amp/sub addon to stock 2004 pontiac

[Schumi]

Hello,

I not too long ago bought a 2004 Sunfire GT. It came with the upgraded 200 Watt Monsoon Stereo head unit and speakers with MP3 player and sounds pretty good. However, it just doesn't have as much bass as I would like to have. I am just looking to add a 12inch sub (Rockford) and amp, roughly handling 250 watts or so. Thing is, I don't want to loose the stock head unit. It's a pretty good stereo and I like the info and stuff that GM has in their Pontiac stereos. I have heard that I can add an amp and sub keeping the old head unit, but I will have to purchase some kind of RCA converter as the stock units don't have RCA outputs.

Has anyone any experience hooking up a sub and amp to a stock unit (not necessarly Monsoon) and what is this converter that I hear of? I can't find any info on the net, but I'm probably just searching for the wrong thing.

If anyone can help me out with this, and tell about their experience adding a sub and amp to their existing stereo would be helpful. I don't want to loose my trunk space and I don't need a pounding system to draw attention, just want to add a little more bass to what I already have. To keep trunk space, that is why I'm going with a single 12 inch sub and ported box.

Thanks for your help!

[eire1274]

What you are looking for is a "high to low" signal converter. Essentially, you cut into the wires driving your rear speakers (should be 6x9" on your car) and it "borrows" a small part of the signal to be fed out to low-level RCA before sending the remainder of the sound to the speakers as intended. This kind of device will do nothing to the factory head, but you will not be able to level adjust the subs from the head unit.

I'd recommend a good high-current (Class D or X) single channel amp with a wired remote volume control. There are a lot of good brands out there now that include the remote as part of the amp kit (Hifonics, Audiobahn, Performance Teknique all include the remotes; Alpine, MTX, and some others offer them seperately). You mount the remote where it can be easily reached by the driver.

You may also want to look into the new line of Boston Accoustics subs. They are specifically engineered to get by with very small space requirements. In a sealed box, your average 12" sub needs 1.5 cu feet of space, and the new BAs can get by with .7 without sacrificing efficiency.

Just a little advice from your friendly car audio dude.

[Schumi]

What you are looking for is a "high to low" signal converter. Essentially, you cut into the wires driving your rear speakers (should be 6x9" on your car) and it "borrows" a small part of the signal to be fed out to low-level RCA before sending the remainder of the sound to the speakers as intended. This kind of device will do nothing to the factory head, but you will not be able to level adjust the subs from the head unit.

I'd recommend a good high-current (Class D or X) single channel amp with a wired remote volume control. There are a lot of good brands out there now that include the remote as part of the amp kit (Hifonics, Audiobahn, Performance Teknique all include the remotes; Alpine, MTX, and some others offer them seperately). You mount the remote where it can be easily reached by the driver.

You may also want to look into the new line of Boston Accoustics subs. They are specifically engineered to get by with very small space requirements. In a sealed box, your average 12" sub needs 1.5 cu feet of space, and the new BAs can get by with .7 without sacrificing efficiency.

Just a little advice from your friendly car audio dude.

Thanks for the info. I will keep all of this in mind while I'm doing my searching.

Cheers

[Schumi]

Well this is what I have found out and seems to be the route. I found it the best service, price at G&G Electronics in Scarborough. Actually, same place I have bought all my home stereo equipment. Great service and I know they'll do a great install. Anyhow I have found...

Amp: JBL 75.2 190W - http://www.jbl.com/car/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=GTO75.2&ser=GTS&cat=AMP
Sub: RF P212S4 - http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/products/ez2rockford/ModelInfo/ModelInfo.asp?ItemKey=10063589&CategoryDesc=Punch%20Subwoofers
Box: Q Logic QLH-1.2512 - http://www.qlogic.ws/2003/products/qenclosures_detail.jsp?classID=55&productID=7193

What do you think, any opinions? I heard this sub in the box in the store, but I know it's hard to tell. But it sounded really good, not too over powering, but hits really low also. They did tell me that they usually sound better in the car also since it's such a small space and the sound doesn't disipate as much.