Subwoofer installation

Hi everyone!

I am new to this forum and I am a Wind owner from Belgium!

I would like to try and connect a subwoofer to the stock radio. I have an Exception as trim level, so I have the radio with Bluetooth etc.
I was wondering if anyone has some experience with this by any chance?
Does the radio have an RCA out? And if not, could I use a high to low converter?

I know I can remove the radio and replace it, but I like the  standard look and the radio does everything it needs to, so I don't really want to change it if that is posssible.

Thanks in advance!

@SheStevo this could be one for Mark if he is avaluable. .. 

Hope you are well and looking forward to Afternoon Tea when we get released.

Hello Belgium welcome to the UK

Barbs wrote:@SheStevo this could be one for Mark if he is avaluable. .. 

Hope you are well and looking forward to Afternoon Tea when we get released.

Hello Belgium welcome to the UK

Hi @Barbs! Thanks for your reply!

Hopefully it's not a problem I joined this UK based forum, but as you could probably imagine, there just isn't much out there for the Wind in Belgium. This forum seems to contain quite a lot of useful information and active users, hence I decided to join.

Maybe I will post some pictures of my Wind soon when she is back from the body shop.

Welcome to the forum BelgianWind !!
Great to have you with us as a new member...how long have you owned your Wind, and why is she in the body shop ??

Hi BelgianWind! Have you tried joining The Renault Wind Owners Club UK on Facebook? Almost 180 members on there, hopefully someone could help and advise you.

'Old'SeaDog wrote:Welcome to the forum BelgianWind !!
Great to have you with us as a new member...how long have you owned your Wind, and why is she in the body shop ??

Hi OldSeadog you have a Private Message

BelgianWind wrote:

Barbs wrote:@SheStevo this could be one for Mark if he is avaluable. .. 

Hope you are well and looking forward to Afternoon Tea when we get released.

Hello Belgium welcome to the UK

Hi @Barbs! Thanks for your reply!

Hopefully it's not a problem I joined this UK based forum, but as you could probably imagine, there just isn't much out there for the Wind in Belgium. This forum seems to contain quite a lot of useful information and active users, hence I decided to join.

Maybe I will post some pictures of my Wind soon when she is back from the body shop.

You are welcome to the Forum and Facebook as you own a Wind.  There are Forum across Europe they will all welcome you to the Family Wind.

[quote="'Old'SeaDog"]Welcome to the forum BelgianWind !!
Great to have you with us as a new member...how long have you owned your Wind, and why is she in the body shop ??[/quote]
Hi SeaDog!

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have had it for about a year now. She is in the body shop, because the previous owner let some bird poop burn in the paint on the hood. 
So nothing too bad like an accident, just takes away from the beauty of the car. I am also having a change done to the rear bumper. I will bring her to the shop on Monday, so I'll make sure to post some before and after pics in the group somewhere.

bigjase1972 wrote:Hi BelgianWind! Have you tried joining The Renault Wind Owners Club UK on Facebook? Almost 180 members on there, hopefully someone could help and advise you.

Hi Jase!

I have not tried that yet, thanks for the recommendation! I will check it out for sure! Even if no one could give me advise, it might be useful in the future.

Barbs wrote:

BelgianWind wrote:

Barbs wrote:@SheStevo this could be one for Mark if he is avaluable. .. 

Hope you are well and looking forward to Afternoon Tea when we get released.

Hello Belgium welcome to the UK

Hi @Barbs! Thanks for your reply!

Hopefully it's not a problem I joined this UK based forum, but as you could probably imagine, there just isn't much out there for the Wind in Belgium. This forum seems to contain quite a lot of useful information and active users, hence I decided to join.

Maybe I will post some pictures of my Wind soon when she is back from the body shop.

You are welcome to the Forum and Facebook as you own a Wind.  There are Forum across Europe they will all welcome you to the Family Wind.

Thanks @Barbs! Glad to hear!

Yeah, I am already part of the Wind owners club from the Netherlands haha, since that is the closest thing to me! Unfortunately, no one has experience with such matter there either.

There is a group in France too I will see if there is any knowledge there.

BelgianWind wrote:Hi everyone!

I am new to this forum and I am a Wind owner from Belgium!

I would like to try and connect a subwoofer to the stock radio. I have an Exception as trim level, so I have the radio with Bluetooth etc.
I was wondering if anyone has some experience with this by any chance?
Does the radio have an RCA out? And if not, could I use a high to low converter?

I know I can remove the radio and replace it, but I like the  standard look and the radio does everything it needs to, so I don't really want to change it if that is posssible.

Thanks in advance!

Assuming you have the same radio as I did in my Wind...

No, the radio does not have any low level (RCA) outputs. On mine, I used a High-Low converter connected to the unused "rear speaker" outputs and fed that to a separate amplifier I fitted behind the seats. Connecting it to the rear speaker outputs meant that I was able to adjust the level of the door speakers and the new speakers (or subwoofer) using the fader of the radio. I then placed some loudspeakers under the seats. This made the sound so much better. Getting to the wiring behind the radio was really difficult, but it was worth the effort and bruised knuckles!

Barbs wrote:There is a group in France too I will see if there is any knowledge there.

Oh ok thanks! Do they have a Facebook group too?

Mkstevo wrote:

BelgianWind wrote:Hi everyone!

I am new to this forum and I am a Wind owner from Belgium!

I would like to try and connect a subwoofer to the stock radio. I have an Exception as trim level, so I have the radio with Bluetooth etc.
I was wondering if anyone has some experience with this by any chance?
Does the radio have an RCA out? And if not, could I use a high to low converter?

I know I can remove the radio and replace it, but I like the  standard look and the radio does everything it needs to, so I don't really want to change it if that is posssible.

Thanks in advance!

Assuming you have the same radio as I did in my Wind...

No, the radio does not have any low level (RCA) outputs. On mine, I used a High-Low converter connected to the unused "rear speaker" outputs and fed that to a separate amplifier I fitted behind the seats. Connecting it to the rear speaker outputs meant that I was able to adjust the level of the door speakers and the new speakers (or subwoofer) using the fader of the radio. I then placed some loudspeakers under the seats. This made the sound so much better. Getting to the wiring behind the radio was really difficult, but it was worth the effort and bruised knuckles!

Thank you for the respons Mkstevo! Now I finally know a bit more about what to do! I was looking to buy an active subwoofer, meaning I should only have to connect the speaker wire to the High-Low converter and then from there immediately to the sub (hopefully). I was wondering if maybe you have a picture of the backside of the radio? So I am sure where these unused "rear speaker" outputs are located? Oh boy, is the space for extra wires behind the radio that limited?

But at least I am now certain that it CAN be done! What a relief haha!

Barbara Find : focal ibus 
there is a tutorial on the french forum
https://renault-wind.forumgratuit.org/t829-montage-du-caisson-focal-ibus-20
@BelgianWind  here you go but you will have to join the French Forum but they are friendly.

Look forward to seeing you on The Renault Wind Owners Club UK Facebook page then BelgianWind!

BelgianWind wrote:

Mkstevo wrote:

BelgianWind wrote:Hi everyone!

I am new to this forum and I am a Wind owner from Belgium!

I would like to try and connect a subwoofer to the stock radio. I have an Exception as trim level, so I have the radio with Bluetooth etc.
I was wondering if anyone has some experience with this by any chance?
Does the radio have an RCA out? And if not, could I use a high to low converter?

I know I can remove the radio and replace it, but I like the  standard look and the radio does everything it needs to, so I don't really want to change it if that is posssible.

Thanks in advance!

Assuming you have the same radio as I did in my Wind...

No, the radio does not have any low level (RCA) outputs. On mine, I used a High-Low converter connected to the unused "rear speaker" outputs and fed that to a separate amplifier I fitted behind the seats. Connecting it to the rear speaker outputs meant that I was able to adjust the level of the door speakers and the new speakers (or subwoofer) using the fader of the radio. I then placed some loudspeakers under the seats. This made the sound so much better. Getting to the wiring behind the radio was really difficult, but it was worth the effort and bruised knuckles!

Thank you for the respons Mkstevo! Now I finally know a bit more about what to do! I was looking to buy an active subwoofer, meaning I should only have to connect the speaker wire to the High-Low converter and then from there immediately to the sub (hopefully). I was wondering if maybe you have a picture of the backside of the radio? So I am sure where these unused "rear speaker" outputs are located? Oh boy, is the space for extra wires behind the radio that limited?

But at least I am now certain that it CAN be done! What a relief haha!

No pictures, sorry! There is very limited room behind the radio. Less so if you use terminal blocks to make the connections as I did. I'd suggest ScotchLocks if I were you.

If I recall (it was some time ago now) the speaker connections for the front speakers in the door, and the rear speakers (not used) were in a block of eight wires which were coloured or grouped in a way that it was reasonably obvious that they were for the speakers, and that two pairs of the wires were not used. Figuring that out wasn't too difficult. Getting my hands in was. Getting the radio back in with the short connecting wires still attached was also very difficult. I'm sure I didn't have any wiring plan, but I probably did use my multimeter to check.

And well worth the efforts.

Hi again BelgianWind......the issues on your roof are a good reminder to us all of the damage that bird poo can cause to our roofs and paintwork.
I live on the coast and get plauged by sea gulls...which in my opinion are just flying bags of poo !!
It becomes an obsession to tpremove the stuff before it drys and gets baked on...

Hi, I was going to replace stock head unit with Alpine unit, but on removing OE unit found there to be no room to fit a loom adaptor so left it in, there are no rca connections but as mentioned you could use the redundant rear speaker outputs. I have a powered  Alpine sub, that can either be fed by rca or via speakers, so something similar would work in your case. Thanks

Sorry for the newbie question: where are you running the speaker wire? I’m guessing fascia/carpet etc? Please be specific if that’s okay. I hate pulling stuff up and out of the car unless I know with absolute certainty I’m going about things in the right way.

C664JON wrote:Hi, I was going to replace stock head unit with Alpine unit, but on removing OE unit found there to be no room to fit a loom adaptor so left it in, there are no rca connections but as mentioned you could use the redundant rear speaker outputs. I have a powered  Alpine sub, that can either be fed by rca or via speakers, so something similar would work in your case. Thanks

Hey Jon!

Thanks for your reply and my apologies for getting back at this thread so much later. Unfortunately I was not able to get to the point of installing the sub yet, until yesterday. First of all I tried to find a way to route my power cable from the battery to the interior/cabin, but I got stuck there already haha. I eventually went with a powered underseat subwoofer that can be connected using speaker wire, just like you mentioned. Since you have been able to connect your Alpine sub, would you be able to help me out here? How did you route your power cable from the battery into the cabin? Or did you get the necessary power by branching it from somewhere else?

Thank you so much in advance!

BelgianWind

Johno.0 wrote:Sorry for the newbie question: where are you running the speaker wire? I’m guessing fascia/carpet etc? Please be specific if that’s okay. I hate pulling stuff up and out of the car unless I know with absolute certainty I’m going about things in the right way.

Hello Johno!

As stated in my previous reply, I haven't been able yet to figure out how to install the subwoofer unfortunately. Once I manage to route the power cable and connect it to the factory radio, I'll let you know how I am running the speaker wire!   Sorry for my late respons!

Mkstevo wrote:

BelgianWind wrote:

Mkstevo wrote:

BelgianWind wrote:Hi everyone!

I am new to this forum and I am a Wind owner from Belgium!

I would like to try and connect a subwoofer to the stock radio. I have an Exception as trim level, so I have the radio with Bluetooth etc.
I was wondering if anyone has some experience with this by any chance?
Does the radio have an RCA out? And if not, could I use a high to low converter?

I know I can remove the radio and replace it, but I like the  standard look and the radio does everything it needs to, so I don't really want to change it if that is posssible.

Thanks in advance!

Assuming you have the same radio as I did in my Wind...

No, the radio does not have any low level (RCA) outputs. On mine, I used a High-Low converter connected to the unused "rear speaker" outputs and fed that to a separate amplifier I fitted behind the seats. Connecting it to the rear speaker outputs meant that I was able to adjust the level of the door speakers and the new speakers (or subwoofer) using the fader of the radio. I then placed some loudspeakers under the seats. This made the sound so much better. Getting to the wiring behind the radio was really difficult, but it was worth the effort and bruised knuckles!

Thank you for the respons Mkstevo! Now I finally know a bit more about what to do! I was looking to buy an active subwoofer, meaning I should only have to connect the speaker wire to the High-Low converter and then from there immediately to the sub (hopefully). I was wondering if maybe you have a picture of the backside of the radio? So I am sure where these unused "rear speaker" outputs are located? Oh boy, is the space for extra wires behind the radio that limited?

But at least I am now certain that it CAN be done! What a relief haha!

No pictures, sorry! There is very limited room behind the radio. Less so if you use terminal blocks to make the connections as I did. I'd suggest ScotchLocks if I were you.

If I recall (it was some time ago now) the speaker connections for the front speakers in the door, and the rear speakers (not used) were in a block of eight wires which were coloured or grouped in a way that it was reasonably obvious that they were for the speakers, and that two pairs of the wires were not used. Figuring that out wasn't too difficult. Getting my hands in was. Getting the radio back in with the short connecting wires still attached was also very difficult. I'm sure I didn't have any wiring plan, but I probably did use my multimeter to check.

And well worth the efforts.

Hey Mkstevo!

Apologies for bothering you again. I managed to run a power cable by now for the subwoofer, but I am still having some trouble to connect the subwoofer to the radio using speaker wire. I found out my radio uses a FAKRA connector and I think I found the speaker wires you mentioned. I found a block of 8 connections, of which only the middle 4 are being used. The top 2 and bottom two are empty. The issue is that there is also no wire connected to them, so I was wondering if you could help me with that. Do you still know how you added those speaker wires to the FAKRA connector which goes into the radio?

Thank you in advance!

Hello again.

I'm pretty sure I connected the amplifier I fitted to a set of wiring that (I assumed) was intended to connect to the "rear" speakers. I have it in mind that I used the fader feature on the (stock) radio unit to adjust the balance between the (front) speakers in the doors and the (rear) amplifier+speakers I wedged behind the seats. I found the wires by experimentation. Connecting one pair up at once, adjusting the balance and fader in turn to determine which was which. It took me a while to pick out the correct pairs of wiring, but with no wiring plan, I had no choice. Of course if you have a meter with the wires unplugged from the radio, you should be able to measure somewhere in the region of 3-5 ohms of resistance across the two pairs of wires which go to the front speakers.

If trying this, do be careful to remember that the speaker outs from the radio unit must never be connected together, or allowed to be connected to ground - if you do the radio could be damaged beyond repair. The amplifier MUST be designed to accept high level inputs to avoid damaging the amplifier, radio unit or both.

I intended this arrangement to be temporary but it worked so well, improving the sound beyond all my expectations, it lasted until the car went.

Regarding the power feed. I think I might have borrowed this from the cigarette lighter (accessory) socket supply. It is of reasonable current capability and saved me running a wire too far across the cabin. I can't remember if the power feed went off when the engine was turned off or not. I might have fitted a relay that was switched by the radio power to prevent the amp from draining the battery. It has been some time since I did this!

The wires I managed to push through the passenger side of the flooring - grabbing the open end by reaching under from somewhere behind the heater vents or passenger footwell.