Can a sub be connected directly to radio?

[bkelley]

I need help. I just got two 10' inch subs for my 2011 RAM 1500 and I'm having trouble trying to connect them to the radio. Every time I look it up, someone has an amp to go with it. Do I need an amp or can it connect directly? If I can connect directly, where can I find the positive and negative inputs for the speaker wires?

 

[crash68]

The OEM radio doesn't have enough power to drive subwoofers for them play effectively.
Some amplifiers use speaker level input which would be the less expensive route.

 

[Mb7640]

I need help. I just got two 10' inch subs for my 2011 RAM 1500 and I'm having trouble trying to connect them to the radio. Every time I look it up, someone has an amp to go with it. Do I need an amp or can it connect directly? If I can connect directly, where can I find the positive and negative inputs for the speaker wires?

You will need a amp and a few adapters to get a line output to the amp. If you look on crutchfield and or call them they can help with what you need. Im getting ready to do this next month in my 21 Ram.

 

[G-Ride990]

Need an amp man!

On top of not having enough power, the speaker outputs from the radio will be full-range. That will make the subs sound awful if they even had enough power to make noise in the first place. Which, they won't.

An amp will provide clean power to a sub and most importantly will have a tunable high/low-bypass filter on it so you can cancel out those high notes.

This is an over-simplification of the issues you will run into.

Don't do it. Amps are dang cheap these days. Do it right.

 

[bkelley]

Need an amp man!

On top of not having enough power, the speaker outputs from the radio will be full-range. That will make the subs sound awful if they even had enough power to make noise in the first place. Which, they won't.

An amp will provide clean power to a sub and most importantly will have a tunable high/low-bypass filter on it so you can cancel out those high notes.

This is an over-simplification of the issues you will run into.

Don't do it. Amps are dang cheap these days. Do it right.

Thank you man! I got the amp, an amp adapter for my factory radio, and a wiring kit to help. I can't wait to hook it up and start thumping!