I've got the stock HU on my '02 with a pair of Kenwood 2-ways installed in the rear panels using Lucid's wiring harness. Since I've already tapped out the HU's rear channel feeds, I'm wondering how to connect a subwoofer without losing the rear cabin speakers, which provide some needed fill with the top down. I know that replacing the HU with one that has a dedicated sub output is one answer, and a decent Alpine w/DCI would run at least $400-500. Are there any less expensive options for connecting the sub and a mono amp to my current setup? Thanks.

 

thinking about it...

you could (and i'm not saying this is the best option) always get a 4 channel amp, then send the front signal through a line level converter. split the output RCA (pre-amp) signal in to 2 signals and then use 2 channels to power fronts and bridge the other 2 for a sub. of course, with the OEM front speakers, this will be tricky as the amp will likely overpower the speakers (possibly damaging them). so, you'd probably want to limit the power of the amp to keep the OEM fronts intact, but then that simultaneously limits how much power you can send to the sub...

like i said, not the best solution....

 

An installer at a local audio shop here thinks he can tie directly into the rear speaker leads and feed into an amp like the Alpine MRD-M300, which accepts speaker line level inputs. He said this is doable because of the minimal power needed to feed the input to the subwoofer amp. Does that sound right?

 

If your bass needs are not very loud, you may want to investigate the Acura RSX-S Bose Subwoofer. You can buy one for less than $50 (+ shipping if not from local) and 2 channel LOC for about $10-$15.
I think this is the lowest cost to add some bass, but do not expect a lot from such little money. Also, if you do a search on "Bose Sub" you will find good amount of infos about low cost addition to S2000 Stereo.

This one is the latest about Bose Sub.
forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=191222&highlight=bose+s ubwoofer

 

seriously just sell your 02 hu for 80 bucks and pick up a used hu on ebay for 100. You can use one of those adaptors to keep your dash controls.

 

 

A lot of amps will take rear speaker inputs, and it doesnt really sound much different for a sub, however, If you try to hooik a 4 channel amp up and run the fronts and rears, it would not sound good at all.

 

If you do not like to loose any trunk space, the best place to install a sub in S2000 is in the spare tire and the RSX-S Bose sub will fit perfectly in it. It also has a small power amp, all you need is feed pre-amp signal to it from after market HU, or from an LOC if you keep stock HU, i.e., either front or rear speaker of stock HU are connected to LOC, then outputs of LOC are connected to Bose sub.

 

[QUOTE][size=1]Originally posted by Destiny2002 [/size

 

WLaurent's enclosures are the best option for keeping the spare and wheel well free.
also, remember - the area where the spare actually resides would be free if you ever had to use the spare... so, anything that you put into the wheel well (if sized correctly), could be moved into the spare area in the event of having to use the spare and stow a flat. my amp rack is designed around this principal. Lucid's 10" box is also designed around this principal, thus his 10" enclosure is limited to the space where the spare is stored (5" deep), which is pretty shallow (in terms of sub enclosures), so you may have trouble finding subs to fit in that enclosure.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by papalegate
An installer at a local audio shop here thinks he can tie directly into the rear speaker leads and feed into an amp like the Alpine MRD-M300, which accepts speaker line level inputs.