Hey so I am trying to install my old sub into my car and I have read about a couple different places to tap the RCA converter into. One way said to tap it into the stock Audi amp, and another one I read said it was a lot easier just to tap into the two rear speakers. I believe that is the route I want to take but when I looked at the speakers I saw two wires that went from the speaker into a computer chip. Are those what I tap into or what? This is really starting to frustrate me, I have never had this much trouble putting a sub into a car.

 

When you say "RCA converter" do you mean it converts speaker inputs to RCA (line-level converter)? You could tap into either of the rear speakers for this. If you want to tap into the stock speaker amp you would essentially be connecting your converter wires to the stock amp's wires to either one of the speakers.

 

CAR AUDIO RADIO HIGH LEVEL RCA LINE CONVERTER HIGH LOW...USD4.37/Piece Wholesale Price at DHgate.com

This is pretty much what I got from Radio Shack, one wire is supposed to connect to the Left Rear + and -, and the other wire is supposed to connect to the Right Rear + and -.

 

If you can find on the stock amp's circuit board where the wires are soldered that go to each of the speakers, you could simply solder the converter's wires to those points. On the stock rear amp on my '98.5 they were easy to find, but I'm not sure if the stock amps are the same between our different years.

 

I tapped into the rear speakers before the stock amp when I installed my subs. I know I wrote this before somewhere, but it's pretty simple.

Unplug the blue wiring harness that plugs into the stock amp that rests below the driver side rear deck speaker.

You'll need the remote and the signal wires, one way or another. I didn't want to solder anything as I prefer to be able to easily remove the subs afterwards (now sold).

Use this for reference, but once you see it, it's pretty simple to see how it will line up: AudiWorld Tech Articles


The white wire is your remote/switch wire. The wire directly below it is the right signal wire. That link says it's brown, but in my 99.0 it's blue. You can tap the wires before the harness (cutting and splicing) or...you can go the less aesthetically appealing route and strip the other end of a male RCA cable bare and literally insert it into the wiring harness. Then plug it back in with the bare wires still plugged in--one for the remote and one as the signal (RCA cable).

I had it wired this way for about 2 years and the only problem I had was finding a sufficient place to ground the amp. The best location I've found is in one of the bolts to the tail lights. The signal was clear and worked every time.


If you plan on using the expensive RCA cables that come with an amp wiring kit, you'll need the adapter you bought. Otherwise, you really only need one RCA cable with the male connector and bypass the adapter you have. RadioShack has them for about $8. I say you'll only need one because my two subs were bridged in one box. I didn't need to control whether the left or right speaker was louder than the other. I controlled how much bass was in the car using the stock headunit. Obviously, turning the bass up or down plays the largest roll, but by putting the fader more to the front, the signal to the rear speakers was reduced.

I can walk you through it if you need more help. It was frustrating for me the first time I hooked them up, but you'll get it and kick yourself afterwards

 

Wow so much more help thank you man! I am going to work on it again tomorrow afternoon so I will have to see how it goes now that I have all of that info.