How to Fit the Factory Punto Active Subwoofer

[Yarde]

Right, firstly, I'm new, so be kind! And secondly, I hope this is in the correct section! So mods, please move if you feel necessary!

Right, the situation, my mate has got one of these subwoofers in his Sporting, and my poverty spec Punto lacks a but of "oomff". So if I can pick one up cheap enough and they're easy to fit, I think I will. Although it might not be the best quality, it's perfect for what I want / need. I know you guys will say its not worth it, but i've thought it through, and this is what i want

I've tried searching about Google and various forums, and came across this

Buy a wiring kit that supports your 100w sub. -- £15 - £20

This includes a Power lead, L/R audio leads (Phono cable), speaker wire, a blue wire to turn your sub on and off and a ground lead.

E.G http://www.nexxia.co.uk/CarInstallaccessories/amplifier_wiring_kit.htm


TUTORIAL
--------------------------
You'll need to connect the power lead to your car battery, need to find a way into the engine from the dash inside the car. Run this lead to the rear of the car alongside the passenger side.

Depending on whether you have an aftermarket stereo or the standard one installed you'll need to hook up the blue wire to the back of the stereo, this tells the SUB to turn on and off when you activate your stereo.
On Aftermarket there should be a wire to connect this to, on Punto stereo you must find a wire that can power on and off (eg. Ignition wire for stereo).

Then depending on stereo - hook up the phono audio leads or speaker wire. You can get Phono audio lead adapters that go no the speaker wires of the stereo on Punto Stereo's.

Both these wires go to the back of car (assuming your sub is here).


At the back you'll need to hook up the ground lead to somewhere like a bolt on your boot somewhere, with good connectivity with car surface.

Hook up all the wires to the subwoofer, (assuming it has an Amplifier on it).
Put FUSE in power lead.

Seems ok, but is there anything I need to know, that "tutorial" is quite old, and I didn't know if time has brought about a cheaper / easier method.

The Headunit i've got is a Kenwood KDC-W3044G

The manual can be found here (PDF File]

According to the manual, it has these connections, so should it be a simple job?

My Punto is a poverty spec one, so its got no rear speakers installed.

I hope I've provided enough information, anything else, just ask.

Thanks in advance

Michael

 

[smokeyjoe03]

Firstly, welcome to the forum

As for your question....The subwoofer out ports on the back of your headunit run to an amp....this is turn is connected to the subwoofer. So your going to need to buy an amp. Using the headunits internal amp won't be sufficient to power the subwoofer. But it will be hard to find an amp to suit such a low power subwoofer.

Its a waste of time (but you knew I was going to say that) With aftermarket headunits its easier and cheaper to buy a sub and amp and wire it up properly, instead of buying fiat branded equipment. Look around for good sub/amp packages and check eBay for decent second hand bargains.

(and for future reference we have an I.C.E, section for questions like this, i'll ask a mod to move it)

 

[Yarde]

Firstly, welcome to the forum

As for your question....The subwoofer out ports on the back of your headunit run to an amp....this is turn is connected to the subwoofer. So your going to need to buy an amp. Using the headunits internal amp won't be sufficient to power the subwoofer. But it will be hard to find an amp to suit such a low power subwoofer.

Its a waste of time (but you knew I was going to say that) With aftermarket headunits its easier and cheaper to buy a sub and amp and wire it up properly, instead of buying fiat branded equipment. Look around for good sub/amp packages and check eBay for decent second hand bargains.

(and for future reference we have an I.C.E, section for questions like this, i'll ask a mod to move it)

Thanks for your reply! One of the reason why I fancied this was because of its size. It hardly takes up any room, and my mate has one in his Sporting, and I think it sounds pretty decent tbh! Good enough for me anyway!

Ok, I'll try and get the right section next time, I didn't know whether to put it in ICE or specific!

cheers

michael

 

[volxstu]

Dont forget smokey that the standard Sub is active so has the amp built in already.

I do agree with smokey that it would actually be a lot easier and cheaper to buy a small aftermarket sub/ amp second hand from ebay etc etc.

But if you are hell bent then who are we too stop you. As far as i am aware you really aught to run the loom to the sub. I believe this is located behind the dash somewhere but you would need to trace it through you mates car and remove it from there to make the job easy peasy.
If you cant do that then you should at least cut off the plug from your mates car as the active sub needs this plug.

The amp inside takes a high level input which is a signal split from the speaker cables coming from the head unit. Not from The RCA (Phono) low level outputs that aftermarket units have.

You will not need an expensive wiring kit as your 100w sub is actually probably less than 30w RMS so only needs a 10 amp fuse at most. If you use the standard loom from your mates car that will do all of the power. If you are making a new loom then you will only need a chepest of cheap power cable. Something like 12 gauge would be more than ample and will only cost a couple of £ from maplins, ebay, or your local ICE retailer. You would only need some auto 16 gauge speaker cable, 1 positive, 1 negative and some kind of remote turn on.

 

[Yarde]

Ok, cheers, Just so you guys know, its not actually coming out of my mates car, i'm just saying that he's got one! I'm going to have a look at his wiring today and then decide.

TBH, I think (well, I know) you guys are right, and I probably should just wait and then buy a proper sub.

Or, tbh, should I upgrade the door speakers (and add in rear speakers) first?

Thanks for all your help so far

 

[volxstu]

Door speakers and amp.. Yes.
Rear speakers No just buy a little sub and you wont need anything in the rear. Its only a little car so do the fronts properly and youl be fine. Better off spreading the budget else where.

 

[Yarde]

suggestions for door speakers then please?! Are they easy enough to do? I'm a proper noob when it comes to this stuff!

 

[volxstu]

These are certainly one of the easiest to install due to the punto having limited space and sound pretty good too.
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/6694.html

No need for rears you have a small cabin so if you do the fronts properly it should travel to the rear well enough.

 

[Liason]

What he said Yarde mate^

I did have a spare bit of cash so i had two 6x9s stealthed in the back, as for the sub I dont have experience with that, but without the right loom you will have a bit of wiring to do, but it should be si ple enough if you manage to get an OEM sub with the neccessary cables still with it.