hey whats up? I just bought a couple of subs off craigslist. I have a sub input on the back of my head unit. When I hooked everything up, they didnt work. I figured it would be pretty simple, wie subs to back of head unit and they should work. So im thinking I got ripped off...yes?? what do you think thanks.

 

Are they active subs or passive?
Also, is there a set up menu in your head unit that enables/disables the outputs?

 

not sure if they're passive or not. No there is no "on/off" for the inputs. there is a control i messed, but that did nothing.

 

If they're passive you need an amp to power them. Amp gets wired to the head unit and grounded. Subs get wired to the amp.
Off topic - where are you at in Virginia?

 

Answer this....is there a light on the amp, is so is it on?

 

Yeah if its not a "basslink" which is a self-amplified sub..basically a box with the amp built inside to power the sub, you will need an amp

 

You need to wire in an amp to the head with RCA and a remote (usually blue) wires, as well as a thicker commonly 8G or 4G (sometimes a little thicker for a crazier system or multiple amps) wired from the battery to the amp with an inline fuse, and a matched gauge ground wire, grounded somewhere solid, and off the amp use a thicker (12-10G ish) speaker wire to run the subs.
You can get a complete amp install kit offline for $20 for a cheap setup or up to $100 for a 0G setup
Also amps usually will have a green power light, and a red protect light. If its green your good to go, and red means you have an issue somewhere

What kind of subs did you get?

 

Ok thanks, sounds like i need to go and buy and amp. Thanks you.Hey NO RDPLZ I live down in hoodbridge.

 

Typically the sub out on the back of the deck is an RCA line level output. That means it does not put out a powered signal that is capable of pushing a speaker. It is a very weak signal like a headphone out and needs to be amplified so you will need to plug the sub out from the back of the deck into an amp. Some subs are powered and have a built in amp (active) and some are not powered and need to be hooked up to an amp with speaker wire (passive). If you have passive subs and no amp then you need to buy an amp. If you have active subs then you need to make sure the amps on them are hooked up correctly. To hook up an amp you need to have power, ground, ignition, and remote wires running to it. If you do not have an amp for your subs you can technically just unhook the wires going to your rear speakers and then hook those up to the subs, but your stereo probably does not put out nearly enough power to push the subs and unless it is a high end deck probably also does not have a crossover built in to make sure you are only putting lower frequencies out to the subs. I hope this helps out. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

 

Be sure when amp shopping to check the channels, and base off RMS wattage not the max wattage!
What kind of subs did you get?
And if you don't mind me asking, how much did you get them for?

 

got a set of MTX 200watt. around 40$