xraystyle
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- Oct 25, 2016
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- Los Angeles
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- 2016 Ecoboost Premium, Magnetic
Here's an example of a 5 channel amp:
You can see it has 3 sets of RCA inputs. The first two are labeled 1-2, and 3-4. These will be the left and right front, and left and right rear inputs, which makes 4 channels.
So what about the extra set of RCAs labelled Sub. W.? On higher end aftermarket head units, you'll often find three sets of RCA outputs. The first two are the front/rear left/right RCAs that match up with those inputs on the amp. The third set of outputs on these head units is a dedicated subwoofer out, which is a signal of all four combined channels, unaffected by balance or fader settings on the head unit.
Nicer aftermarket head units often have dedicated crossovers, EQ and volume just for the sub output as well, so you can tweak the sound going to your subwoofer directly from the head unit.
If you don't have a dedicated sub out on your head unit, as those of us with factory Mustang stereos don't, you can just connect the 4 channels from your stock stereo to the amp, set the selector switch, and let the amp combine all four signals and send the whole thing to the subwoofer.
Here's a picture of the switch on the amp above:
It's the one labelled SUB W. INPUT, on the bottom right. You'd set it to 1+2+3+4 to sum the channels, instead of SUB W., which you'd use if you had a dedicated subwoofer output coming out of your head unit.
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