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How to Wire Aftermarket Radio to Factory Amp

260K views 240 replies 64 participants last post by  Ragnarok-504 
#1 · (Edited)
This diagram is ONLY for the SC, EX, and EX-P with the factory double-DIN radio, amplifier, and subwoofer. This is NOT for the DX or LX.

The first picture shows how the radio is basically wired from Honda. The radio puts out a line-level(low-level) signal to the amplifier thru the big black harness. It puts out a mono signal for the subwoofer via the small black harness with white guts. The amplifier then sends the amplified signal out to the speakers and subwoofer. Note the sub is dual voice coil but uses a mono signal.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
To hook up the radio to the factory sub, you will need a male RCA plug to splice into the small black subwoofer harness. The easiest way to do this is take an old RCA cable, cut off an end and strip back the wires. On most cables there is an outer shield which is the negative, and a center conductor which goes to the pin for positive.

The diagram pic shows how an aftermarket radio would be hooked up. Metra makes a harness (70-1725) which allows you to hook the radio's RCA outputs to the facory harness (more on this later). You will also need an antenna adapter.
 

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#30 ·
ok, i have the metra with the RCAS. now, i plug the RCA's into the front and rear inputs, and the speaker wire on the harness that came with my kenwood is not used. then for the sub, i splice a RCA onto it with a splice and plug that into the other set of RCA's?

My 3 rows of RCA inputs are as follows

AV out W-R
Rear/SW W-R
Front W-R

now, with the Metra with the RCA's, does it matter what color goes into red or white? i know that white and grey and purple and green should go in the same rows since they are connected, but im not sure if it matters if "Green goes in red and Purple goes in White" etc.

thanks
 
#3 · (Edited)
For the subwoofer connection, splice the RCA's negative wire to the red with white stripe on the subwoofer harness. Then splice the center (positve) conductor to the red with blue stripe. The pink with black stripe does not get hooked up. Since the signal is mono, you don't have to hook up both channels to the radio output unless you just want to.

Splicing the wires could be done several ways...you could just strip back some of the insulation behind the connector, wrap the RCA's wires around the bare conductor, then solder and tape. Another option would to use t-taps which you can buy at most auto parts stores. T-taps clamp onto the wire and when squeezed with pliers, a small blade pierces the insulation to complete the connection. Another option (not recommended if still under warranty) is to simply clip the black connector off and splice the wires directly.

The Metra harness mentioned earlier makes life so much easier, however any aftermarket wiring harness will do. You will just have to put male RCA plugs on all of the input wires.

If your radio doesn't have RCA outputs, you will have to install a line-level converter on the radio's speaker outputs. This will convert the high-level speaker outputs to line-level to go to the Honda amp.
 
#4 · (Edited)
A good point was brought up in another thread. You could just run the highs off of the radio output and run the sub off the facory amp if you wanted to. Either run new wires to the speaker locations or splice into them at the amp outputs. The amp is located behind the passenger-side kickpanel. See here for the amp's wiring color code.
 

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#5 · (Edited)
Dude, thank god!!! This needs to be stickied...IMMEDIATELY!!! The only thing I would say is that I don't condone the use of t-taps, but to each their own. This should answer a lot of questions in the future, nice job.
 
#6 · (Edited)
What if your speakers are running off your harness and the back of the deck is as follows.
-----------F----R
L---O-----O----O
R---O-----O----O
--AUX IN


Where do I plug my sub into? Or do I need a line level converter?

Thanks
 
#9 ·
You can use either the front or rear rca outputs of the headunit, depends on how you want the sub to fade (if at all) Also, you will not have a sub "volume control" with this set-up. Also, (and BigAl might have the answer) not sure if the factory amp is has a built in crossover or if it was in the stock headunit.
 
#11 ·
My new HU has no RCA's Labeled SUB out. Just RCA's for Aux, speakers and video.

Should I install a line level like bellow and connect the sub as discribed by the OP into the front outputs?
 

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#13 ·
My new HU has no RCA's Labeled SUB out. Just RCA's for Aux, speakers and video.

Should I install a line level like bellow and connect the sub as discribed by the OP into the front outputs?
What model radio do you have? I don't know if the factory amp has a built in crossover so you might have to install one if your radio doesn't have one built-in.
 
#20 ·
I've got an idea...My Pioneer radio has the x-over built in. I will play it with the x-over turned on and then turn it off. If the sub starts playing full-range, then I will know that the amp doesn't have one built in. It's raining right now so give me a few minutes...
 
#21 ·
Okay...aparrently the facory amp does NOT have a built in crossover...or at least it's filtered at such a high frequency that it's useless IMO. After playing around with the crossover settings on my headunit, I think the factory sub sounds best filtered at either 80 or 100 HZ, with 80 Hertz being my choice. If an aftermarket radio doesn't have sub outs, then it would definately sound better with some sort of low-pass filter.
 
#22 ·
With that being said, then OUZO Power may want to consider something like this PAC XOVER
 
#27 · (Edited)


thats my new hifonics amp, i bought for 1 10" sub in the back... i also have a diamond audio amp i will be using for my front door speakers, and the factory sub.

only problem.. the factory sub.. or "factory sub replacement" (kicker 6.5") won't take those really low freq... it hits really hard, but won't rock those low notes.. so im going to be using the subsonic filter..

subsonic filters are basically freq. baselines. for instance. this amp in particular will go down to 15hz. and i can set its low pass (high baseline) to 35hz. thats not much bass to hear. but with the subsonic.. i can raise my lowpass to 100hz, and raise my subsonic to 60hz... and i wont get all those low freq. and really heat up my voice coils on that tiny 6.5'' kicker.

so if your head units don't have EQ's.. you can still get away with using your amps crossovers.
 
#28 ·
Well the good news is I got my sub to work.

- I went and bought a Crossover. Nada
- Tried different configurations. Nada

- Finally I went back to the original setup. Pluged the RCA into the Rear Right RCA Output. TADA

Now I only have to figure out why I have alternator whine when in GPS mode. It has to do with the external GPS HardDrive. Cause when I unplug it the whine goes away.

Thanks for your help guys.
 
#31 ·
Left is white, right is red. I just realized that in my drawing I drew them backwards...ooops. :oops: So whatever the instructions for the metra says, plug the left into white and the right into red.

Up until now I haven't looked up your particular radio but it looks like it has only front and rear OR front and sub outputs, depending on how you set it up in the menu. I think the A/V outputs are only to be hooked up to external devices such as wireless headsets, etc. I don't know if you could use it as a subwoofer output. You may have to wye off of one of the rear channels to run the sub.
 
#32 ·
He might be better off to y-off of the front channels to run the 4 door speakers and use the rear to drive the subs so he can utilize the crossover portion of the headunit. Why don't companies just make them full equipped with F/R/S out, especiall on a head unit like that. WTF :rolleyes:
 
#35 ·
What we're talking about is running the sub off of the Rear/SW output and running the rest with just the front outputs. You will need a couple of 2-Female to 1-Male Y-adapters (looks like a trip to the elecronics store). You will be running all of the Metra RCA's to just the front radio outputs. You will lose fader control from front to rear (which I leave centered, anyways) but you will have control of the subwoofer and it's crossover point :wink:
 
#40 ·
We could make it more complicated and say to use a LOC on the rear speaker outputs to feed the OEM amp a line level signal for rear speakers, use the front rca outputs for the fronts and switch the rears to sub to run the sub :cool: Although I love to have control over the entire system, I am with BigAl, not having front/rear fad control is not as critical as having sub level and xover control. Don't make me drive down to Indiana to install this for you ;)
 
#47 ·
Mine worked just with connecting the right alone.

Do you have sub control? If not your sub will work but but not like it was with the stock radio.
 
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