If you are looking to add a little more bass to your car audio system, then you can wire a simple active subwoofer in your ride. An active subwoofer has a sub and amplifier all in one enclosure. This means you don't have to shop around for a separate amp. This makes it compact to install in many different kind of cars of all sizes. Fitting an active subwoofer is not as hard as you think and most people can do it themselves at home on your day off from work. You just need an open space and access to your car really. This guide has been designed to see if you can attempt to wire, connect and install an active subwoofer in your car without taking it to a car audio shop. You should save around $60 if you use our instructions.
Here is a breakdown of the different wires used
for an active subwoofer:
Power: Used to get power for the car battery.
Ground: Used to ground the car amp to the cars
metal.
Remote: This turns on and off the amp.
RCA: This feeds music into your amp to be
amplified.
Speaker Wire: This is used to connect the sub to
the amp. Most active enclosure already have this fitted internally so you don’t
have to do this yourself.
1) Remove the negative terminal on your car
battery. This will prevent anything from shorting out when you are working on
your car. Connected the red positive wire, with the fuse holder side near the
car battery to the + positive terminal on the battery. Feed this cable all the
way to the back of the car, through one of the sides panel. Once you have got
it all the way to the back, insert this wire into the 12-volt power terminal on
the car amp.
2) Now that you have wired up the power, you will
now need to ground your car amp. This can be done by mounting the terminal onto
a metal bolt on your car. If you lift the carpet up in the trunk, you will see
some existing screws that are already there. If you are going to use them just
make sure that you sand down the paint with a file of some sort to ensure a
good clean connection. If you don't you could run into your car amplifier not
powering.
3) You will now have to connect the RCA cables
into the 'Subwoofer output' on the back of your stereo. Once plugged in, run
them onto the opposite side where you have ran the red power cable down your
car. This is because you don't want to mix them as this could causing interference
and a buzzing sound to be heard when you are driving. Connect the other end of
the RCA cable into the amp that is already fitted internally on the active
subwoofer you want to fit in your car.
4) The remote wire is a very thin wire that is
connected to the remote turn on wire, usually blue on most car stereo wiring
harnesses. This tells the car amp to turn on and off with the car stereo, if
you don't connect this wire your car amp will not turn on at all, or you could
run the risk of draining your car battery. Once you have made the connection
onto the back of the stereo, connect the other end into the remote turn on
terminal on the car amp.
Thats it, you have installed your active car
subwoofer in your car. Turn on the cars ignition, power on the car stereo and
insert a CD of your choice. If you look at your car amp, the power light should
come on and the bass with come out from the subwoofer port. Turn up the gain
and stop when you hear distortion and adjust the Low Pass Filter LPF to 80HZ.
Use the bass boost feature accordingly, if you are after more bass, but be
careful is turned up too much it can cause sound quality problems.
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