I decided to upgrade my car speakers, add a four channel amplifier but keep existing head unit and add an active Sub Woofer with no experience at all.

So far I have manged to install the speakers and the amp and the system  sounds great. I bought the Vibe Powerbox 4 Channel Amplifier that is plug and play and connected via a harness to the back of the factory radio.  

In Halford's they also suggested the Vibe Rapid Fit Kit, which enables you to get the signal from the speakers to the RC inputs on the Subwoofer amp easily by way of Crimps at the end of the wire. These just crimp over the left and right speakers to get the signal. It also has a connection to the fuse box to power it rather than have to connect it to the battery.  The instructions state that you do not need to connect the remote wire to turn the amp on and off as this is done automatically.

Due to having very limited room behind the Factory Stereo I wanted to find out if I could crimp them near Vibe the 4 channel amplifier. So at the end of the wires just before the Molex connection that connects to the Vibe Amp, rather than directly to the speaker wires from behind the factory stereo. So I rang the Vibe Hotline and they told me to connect the amp to the Vibe 4 Channel Amplifier RC outputs instead but would still have to connect the remote wire in order for the Subwoofer active amp switch on and off automatically.

But I was under the impression that connecting the power to the fuse box to a circuit that is only live when the engine is switched is what turns the Subwoofer Amp on and off automatically. So I am thinking perhaps it has to be connected to a constant live so its always on but then connecting the Remote wire switches it on and off.  So is this the reason? And if so why does it need a constant live feed rather than connecting it to a fuse that is only powered when the ignition is on? The instructions just say connect it to the fuse box but don't state which type.

Thanks 

 

 

Only letting me upload 1 image at a time so going to have to do them individually. Here is the active sunwoofer

On 11/17/2021 at 8:11 PM, BasalGanglia said:

I decided to upgrade my car speakers, add a four channel amplifier but keep existing head unit and add an active Sub Woofer with no experience at all.

So far I have manged to install the speakers and the amp and the system  sounds great. I bought the Vibe Powerbox 4 Channel Amplifier that is plug and play and connected via a harness to the back of the factory radio.  

In Halford's they also suggested the Vibe Rapid Fit Kit, which enables you to get the signal from the speakers to the RC inputs on the Subwoofer amp easily by way of Crimps at the end of the wire. These just crimp over the left and right speakers to get the signal. It also has a connection to the fuse box to power it rather than have to connect it to the battery.  The instructions state that you do not need to connect the remote wire to turn the amp on and off as this is done automatically.

Due to having very limited room behind the Factory Stereo I wanted to find out if I could crimp them near Vibe the 4 channel amplifier. So at the end of the wires just before the Molex connection that connects to the Vibe Amp, rather than directly to the speaker wires from behind the factory stereo. So I rang the Vibe Hotline and they told me to connect the amp to the Vibe 4 Channel Amplifier RC outputs instead but would still have to connect the remote wire in order for the Subwoofer active amp switch on and off automatically.

But I was under the impression that connecting the power to the fuse box to a circuit that is only live when the engine is switched is what turns the Subwoofer Amp on and off automatically. So I am thinking perhaps it has to be connected to a constant live so its always on but then connecting the Remote wire switches it on and off.  So is this the reason? And if so why does it need a constant live feed rather than connecting it to a fuse that is only powered when the ignition is on? The instructions just say connect it to the fuse box but don't state which type.

Thanks 

 

 

Ok I think there’s a few things being confused here.  I’ve owned that amp in the past and there was no need to do any crimping to get a signal to a subwoofer from memory.  Just use the rca out on the powerbox amp - the whole point of that kit is to avoid crimping.

 

You WILL need a remote wire though for the sub (I think the powerbox4 harness takes care of that on the speaker amp).  Personally I found the remote wire on the vibe harness and tapped it to that with some blue wire (remote uses a blue wire).  Remote acts as a switch and tells the amplifier itself to turn on.  The power feed is just that - it’s the remote wire tells the amp when the stereo is on.  Else you’d be feeding power constantly into an amp that’s doing nothing!

 

I think I posted a guide in the fiesta forum using this kit back in the day now I think about it