Car Audio For Beginners?

Question

just got my first car and want to upgrade it.
what do i have to do,
i understand that im gonna need a new headunit and speakers to start with, but what else.
subwoofers? do they need a seperate amp, and if so how do you wire it all up.
do i need an amp for the normal speakers or not

all help appreciated greatly

Answer 1

You can get the wiring harness and bezel kit from here: http://www.metraonline.com

Here is some info on enclosures and subwoofer wiriing methods (and other tips):

http://spkrbox1.spaces.live.com

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Answer 2

Start with a head unit. Stock head units aren't terrible - however they don't put out enough watts to your speakers. Typically they will put something like 8w when an aftermarket usually puts out about 50w per speaker.

Then - for some bass - get whatever size box will fit in your trunk. Compact cars can usually only fit 10s... but most will fit 12s. If you hae a very large vehicle and a bunch of cash - get 15s.

You will need an amp for your subwoofers. Talk to the guy at the car audio place to see what size amp you will need to drive your subwoofers.

A great brand (that I like) is JL Audio. They are a bit more pricey - but to be honest - you don't want to go cheap. Personally I would stay away from the Best Buy brands. Go to a car audio place. I'm sure they can talk your ear off (and talk your wallet empty)!

Answer 3

for the headunit you can get an adaptor to connect it to the original factory wiring. Then for the speakeres you can also get adaptors to connect them to the factory wiring. You dont need adaptors to do this but its better then just tieing the wires together and half assing it. For the subs, yes you do need an amp for them and a wiring kit. You connect the wires from the back of the subs to the proper spots on the amp. You the run rca cables from the headunit to the amp. Then you have to ground a wire and that goes from the amp to a metal spot (floor works good) and you have to run a wire from the amp to the car battery. Thats the basics

Answer 4

There does seem to be an order that most people follow (though not all agree) when upgrading from bone-stock.
1-Good aftermarket speakers running off the stock head unit.
2-New head unit
3-Sub and amp
4-Amp for your mid/high range speakers
5-At this point there will be a lot of demand on your electrical system. You may need a capacitor, and/or a high amp alternator.
-----For information on amp wiring go to Crutchfield.com

When purchasing components try to keep your system goal in mind, even if buying only one item at a time, so when your system grows it'll all work together flawlessly.

Answer 5

best advice rite here is find out how many amps ur alternator puts out.

on average most cars put out like 60-80 which is kinda shitty considering most people wanna put in huge systems in their car. there is an equation to find out how many amps ur system will draw and it basically is take the amount of watts RMS from all ur amps, multiply by 2 to compensate for ineffieincy i think then divide by 13.8 (average output of alternator in volts) then by 3 for average draw of amplifiers.... or if thats too much math u can just look at the fuses on the back of the amp and divide that by two.

basically u take ur alternators amp rating and multiply that by 40% to see how much power u got to work with. if u have like a 65 amp alternator like myself ur in some deep **** cuz u only have about 29 amps to mess around with meaning if u wanna run a 1000 watt RMS amp for subs and 200 RMS for speakers then.... im not sure but you will do some damager to ur electrical system... so figure out all this crap b4 u start dreaming about a killer system

Answer 6

Go to http://www.crutchfield.com
They have a lot of info and you can select the perfect head unit for you car. They also have adapters that make hooking it up pretty easy.
Even if you don't use them, the info is good.