Sometimes, the music coming out of your vehicle’s sound system seems very unimpressive and spirit dampening. As a music lover while you drive most especially if you are the type that is always on the road, listening to good music as a readily available companion is a must to kill boredom and keep you mentally alert.
If you can’t get the desired sound effect and you’re wondering what to do, go for subwoofers. Subwoofers play low-pitched sounds called bass and sub-bass and you will get to know how to install subwoofer and amplifier in car from this article.
This gadget requires a lot of power to work well so you equally need to add an amplifier to boost the power and satisfy your desire. You can easily get it installed yourself by following our installation instructions or through a hired professional.
Do you want to know the step-by-step procedure to follow on how to install both your subwoofer and the amplifier that will boost its power in-take for quality sound production? Read along as we take you through the necessary process here under.
Table of Contents
What to know before installation
Installing a subwoofer to boost your car audio performance is a must if you care to enjoy supreme sound.
With this comes the twin-cost of getting an amplifier to support the power to deliver as expected. Follow the steps below systematically to get one installed by yourself.
Tools and Materials needed:
- Subwoofer
- Amplifier
- Wires for the installation
- Allen wrench
- Screwdriver(optional)
- Patience
You need to pick the best subwoofer brand matching with the best and affordable amplifier that can satisfy your need without compromising compatibility.
Be ready with all the wiring kits and all other supplies for the installation; the tools such as Allen wrench, screwdriver, plier, wire tapes, soldering iron and of course, patience.
If your subwoofers do not come with wire or any wiring, you should get some wire and be ready to do the wiring yourself.
Several wires that you will need may include a 50-amp in-line fuse and its holder, 20ft (6.1m)wire for power supply connection, ground wire of 3ft long(0.91m), 15ft (4.6m)red and white RCA wire connector, 15ft (4.6m) blue remote wire, plastic crimp connector for the remote wire, crimp ring terminals to connect the wires and substantial length of wire for speaker connection.
Where to place your amplifier
A powerfully stable and high-quality subwoofer is recommended based on your budget if you desire good on-the-move music in your car.
The location where you place it is equally important, to prevent it from heat, do not place your amplifier close to your sound system but have it placed in a spacious location where it can be ventilated properly to last longer.
You may choose to place it under the driver’s seat, in-between the other seat or under the dash but should not be too far from the subwoofer it intends to serve. This is the reason why some car owners opt for subwoofers that come with an in-built amplifier.
Procedure for installation
- Be careful you use a solid power wire with fuse (if desirable) to source power from the battery terminal in your car’s trunk area to your subwoofers.
- Unless your car come with a line -out converter which taps into your factory fitted speaker, you will need run RCA cables directly from the back of your radio deck to deliver signals to the subwoofer which notes to recognize and play.
- A remote wire which instruct your amplifier when to turn on or off is needed to connect the LOC or the radio deck. If you fail to put this, your amplifier will just be on permanently and this can drain your battery.
- There is also the need for a solid ground cable for earthing. Connect this to a bolt somewhere in your car’s trunk. Be sure it is connected to an unpainted bare metal surface for best connection. Once all these are done, be prepared to hook up your amplifier to the subwoofers.
- Like we just mentioned above, ensure that your amplifier and subwoofers are compatible. This mean that both their rms and wattage matches to avoid a blow up of either or both gadgets. It is advisable that you neither over-power nor under-power your subwoofers for any reason, for this we recommend 100 watts for accurate performance.
- Start with the disconnection of your car battery’s negative terminal to prevent electric shock or fuse being blown off.
- It is time now to mount your amplifier in a chosen location preferably where it will enjoy a lot of airflow to prevent it from being damaged by heat. It is paramount to note that the location should not be too far from the subwoofers for good result.
- Connect your RCA cables in the appropriate slot and pattern matching white to white and red cable to red connection correctly.
- Connect your speaker wire to the subwoofers now also matching correctly. If you have an enclosure in your subwoofer, match the speaker’s negative wire with the black terminal of the subwoofer and the speaker’s red wire with the positive terminal of the subwoofer.
- Then join the other negative end of the speaker wire with the negative slot on the amplifier as well as the positive end to the positive slot on the amplifier alternately.
- Connect the ground cable to the slot labeled ‘ground’ on the amplifier and the remote wire to the slot labeled ‘remote’ on the amplifier then connect the power two power wires together. Please be sure you secure all wire connections very well to prevent bridging.
- You can now connect your car battery’s negative terminal.
- If your power light on the amplifier is ‘ON’ now, it is time to start enjoying good cool solid music in your car!
- Go back to the whole process and re-check your connections, dot all ‘i’s and cross all ‘t’s. Solder all wires that is needed and tape all wire connections that should be taped. Replace every opened space such as the dash board, e.t.c to restore your car back to its original neat position.
Surely, if you adhere to the above guidelines and systematically follow up, you will not blow up your speakers and subwoofer after installation and you sure will have an improved sound quality.
How much does it cost to install a sub and amp in my car?
On the average, to install both a subwoofer and amplifier will cost you between $250 to $300 if you are to hire the service of a professional. Note that the above does not include the cost of materials you will need to purchase for normal installation.
You may wish to buy all your components (including the subwoofer and amplifier) from a dealer whose expert technician can install them for you as part of the purchase price.
How long does it take to install sub and amp?
With the two-in-one installation, the process can span over a period of 3-6 hours if you are the only one working on it. For two experts working to install these two gadgets on an SUV for example it will take an average of 3 hours.
What is the best subwoofer to buy?
For quality performance and best sound, you may choose any of these marked ‘our bests’:
- Rockford Fosgate P300-12 Punch that comes in 12” compact built into a sturdy enclosure constructed from 5/8” MDF fiber-board.
- Rockville RW10CA for best value and
- MTX TNE212D adjudged the most common
What is the best car amplifier to buy?
For car amplifier, we can recommend any of the following:
- Rockville dB45.
- Rockford Fosgate R500X1D.
- BOSS Audio R1100M Riot.
- BOSS Audio AR1500M.
- Rockford R300X4 Prime.
- BOSS Audio PT3000 Phantom.
- Rockford Fosgate R150X2.
- BOSS Audio R1004.
Conclusion
From the above, you would have seen that installing both subwoofer and amplifier in your car by yourself is not all that difficult provided you patiently follow the instruction. Why not try to get one set of the duo for yourself and try your hand on it?
However, if you know within yourself that it may prove unattainable please engage the service of a professional to save you the trouble of having to wrongly install things that may end up blowing the whole system and even damaging your car stereo.
We hope you now know how to install subwoofer and amplifier in car, if you have any comment or question, leave it in the box below, we will be glad to hear from you.
