How to Wire a Home Stereo to a Car Subwoofer

Subwoofer in a stereo cabinet.

Home stereo speakers and car speakers are basically the same. The two differences are the terminal connections and their impedance or voice coil resistance. Most car speakers today are 4-ohm or 8-ohm speakers and most home stereos use 8-ohm speakers. All stereos have an output resistance. When you're matching speakers to a stereo, the combined resistance of the speakers should equal the output resistance of the stereo. This is when the maximum power from the stereo will be transferred to the speakers.

Things You'll Need

• RCA jack installation kit
• Speaker wire
• Wire strippers
• Wire cutters
• Screwdriver
• Soldering iron
• Solder
• RCA cable

Instructions

1. Turn the subwoofer upside down to allow access to the connection terminals.

2. Look at the RCA jack installation kit. The kit will be of one of two types. The first type uses screw terminal connections to connect individual speaker wires to an RCA jack. The second type requires a soldering iron and solder to connect the wires to the RCA jack.

3. Connect the positive terminal of the subwoofer to the terminal on the RCA plug that corresponds to the outside wall of the RCA plug. Connect the negative terminal of the subwoofer to the terminal corresponding to the center portion of the RCA plug. Then tighten both screw terminals. This is for an RCA installation kit that uses the screw terminals. The wiring procedures are the same for the soldering method except there are no screw terminals.

4. Twist the wires around the appropriate connections. Heat up the soldering iron and place the tip of the iron so that it touches both the bare wire and the terminal itself. Hold solder up to the bare wire until it starts to melt. You want enough solder to cover both the terminal and the bare wire. Then let it cool and repeat this process for each wire.

5. Plug one end of the RCA cable into the new RCA jack and plug the other end into the RCA jack on the back of the stereo. Test the speaker's operation.

Tips & Warnings

• The addition of a crossover or capacitor will reduce the the amount of high frequency sound getting sent to the subwoofer.

References

• Smarthome.com: Hooking Up a Subwoofer