I have just bought a cd player (jvc kd-sc601) and bought a cheep subwoofer (8").
All i need to know is there a way to wire this to my head unit without an amp (as i cant really afford one) or not. The sub has an earth wire (2 wires i think) and 2 speaker wires.
All my head unit has is a sub out, 2 lines in, and the normal speaker ones (wired into a block)
Never fitted an amp in a car but generally subwoofers need lots of power so an amp could be a good idea, as could an uprated battery perhaps (although I could be talking b*ll*cks there, but I've seen headlights dim on bass beats before...).
If you have subwoofer output on your headunit, you need an amp. This will send the correct frequencies to the sub. The amp will give it the juice to push the air.
You could hook the subs up to the regular speaker output, but then you would get really crappy sound as first, the amp in the headunit is too basic and poor quality signal, and second, you would be feeding the sub the entire frequency range which would just muddy the bass output and sound horrible.
Contrary to popular belief, you don't need ALOT of power in an amp system. It is better to have a really good high quality amp pushing an ultra clean signal than just simply more power. 20 watts rms from a high quality amp will romp all over a cheap amp pushing 100+ watts.
I use to have a little Geo Storm (any of you outside the US know that car? Hint- it is junk). But anyways, I had about $5000 in the sound system. Infinity Kappa 63 separates up front along with a set of Alpine tweaters, a set of MB Quart 4 inch coaxials in back with 2 12 inch MTX subs and the very first Sony 10 disc cd player. All this driven with a little Kenwood KAC432 I think it was. Ran about 16 watts rms per channel (4 channel) and it Rocked! Later, I added a Denon 2 channel 50 watt per channel amp for the subs to get them separate from the rest. After 15 years, I still have both amps and the MBQuart drivers installed in my 5th vehicle now, a Toyota Tacoma ExtCab. The amps still rock, though I've cut down to a pair of 8 inch subs since my 12's were stolen along with a broken headunit a while back.
I type all this noting that I do not listen to rap. There is more to a sound system than beating out bass with a crappy rap cd. I would amaze others when I brought up Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon, or David Gilmore's guitar solo in Comfortably Numb. The bass in Pink Floyd music also will smoke any rap crap that they can come up with. Another good one would be YYZ drum solo from Rush. The double bass beat is simply awesome on a high end sound system.
Edit: I just reread your post. What is the subwoofer you got? Because, you can get a sub with an amp already with it. For example, a "bass tube" design like the Bazooka Tube (if they make them anymore). If this is the case, then you should be able to connect the subwoofer outputs from the headunit into it. They should be a patch cord not regular speaker wire.
Edit: I edit again as now I saw the link to the sub you got. That is what I am talking about in the first edit. It has a self contained amp and crossover, so, connect it to 12 volts, ground, and connect the subwoofer output fromt the radio into it. Then you are set. No need for a separate amp.
Hi... A geo? Yuck I had one I got from a used car lot. the previous owner
had new tires put on it and the guy at the tire place cross-threaded every
damn lug stud on the thing (they cost $23 a piece and it's a dealer only part)
Ever see what over 10 cans of fix a flat looks like in a tire?
kinda reminded me of Adam Sandler's Piece a sheet car song.