Not exactly audio, but relevant (re: Door Sills/Wiring)

[Ufgt]

Hello,

I have recently purchased a new sub for my 2002 Mazda Protege, and in order to create that clean look, I want to run the wiring beneath the door trim. What is the most effective way of removing the door sills without damaging them?

Also, I guess the secondary question is... where can I get aftermarket door sills for the 2002 protege? I can't seem to find any vehicle specific ones, so I think I'm stuck with universal ones that I will need to mod.

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[tweety2300]

They just pop up

 

[Ufgt]

They just pop up

So it's safe to just pull them straight up? There's no plastic locks or tabs to worry about breaking?

 

[tweety2300]

There are but they won't break if your not rough with them

 

[bfowler]

try and keep "front to back" pressure on them, rather then "left to right" when pulling them up and the will be fine

 

[Ufgt]

Thanks for all the responses, I will give it a shot in the next couple days since my powered sub came in today!

Also, another noobish question...

I bought the Sound Ordnance B-8PT powered sub, and there are 2 power options: Auto Mode and Remote Wire. What's better? The auto mode turnes the sub on where it detects a line level signal, and the remote mode requires me to wire the remote turn on lead from the sub to the head unit. Does it matter how it gets power? Is one mode better than the other? If there's not difference, I will probably not bother with the remote mode... less for me to do lol.

 

[chuyler1]

With the remote wire option, you will be certain the sub turns on when the radio turns on. With the auto mode, there could be times where the sub turns off because the signal is weak. If the sub takes second to turn back on you could experience intermittent bass. It really depends on the type of music you listen to and at what volume. It's pretty much guaranteed you won't have an issue if you listen to your music at loud volumes all the time. Another risk is that the subwoofer doesn't turn off properly. If it doesn't turn off when the car is off it could quickly drain your battery.

Keep in mind, the remote wire is just for telling the powered sub to turn on/off. It does not carry the main power supply to the sub. You should have a separate fused power cable going to your battery for that.

 

[Ufgt]

This ended up becoming a non issue as the crutchfield tech told me that if I use RCA to connect my HU to my sub, the auto option won't work. So I ended up having to wire the remote wire anyways.

 

[rsvinylgraphics]

How does it sound?

 

[tweety2300]

Link to sub you bought? Also how would you get sound to the sub without RCA cables?

 

[rsvinylgraphics]

Link to sub you bought?

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_777B8PT/Sound-Ordnance-B-8PT.html

 

[chuyler1]

Link to sub you bought? Also how would you get sound to the sub without RCA cables?

the sub likely has speaker level inputs in addition to RCA inputs. The auto mode probably only works with the speaker level inputs.

 

[Ufgt]

Whoa, I actually got it all working tonight! I had a blown fuse at the inline holder, just replaced it with a new 30 amp and I was set! Super sweet.

So for this sub, there are high level speaker inputs as well as RCA inputs. The auto mode only works when you connect the HU and the sub via high level inputs. I didn't do it this way because my aftermarket HU has RCA outs (like most aftermarket HUs). When you use RCA to connect the HU and sub, you MUST connect the remote turn on wire as well otherwise the system won't know when to turn on. So with RCAs, you have to set the sub to remote mode.

I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Gives that extra punch without busting my windows or taking up any extra space. It fit right under the driver side seat with the air vent going over it. Not sure if ideal, especially in winter time, but I will have to wait and see.

Thanks for everyone's help with my install!