I just bought a Pioneer DEH-P4700MP CD/MP3 player. I got a cheap crappy Roadmaster amp-less base tube for free with the cables for it. My question is, would the headunit alone without a seperate amp be enough for the bass tube? The speaker is only about 6" and I just want to see what it sounds like and maybe get a tiny bit of more sound in the car... don't worry, I'm not expecting it to rattle my teeth loose and almost don't even expect it to work at all, but I just want to give it a try, and I'm wondering if / how it'd work.

*edit - picture of the back


Sorry for the stupid question but I know nothing about car audio.

 

I could be mistaken but I believe the cables that would come from the back would only go to an actual amp. With no amp I believe you could just tap the speakers into some of your stock speakers somewhere like the back ones ETC.

 

If you use one of the speaker outputs to run the "tube", then yes, it will produce sound. However, you will not be able to connect the interior speaker at the same time.

So you could run 3 speakers and your tube off that deck.

Or you could find yourself a cheap 50w amp to run the tube.

 

You will need an amp, the "tube sub" is a speaker and can be run with the speaker outputs of your HU, however you will have at least two problems, no LP, [low-pass] x-over for the sub, and very little power, [watts] to drive it.

I agree with B18C_EJ8 find a cheep amp, and make the tube useful. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C_EJ8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you use one of the speaker outputs to run the "tube", then yes, it will produce sound. However, you will not be able to connect the interior speaker at the same time.

So you could run 3 speakers and your tube off that deck.

Or you could find yourself a cheap 50w amp to run the tube.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Explain please? Remember that I really know nothing about audio stuff. I am planning on just keeping stock everything for now except this CD player. Later on I want to get better speakers and a small sub... but by later, I mean way later.

 

Yes you can hook the tube upto a speaker connection (probably one of the rears or fronts depending on how much "testing" you are going to do) BUT the "sub" will be acting like a normal full pass speaker and the amount of bass will be minimal in relation toward a proper amped sub set up. How do I know? Well in my younger days I found a 15" sub in a home audio-ish box and I had it hooked up to the front right speaker in my mini van (yea I was stupid, it was ghetto and I was a teen ager), it sounded okay but the clarity and the lows were not there. Later that year I got a simple 100x2 hifonics amp and with in two weeks of having it installed and connected to the sub I launched the coil after tearing the foam surround on the sub substancially.

Also, I have a friend who, like me, back in the day would hook up home stereo speaker towers (got um cheap at the DI aka good will) and had them "thumping" in the back of his car. This set up was louder than the blown oe speakers, but again the clarity wasn't there (really muddy bass) as well as the improperly wired speakers (speakers have a Ohm rating which is resistance, this is the load or stain the deck has to deal with and if it's too low it will cause the deck's amp to over heat and shut off) would be constantly causing the deck to cut out.

In conclusion: Save yourself the time and buy a cheap little amp (again check a pawn shop for a cheap 2 channel amp with a low pass switch/cross over), get an amp wiring kit (cheap ones can be found at wal-mart) and either follow the instructions on the packaging or have a buddy who knows what he's doing install it for ya.

 

A kid I knew hooked up his sub to his headunit with no amp and blew some stuff... he wasn't very smart anyways.

 

^Ahaha I'm not that noobish. What did he 'blow'? I was just asking about this little bass tube though since it's so small and probably doesn't require much power... but I'm not going to buy an amp for it cause I'd rather just sell it for a few bucks or give it away and then later on just buy a 10" or 12" in a small box with amp to get decent sound. Instead of spending money on an amp for a cheap bass tube that I don't know the working condition or quality of, I'd rather just spend $50 or $75 more for a decent setup with more bass (I can find subs, amps, and boxes really cheap locally sometimes).