How to: A Car Stereo Installation Guide
If you have ever looked into buying a new car stereo system, you probably realize that the costs
of having it professionally installed can almost double the cost of your new system. But there is
always the other option: do it yourself. While a car stereo installation can be complicated, there
is nothing in particular that prevents you from doing it yourself, as long as you are willing to put
in the time and effort to learn how before you diving into the project. Not only can you learn a lot,
but there is always a sense of satisfaction when you fire it up for the first time, knowing you did it
all yourself.
Patience and caution are paramount here. Some car stereo equipment is quite expensive, not to
mention the price of your car to begin with! So be careful, proceed slowly, and if you have
doubts, find out the answer to whatever is bothering you before you continue. Not taking it slow
and carefully can lead to a botched install or even broken equipment or a damaged vehicle.
Beginners are advised to keep it simple the first time around. Don't try to install a full car theater
system with LCD displays and DVD players or video games for your first installation. Start with
the head unit. This is both the easiest and the most critical thing to get right the first time. Often
the wiring harness that plugs into your factory stereo will need an adapter to get the correct
electrical connections to the power and speaker system already in your car. And being able to
reuse your factory wiring makes things much easier down the road when replacing the factory
speakers. Don't just cut the harness off! Use an adapter. If you ever want to replace the head
unit again, things will be much easier if you can simply unplug the old adapter and replace it
with a new one for the new head unit.
The head unit will also probably require an adapter kit of some kind to fit properly in the factory
dash hole. Most factory systems are either custom or what is called "Double DIN", whereas
most aftermarket head units are single DIN form factor. Sometimes, filing away parts of the trim
surrounding the mounting area will be needed. Do some test fits before you bolt everything
down.
Speakers are a very important part of any quality audio system. While you may be able to get
sound from your factory speakers with that new head unit, replacing those factory speakers with
high quality aftermarket ones can make a huge difference in the quality of your sound.
For your first speaker installations, you should try to replace the speakers in the factory
mounting holes. This is a fairly simple procedure, but can require removing interior panels to
access the speaker mounting locations. This method is advantageous because you can use the
existing brackets and wiring.
More complicated is mounting speakers in locations that didn't originally have speakers, or
putting larger speakers in existing mounting locations. This will often require metalworking and
building boxes and baffles to accommodate the new speakers. But if you don't have any factory
speakers, or they are in bad locations, this may be your only option. Just be careful, and if the
project requires a lot of reshaping of the cars metal locations, you should consider having it
professionally done; this kind of work is best done with specific tools that most home
enthusiasts don't have. such as plasma cutters and pneumatic sheet metal formers.

If you are fresh to the car stereo market, you may acquisition yourself afflicted at the sheer number of genitalia and accessories that can accomplish up a top of the band car stereo system. In this article, we'll analyze the basal apparatus that accomplish up a activity car stereo system.

The Arch Unit: Making It Happen

You may accept apparent the appellation "head unit" afore and not accepted what absolutely it was. Artlessly put the arch assemblage is the allotment of your car stereo that absolutely produces the music from radio, tape, CD, or added device. But nowadays you can additionally get arch units for your car stereo that can play DVDs or music and video from USB beam drives or anamnesis cards. Arch units accept abiding come a continued means from back bodies acclimated to install home stereo accessories in their vehicles!

Amplifiers: Bring the Boom

While your arch assemblage may accommodate its own centralized addition (which may be abundant for you), at some point best car stereo enthusiasts will appetite to add amplifiers to the mix. Artlessly put, and amplifier takes a arresting advancing out of your arch unit, and makes it louder. Be accurate when shopping for amplifiers, as some of the ample amps can draw over 100 amps; this may be well over what your alternator and array can provide, and can account accident to those components.

Speakers: Woofers, Tweeters, What?

The best arch assemblage and amp is absolutely abortive after speakers. Speakers, behindhand of size, all do one thing: booty the electrical arresting advancing from either the arch unit's centralized amp or your alien amp and about-face it into sound, usually loud sound. The altered types of speakers are classified by the ambit of sounds they can reproduce. Tweeters, for example, only reproduce aerial pitches, while woofers carbon the high bass ranges. Midranges make midrange sounds, abnormally enough, while subwoofers awning sounds from the low bass all the way bottomward to sub sonic (those sounds you can feel but not hear). Subwoofers are usually the first applicant for alien amplifiers, back they crave ample amounts of accepted to accomplish that.

Putting It All Together

Let's review: arch units booty your CD or band and catechumen it to electrical signals. The amplifier makes this arresting larger, and assuredly the speakers booty that arresting and accomplish complete out of it. These are the abject apparatus you charge for any car stereo installation. The accessories, such as crossovers and arresting isolators, may or may not be bare for your accurate application. These are the basics you charge to apperceive for all car stereo systems. Now that you accept a better idea what all these altered agreement absolutely mean, you should be able to boutique intelligently for your fresh car stereo system. Just remember, as always, while you get what you pay for, you don't necessarily accept to accept the complete best (and best expensive) genitalia for a acceptable sound. More generally than not, a midrange artefact will accommodate the best blast for your buck. And remember, it's all modular! You don't HAVE to shop for every allotment all at once. You can alpha with the arch unit, and artlessly wire it's congenital in amplifier into your branch car stereo speakers. Add asub and an amp after if you want, or alter the branch speakers with college affection ones, it's all up to you