How to Install an Amplifier in Your Car

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

cordless drill, amp wiring kit, crimpers, soldering iron, screws

Step 1

The first thing i do is look at the vehicle, and decide where everything is going to go.
Step 2

unibits

Check the firewall and see if there is a good entry grommet for your power wire coming fom the battery. Do not run the wire through the fender and in through the front door. I see this all the time, the problem is if the wire is pierced, and touches metal, it will arch weld the wire to the car, and could do a lot of damge to the vehicle. If there is no grommet available you will want to drill a small hole, making sure there is nothing on the engine side of the firewall before you start drilling. Using a unibit is the best way to do this. Make sure you have a new grommet to put into the whole you drill.
Step 3

battery

Next, you will route the power cable from the battery to where the amp will reside. i always disconnect the battery at this point. Zip tie the fuse holder to a factory harness under the hood so it has the right length to eventually bolt on to the battery terminal. Route the cable through the grommet and into the car.
Step 4

Now you will need to remove the radio. If its an oem radio, you will need a line output converter. This piece will convert high level speaker output into low level rca jacks. Assuming it is an aftermarket deck, plug the rca cables into the appropriate rca output of the deck. (front, rear, or subwoofer) You will also be connecting a remote turn on wire. This is the wire that sends 12 volt power to the amplifier when the radio is turned on. This wire in most cases will be blue with a white stripe. If it is an oem radio, do not assume these wires will be the same colors, most times they are not. Drop these cables onto the floorboard of the opposite side as the power cable.
Step 5

Next, you will wanna run these cable beneath the carpet. Removing the plastic door sill plates is necessary. Run the power cable down one side, usually the drivers side. The rca and remote wire down the other side. Sometimes removing the bottom of the back seat makes the install a little easier, it also opens up a lot of space to ground the amplifier. In most cases, the back seat lifts up will a little force, in some cases it will have a bolt on either side you will need to remove.
Step 6

Once you have the cables run to the back of the vehicle, verify that you have enough length, in most cases you will have extra. I will usually mount the amp to the car rather than the subwoofer enclosure. That gives you the option to remove the enclosure if need be. Mount the amplifier. Now look for the closest place for the ground cable to mate to the chasis of the vehicle. You want bare metal for the best ground so sand the paint off wherever you decide to ground this cable. If making new holes in the car for the ground cable, check underneath the car so you are not drilling into anything such as, oh i don't know, the gas tank! Make sure however you connect this cable, it is very tight to the car.
Step 7

All that is left now is to make all the connections. They will be labeled on each terminal of the amp. It's ok to double verify the connections again after you are done. Now you will be connecting the battery terminal, along with the fused power wire. It may spark a little when connected, that is normal.
Step 8

If you havent put the door sill panels back on the car, you can do this now. Same with the radio, although keeping the radio loose is ok until you verify that your amplifier is working properly. Now you will adjust the amplifier. The gain should be no more than 3/4 of the way up. Turn on the filters according to what speakers you are powering from the amp. The best way to adjust the amp in my opinion is to turn it all the way down, turn up the radio as loud as it can go before your interior speaker begin to distort. Back the volume down slightly. Now turn the amp back up at this volume until the subwoofer(s) begin to distort slighty, then back the amp down a little. This should give you the most out of your entire system.
Step 9

It's time to wrap it up. If you are not gonna cover the power cable under the hood with split loom, you will at least want to use zip ties to secure the wire to other non-moving parts under the hood. Put all the parts off the car back together that you have not. You should be done now. Now you have an amplifier installed in your car the safe way, and you can feel good about it.