first system. Is something wrong with my amp? I believe my ground is good, I double checked that, i sanded it down to bare metal, and am using my seat belt mounting bolt. I read on the forums to check the resistance of my ground, how can I do this? Is it possible my amp is defective(bought refurbished from DB-r). This is the first time I'm hooking it up. Thanks

I redid the ground, using the seat belt bolt, and made sure I sanded it down to bare metal. I reconnected everything, and set up my gains again. Then i plugged in the sub, and again, no output, and the amp started to get pretty hot, so I turned it all off. Any ideas? Is it possible its a bad amp? I don't know what I could be doing wrong right now. edit* I tried to use the multimeter to check if my ground was good, putting the positive probe from the meter on the cable from the positive side of the battery, and the negative probe on the ground. It reads 12V, but when I try and check the resistance, it doesn't register anything.. Is this still my problem?

Thanks for all your help. To check its a good ground, I can use my multimeter to check for low resistance, correct? Putting the negative probe on the ground, and the positive probe on the cable from the + battery terminal?

Thanks, I will go out and buy a larger ring terminal tomorrow. Would a bad ground explain the no output problem, even though there was voltage at the speaker outputs?

I think my ground might be suspect. To verify if its a good ground, I should be able to put my multimeter to my potential ground, and my cable from the positive battery terminal, and have it read a very low resistance, correct? I grounded it to that thin piece above the black cable. I think maybe I didn't sand off enough paint? When i tried to check it with a multimeter, it said there wasn't a complete circuit. I wanted to ground to my seatbelt bolt, but unfortunately my ring terminal is too small. My ring terminal is probably 3/8 of an inch? It's in the upper middle of this picture. I will look for a better grounding location tomorrow, I looked around for a while but didn't really see anything too good.