Hello all,
first off it may say that i am a newbie because i havn't posted, but really i havn't found the need to post as i find the search function answers all my questions and i have learned a ton !
soooo hello all this is my first post !

Now i want to hook up and amp and 2 10's to my P5 via the stock deck for security purposes
my amp has speaker level inputs so i will use that for the source

now, my P5 is leased and i don't even know if i can mess around with the audio system ?? (anyone else in the same situation)
i am just going to do it anyways but i do not want to start cutting wires

now you can see where i'm going with this is there any way i can get a signal from the speakers for the high level input conection without cutting into the speaker wires for my signal ??? . . . . same goes for my remote turn-on wire into the ignition wire behind the head unit

any help would be greatly appreciated, or any ideas for this situation i am in, thanks again

Alex

 

you ask the right question at the right time....

I am not leasing...but doing nearly the exact same thing.....

here is what you can do.....you need to buy a wiring harness that would allow you to put a stock deck in a differnt car (has the plug on it that goes into the stock deck) AND you need a wiring harness to use an AFTERMARKED deck in OUR car...thus it has a plug on it that goes into our cars harness....

then what you do is connect the two back to back so its like an extension...but you do NOT connect the speakerwires together....the harness that plugs into the deck...those speaker wires are your INPUTS to the amp...and then you route the OUTPUT wires from the amp back and hook them up to the side of the harness going into the cars harness.....you can also tap the auxiliarry power wire for the TURN ON feature of your amp...

here are the part numbers for the METRA wiring harnesses

71-7901
70-7901

I am TOLD that the scosche numbers are

MA03 and MA03R.

NOW....at a later date if or when you want to remove all your equipment...you simply unplug the adapter you just made from your stock head unit...and from the cars harness...plug the cars harness back into the head unit and presto chango....your done and no one is the wiser.

 

Thanks for the info. SirNuke i understand what you are saying to do but kinda stumped on a couple of things

you said to take the output speaker wires on my amp and take them back to the wiring harness that i plugged into the factory one with, how do i do this ??? i don't have an output on my amp, should there be, maybe i'm mistaken, i'm stumped

where would i get these wiring harnesses from would any wiring harness work that would plug both into the stock deck and another one into the original wiring harness ?? or are they "special" for this purpose in some way
could i get them at any local car audio shop



after thinking about it, could i just take my speker wire that i want to get my signal from and just cut away at the insulation about in the middle of it and wrap my signal wires on to it ????? i wouldn't be cutting the wire just the insulation on it ??
woudl this type of connection be sufficient and clean ?
all this wiring harness buisness seems like it could be a hassle to find etc. seeing as though my deck is already out and everything

thanks again much its appreciated,

Alex

 

well hopefully you got my PM...where I answered most of this...

but not all of the questions were in the PM you sent me...

NO attaching wires to your speaker wires like that is NOT how it works....you would have to cut the wires....have the wires coming out of your deck TO the speakers going into the inputs for your amp...and then the output from your amp go TO the wires that are actually going to the speakers....where you cut them.

and actually the harness is the easiest way to do this...seeing as how you won't be working through the hole in the dash...and you need to have the deck out either way.....but with the harnesses...you just need to plug them in.

and NO they are not universal harnesses...the plugs are specifically for our cars/headunits....they are specially shaped.

 

my question is, why is everyone so afraid of cutting speaker wires? Does anyone really think that whether you have a leased vehicle or not that cutting or splicing into the current speaker wires is going to diminish the return on your vehicle. I know, first hand, that there is alot that you can do to a vehicle before to turning it in on a lease. First off, nothing that is done to the vehicle can detract from the value (dents, bad paint, bad interior, etc.). Putting a stereo is not degrading the vehicle unless it is a huge setup that can cause a strain on the car and be hard to remove. Basically, as long as you can return it to normal, no harm done.

I say simply splice into the rear speaker wires to run you sub/amp. Makes life a whole lot easier.

 

I am not "AFRAID" to cut them at all....however....I am planning on soldering all my connections for the absolute best connections...and working through the hole in the dash doing that work is a pain in the butt...not to mention working with a soldering iron IN the car, there is the potential to have an ACCIDENT and end up with a burn mark or hole in something that wasn't supposed to.....

SO, by me using the harnesses I am...all that work is done on my work bench and then I simply plug it in...sure its going to cost me about $25 for the two pieces.....but....it will take that risk out of the job...not to mention hastle of working through the little hole....and THAT is worth it to me.....

 

This depends on who you talk to, but there are thoughts that with a properly done crimp connection, the quality of the connection is just as good or better than soldered connections.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that working outside the car is easier, but won't you still have to wire up the amp to the harness inside the car along with the power/remote/ground cables?

Sir Nuke, the point of my original post was not to single out any one individual, but I see questions alot about "leased" vehicles and what can be done. It bothers me that people don't check there contract for the answer. Mine have always been what I mentioned in the preivous post.

 

Okay guys after the useful help from SirNuke, it seems as though i havn't give you enough information . . the amp i have is a 2 channel amp . . . therefore using SirNukes method which is pretty clever wont work, i need the outputs on the amp for the subs not to take the signal back to the wiring harness

well you know what i really have no other ideas on what to do?

Rider69, yes i talked with the leasing company about what i am doing to the car, they told me that i can't start cutting or modifying it what they say is "pernament", obviously they are talking **** because i can still take out my amp and re-do the connections without them even knowing unless they take the deck out . . which i kinda doubt they will

by saying this i'm just going to go ahead and cut them, my car is sitting outside with a whole in the dash and i want to finish the job today

Rider69, you mention "splice into the rear speaker wires "
why the rear speakers ???
are they easier to access somewhere else in the car besides from behind the deck which is where i was goign to get at them ????
i was just going to cut the front ones from the harness add my signal wire to one end and and attach it to the other so basically what i have is a "Y" connection, am i right ?? yes/no ?
i just want to be sure before i start cutting
is there anywhere easier to get acess to the speaker wires to do my cutting besides behind the deck ???

thanks in advance to anyone who can offer input,

Alex

 

And YES....I know the school of thought on crimping vs soldering....who knows...I may end up crimping them anyway...lol BUT...I will still be doing it all out in the open on my workbench and in comfort.....then just plugging in the HU and the harness in the dash.

part one.....well yes and no...lol you can work IN your car ANYWHERE easier then under and behind the dash! lol I am putting the amp under the drives seat and I am going to remove it for the install...makes access pretty easy.

 

Yeah, sorry about that. For some reason I was thinking you had a sedan. With the P5 it would be easier to do it in the dash as I am not sure of the location of the door speaker wires after they leave the door. You can trace the wires from the rear door speakers into the cabin and splice into them. Using the rear speakers will give you a little more control of the sound with the fader option. If you use the front channel the sub will always be as loud as the front speakers and by turnign it down (Fading out) you will just make the rear door speakers louder. SOuse the rear speakers to splice into.

 

You can still go with SirNuke's idea.

You would still use a wiring harness. 1/2 plugs into the factory deck and has a bunch of loose wires hanging off. The other half plugs into the wiring plug in the dash, and has a bunch of wires hanging off of it also. If all of the wires were connected, it would be the same as if there was no new harness at all -a straight through path just like before. What the harness allows you to do is insert aftermarket components into your system without cutting the factory wiring. You still need to splice and make connections, just not to the factory wires.

To get the signal to the amp, use the side of the harness that plugs into the deck and run the speaker wire from the deck to the speaker level input on the amp. If you were using the amp to drive the front or rear speakers, you would then run the speaker wires from the amp back to the front of the car and connect them to the other half of the wiring harness that is plugged into the wires in the dash.

But, since you are using the amp to power a sub, you will need to connect all of the wires on both side of the harnes and simply "tap into" the front or rear speaker outputs of the deck. When you make all of the connections for the harness add your speaker level inputs to feed your amp with a wire nut or other device. I would suggest using the rear speakers for this as previously suggested.

If your amp doesn't turn on automatically when speaker signal is present, you can also add a remote trigger that will turn on the amp only when the radio is on, as opposed to whenever the key is turned.

It seems like a bit of overkill just to tap into a coulple of wires, but having cut and spliced all the factory wires myself, I can safely say it would be much easier to use a wiring harnesses for the obvious reasons stated earlier.