Spare tire subwoofer question

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2002 Protegé5
Hey guys, I may be getting the whole spare tire sub setup for my car, and Im wondering about adapting it to my aftermarket head unit. There is wiring for an aftermarket sub in the car thanks to the PO, but no factory pigtail to plug in the sub harness, since my car is an 02. What have other people here done to hook in the tire sub?
 
Do you have RCA outputs on the back of the headunit? If so, run them to an amp to power the sub.
 
This is all I've got for schematics.
It doesn't cover the sub that came out in 2003.



You either have line level inputs on the sub or speaker level inputs.

I'm guessing Mazda didn't change their head unit for 2003 to add RCA outputs and just tapped into the rear speaker wires to send it to the sub as a speaker level input.

I'm guessing the connector has 4wires going in.
Two would be the speaker level input and probably smaller gauge wire and two would be + and - to power the sub.
There is probably another wire to turn the sub on and off.

A schematic would help a lot as well as having the sub shipped with the connector there and the wires cut so you can trace them and study the wire gauge and color code.

If it were me I'd install a small, efficient sub in a box that you can remove easily if needed.

The factory sub is probably a cheap piece of plastic but it wouldn't draw too much power or it would over work our underpowered electrical system.
 
This is all I've got for schematics.
It doesn't cover the sub that came out in 2003.



You either have line level inputs on the sub or speaker level inputs.

I'm guessing Mazda didn't change their head unit for 2003 to add RCA outputs and just tapped into the rear speaker wires to send it to the sub as a speaker level input.

I'm guessing the connector has 4wires going in.
Two would be the speaker level input and probably smaller gauge wire and two would be + and - to power the sub.
There is probably another wire to turn the sub on and off.

A schematic would help a lot as well as having the sub shipped with the connector there and the wires cut so you can trace them and study the wire gauge and color code.

If it were me I'd install a small, efficient sub in a box that you can remove easily if needed.

The factory sub is probably a cheap piece of plastic but it wouldn't draw too much power or it would over work our underpowered electrical system.

Thing is I*m being traded the sub setup in its entirety for my parts car. I*m thinking of taking the audio inputs to the sub and splicing those to some RCA cables, so that I can control the sub better from my headunit.
 
Thing is I*m being traded the sub setup in its entirety for my parts car.


I don't think you're getting a fair deal.
I wouldn't trade my parts car for that and my parts car is a rusted piece of s***.



I*m thinking of taking the audio inputs to the sub and splicing those to some RCA cables, so that I can control the sub better from my headunit.

You'll get much better sound with a small efficient separate sub and all the connections plug directly into your aftermarket stereo.
Everything is labelled.
 
I'm pretty sure that sub is plastic.
It just rattles around in your trunk making noise.

It's not real bass.
 
I had one in my P5 it was nearly worthless. I replaced it with a Pioneer 12 and a small amp.
 
Don't get a high power amp and sub unless you install a high output alternator or you'll kill your battery and burnout your alt.

 
Eh, the way the audio system is in my car right now, I already don't feel a big need for much of a sub. I listen to classic rock, and have a bitcoin' EQ currently. This would just add a bit more. And I never said I'm trading the parts car, which I need gone from my apartment complex by Sunday, for ONLY the sub setup
 
OK.
Get the schematics or pictures of your connector.
 
Last edited:
OK.
Get the schematics or pictures of your connector.

Already done. Just got off the phone with a car audio expert friend of mine, and it'll be simple to splice the 8 pin into RCA cables as well as the necessary factory power wires (battery pos, accessory power, amp trigger, and ground).
 
Curious how this all worked out.

After my OG head unit mysteriously fried after the car sat in the shop for a few weeks, I replaced the head unit with an aftermarket one and got the proper harnesses to run the spare tire sub that was already there. The sub worked just fine, even seemed to hit harder for some reason, for about a month, then it fried as well.

After sourcing another sub, the same situation occurred, the sub worked great for about a month than stopped as well.

Probably an issue with my wiring, just not really sure how to tackle it. I'll more than likely just get an aftermarket sub box and amp in the future.
 
I'm still content with my oem 6 disc/cassette/sub setup and not win any stereo trophies but still be able to hear other things..............It did get an audio input plug-in to at least have usb input/usb charging/ipod/aux inputs. Not sure what my car is....2003 or 3.5? Has racks/sub/prk and blinkr in fenders/sportronic/ no abs/cloth/no sunroof/open cupholders. IIRC jun03 build................
 
Curious how this all worked out.

After my OG head unit mysteriously fried after the car sat in the shop for a few weeks, I replaced the head unit with an aftermarket one and got the proper harnesses to run the spare tire sub that was already there. The sub worked just fine, even seemed to hit harder for some reason, for about a month, then it fried as well.

After sourcing another sub, the same situation occurred, the sub worked great for about a month than stopped as well.

Probably an issue with my wiring, just not really sure how to tackle it. I'll more than likely just get an aftermarket sub box and amp in the future.
Guess its been close to two months already my sub works great, but I have it controlled from the EQ settings in my head unit separately from other speakers. An audio professional friend helped me set volume levels, EQ curve, and the crossover settings, so the sound system sounds amazing in my car
 
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