How to Upgrade a Car Sound System
- 1). Replace the head unit for an aftermarket option. Remove your old head unit which may require taking out parts of the dash, depending on your car. You also may need to buy a wiring harness, which is an adapter to the factory wires on your car. You simply click the adapter onto the cars original wiring unit that was meant to clip into the back of the factory system. From this wiring harness is the universal wiring system which you then match up with the wires from the back of the aftermarket head unit. The wire are color coded so you only need to match the colors and connect the wires.
- 2). Swap your factory speakers with aftermarket speakers. Check your owners manual for what speakers will fit in the factory inserts and find a speaker at an audio store that matches that size. You will need to match the maximum amount of watts the speakers can handle with the amount of watts that will be going to the speaker. Depending on your car model, you may need to remove the door panel to access the front speakers, and in some cases the back speakers. Once you have the speakers accessible, unscrew the screws they are mounted on using a phillips head screwdriver. Take the speakers out of the car. Use the cars original speaker wire and clip those wires onto the speaker terminals for the new speakers. Replace the screws and any door paneling you removed.
- 3). Add external amplifiers to power your speakers for maximum sound quality. To install an amplifier you need to run several wires from the battery and other locations to the amp. Determine where the amp will go and purchase all wires going off this distance. A common amplifier location is under the driver side seat. Run the power wire from the battery through the car's firewall and to the amp. Run the RCA and remote wire cords from the head unit to the amp. These inputs should be marked on the head unit so you know where they plug into. From the amplifier you then need to run speaker wire to the speakers that will be receiving sound from the amp. This may require removing the carpeting and running the wires under the carpet.
- 4). Install a subwoofer with its own amp for an excellent car audio system. Find a subwoofer enclosure that is sized to meet the recommendations from the subwoofer company. Screw the subwoofer into the enclosure and secure the enclosure in your determined location. The trunk is a popular location for the subwoofer. To install the amp, repeat the same steps as with the amp for the speakers, with the only differences being you need to find a new location for the amp and you need to run the speaker wire to the subwoofers instead of the speakers.
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