Amplifier installing

After college, I joined a rock 'n roll band as the soundman and learned how to lug around and operate the gear that helps make music sound good and loud. Working in a music store in Austin, Texas, I spent a few years manufacturing, installing, repairing, and operating sound systems. Our customers were recording studios, nightclubs, and touring bands. Eventually I moved back to Charlottesville, Virginia and opened a small demo recording studio. In , I finally came to my senses and got this job at Crutchfield.

They actually pay me to ramble on, rant, and explain the things I love about music, electronics, and getting good sound. Given my background, they put me to work writing about some of the most complex electronic products Crutchfield sells: car amplifiers, digital signal processors, wiring, professional sound mixers, and PA systems. A: Read this article! We cover all of the basics of where to mount and how to wire the amplifier.

And we'll walk you step-by-step through the installation process. We'll also share a few expert tips and tricks along the way. This installation guide offers examples of amplifier installation and layout. Installation specifics will depend on the make and body style of your vehicle and the equipment you purchased. Before going through this more-detailed guide, you might want to watch our amplifier installation video to get an overview of what's involved:.

Car amplifiers don't come with any wiring included. You must supply the amp's power and ground wiring, an inline fuse, a remote turn-on wire, RCA cables, and speaker wires.

The power and ground wires need to be thick enough to accommodate the amp's demand for electrical current or the amp won't operate properly or put out its rated power. Your amp's instructions will include a recommendation on what size wire to use. Or, you can check out How to determine the best size wire for help doing it yourself. Don't forget to measure all distances first, so you'll know what lengths of wire to get. The in-line fuse on the main power cable, mounted within six inches or so of the battery connection, is essential for protecting the wire, your car, and you from a catastrophic fire in the event of a short circuit.

Each wire manufacturer rates their wire's current capacity differently, but as a general rule, for a typical to foot run, you'll be safe using a:. The easiest way to get these items is with an amplifier wiring kit , which will include matching power, ground, turn-on wires, and fuse.

Amp wiring kits often don't include signal wiring. Your amplifier gets its input signals from the receiver's output typically via RCA cables. RCA cables come in stereo pairs, in various lengths. When running new speaker wires from your amplifier's output to the speakers, any size wire from to gauge will work fine. The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire.

For subwoofers, use to gauge wires. Use these guidelines to choose a location for mounting your amplifier. A smart mounting location will help your installation go smoothly:. A compact subwoofer amplifier mounted in an out-of-the-way nook in a trunk with plenty of air space for cooling. All system wiring should be concealed for safety, and to give your installation a nice, finished look.

Wires should be secured so that they do not interfere with safe vehicle operation. Depending on the location you choose for your amplifier, the wiring may need to be run under the dash, door scuff plate, pillar trimpanel, or kickpanel. The instructions below address, in general, which panels may need to be removed and how they typically come off. Often, panels can be pried up at the edges. You'll probably also need to remove some screws and retaining clips.

To prevent damage, always use care when removing panels — a panel tool is helpful. The plates are usually removed by prying up the edges to release clips. Some vehicles will have screws present which will need to be removed. A seat belt may be located on a panel that needs to be removed. Most seat belt anchor covers pry off. The seat belt anchor is secured with a large nut or bolt. Remove the seat belt if present. Remove screw covers, screws, and plastic retaining clips if present.

Pry up the edges of the panel to remove it. Look for screws and pry-out retaining clips to remove. Pry out the edges of the panel to release and remove it. When routing wire behind or under the dash, always secure it with plastic wire ties. Be sure that the wire doesn't interfere with any moving parts to ensure safe operation of the vehicle.

With that background stuff covered, it's time to get to work. Gather up your gear and tools, maybe a friend and a soda, and give yourself plenty of time. Set the parking brake and disconnect the negative terminal from your battery to prevent any electrical shorts or shocks. The power wire from your amp wiring kit usually feet in length needs to run from the battery, through your car's firewall, through the car's body to the amp. Find an unused grommet in the firewall or one that already has wires or cables passing through it and that has enough room for the power wire to fit through too.

Route the power wire from your amp wiring kit through a hole in your vehicle's firewall, using a grommet or bushing to prevent the insulation from scraping against metal.

If you can't find an existing grommet, you'll have to drill a hole through the firewall. Make sure you don't drill into any electrical or gas lines — check both sides of the firewall.

Use a grommet to protect your wire from fraying and shorting as it passes through the hole. The power wire from your amp wiring kit may have a fuse holder installed. If so, go to Step 5.

If not, find a good spot close to your battery to place your fuse-holder included in the kit — less than 6" from the battery is best. Be aware: even after a fuse blows, the short stretch of cable between the battery and the fuse holder will still be live and a potential fire hazard in the event of an accident.

Anchor the fuse holder to a suitable spot with a screw or cable tie, so it won't hang loose or bounce around. Cut a short piece off the end of the power wire to cover the distance from the battery to the fuse holder location , and strip the insulation off both ends with a wire stripper.

Crimp the terminal ring included in the kit onto one end of the short piece of wire, and attach the fuse holder onto the other end. Strip the insulation off the end of the power wire that leads into the passenger compartment, and connect it to the other end of the fuse holder.

When powering multiple amplifiers, you run a single heavy-gauge power cable from your battery to a distribution block , and then connect a lighter-gauge cable from the block to each amplifier. This arrangement minimizes potential noise problems and keeps your installation looking neat. Make sure the main power cable is thick enough that it can handle the total current draw of all the amplifiers.

Check out our amplifier wiring diagram to see how the wiring gets connected in a typical 2-amp system. Attach the power cable to the positive battery terminal not directly to the battery post itself.

For top-mounted battery posts, the most common way to do this is to crimp a ring terminal onto the end of the power cable many cables in wiring kits come with it already attached. Remove the battery terminal's nut, slip the power cable's ring over the bolt that secures the battery terminal to the battery post, and replace the nut.

For GM vehicles with a side-mount post, we offer terminal adapters that work nicely. A wire loom provides added protection for your wire against the high heat inside the engine compartment. If your kit includes a wire loom, thread it over the power cable until it reaches the firewall and cut to fit. Thread another piece over the short power wire running from the fuse holder to the battery. As near to the amplifier's location as possible, find a bolt to your vehicle's metal frame to use for ground.

If you can't find a convenient ground screw or bolt, drill a hole for one — be careful not to drill into any wiring, the gas tank, or a gas or brake line. Crimp a ring terminal usually included with the amp kit to the short piece of ground cable also in the kit. Scrape away any paint and clean the bolt location thoroughly, and then bolt the terminal tightly to the vehicle's metal chassis so the ground connection will be bare metal to bare metal.

Use a lock washer, a star washer, extra screws, and any other technique or device that'll keep this connection tight, clean, and electrically conducting. Many people even coat the final connection with silicone caulk to prevent corrosion.

Improper or loose grounding is the 1 cause of amplifier problems. The turn-on wire also called the remote wire is located behind the stereo.

On aftermarket stereos, it's usually a blue and white wire. The remote wire will "tell" your amplifier to turn on whenever the stereo is powered up usually, whenever the vehicle is turned on. You'll have to remove the stereo to get to this wire.

Locate the remote turn-on lead behind your radio usually a blue and white wire , and connect the turn-on lead from your amplifier wiring kit to it. Strip the insulation off a small section of this wire coming from the radio and the turn-on lead that came with your wiring kit and connect them together via solder, a crimp connector, or a Posi-Connector.

If, like a factory radio, your radio doesn't have a remote turn-on output, then you can get the turn-on signal from your vehicle's fuse box. Because of its low current demand, you can connect your turn-on lead to almost any fused output terminal, like the one for the radio itself for instance, as long as it only powers up when the vehicle's on.

You'll need to route the turn-on lead to your amplifier through the car's body — it's often easiest to route the turn-on wire with the RCA cables next step but you can also route it with the power wire after it passes through the firewall.

The power and RCA cables should run on opposite sides of the vehicle, to reduce noise — but it won't matter for the turn-on lead's low current.

Route the patch cables to the opposite side of the vehicle from the power cable. It's important to separate the patch cables from the power wires as much as possible to avoid potential noise problems. Now you can partially re-install the radio in the dash.

Avoid completely re-installing it if you can, in case you need to fix a problem later. If you're using a factory radio with no RCA outputs, you can get your amplifier's input signals from the factory speaker wiring. The speakers will be getting their signal from the new amplifier — which leaves the radio's outputs available to use for the amp's inputs.

There are two ways to do this: get a line output converter LOC that'll adjust the speaker-level signal for your amp's input, or get an amplifier with speaker-level inputs.

You cut the factory speaker wires behind the radio, and connect the wires coming from the radio to your LOC or amp's inputs. Learn more about line output converters. Now you have to provide a way for the music to get from your new amp to the speakers. The best way to do that is to run a new speaker wire from each amplifier output to each speaker.

Use or gauge wire for speakers, or gauge for subwoofers. Speaker-level signals are not very prone to picking up interference, so it's okay to run your speaker wires near power cables. Running wires is all about finding the best path. Here, we're running a bundle of speaker wires across the backseat to the amp in the trunk.

You'll have to run each wire for your door speakers through the rubber gasket or boot around the hinge, to protect the wires from the weather or from getting pinched in the door. There may be a Molex plug or a similar obstruction blocking the way, but you can usually find a place to drill a hole through it big enough to fit your wire through. Disconnect or cut the factory speaker wires and connect the new wires directly to each speaker terminal. It is important that you keep the polarity of your speaker wiring straight.

This means that each positive terminal of the amp connects to a positive terminal of a speaker — and the same goes for the negative terminals. This ensures that your speakers will operate in mechanical phase — all the speaker cones moving the same direction with the same kind of signal — and will sound balanced when playing together. The positive and negative terminals of each speaker should be labeled, but if not, the positive terminal will usually be wider than the negative terminal.

You cut each speaker wire from the receiver's harness and reconnect it to a speaker wire coming from the amp.

Then, the signal can flow from the amp to the speakers by way of the vehicle's original factory wiring. This technique will work fine in systems with up to 75 watts RMS of power per channel — but for more powerful systems it would be better to run new speaker wire directly from the amp to each speaker.

Check out How to connect an amplifier to a factory stereo to see how this can be done. Neatly drape or trim each wire and connect it to the amp.

Make gentle curves with the wires, not sharp bends that could pinch. Many people cut small slits in their vehicle's carpeting and run their wires underneath, for stealthy installations that look factory-neat.

A wiring snake comes in handy for this. Tape your wires to the snake, fish it under and through to where you want your wires to go, and pull them on through. RCA cables routed through slits in the vehicle's carpet, and connected to the amplifier's signal inputs.

Check all of your wiring, from the battery and receiver to the amp and speakers, making sure every connection is tight and secure with no stray wire strands laying out that could cause a short circuit.

Especially, check that the ground connection is tight and secure. Set all the amplifier's gains to minimum, and turn off all the filters and any bass boost or EQ it may have. See that the main fuse is properly installed in its holder. Then, reconnect your car's negative battery cable. Turn on your car, then turn on the radio.

Verify that the amplifier powered up there'll probably be an indicator light on it somewhere. Play some music and turn the volume up just loud enough to hear. If everything sounds right, you can finish re-installing the stereo and all your vehicle's paneling, and then move ahead to step Setting your amplifier's gain, or input sensitivity, matches the amp's input level with the receiver's output level, resulting in maximum distortion-free music and minimum background noise.

For a detailed explanation of how to do this, read our article about setting the gains on a 4-channel amplifier. Usually, once you've installed your amp, you can turn on the stereo and immediately enjoy all the extra power and detail in your music. But sometimes things just don't work like we expect them to right from the start. If this happens to you, don't get stressed out too much. Read our article about troubleshooting your amp installation for help with finding and solving the most common problems.

Your best first step is to call Crutchfield and talk to an Advisor about what your amplifier will need. They'll make sure you get all the necessary hardware and accessories for a successful and satisfying installation. And remember, anything you buy from Crutchfield comes with free lifetime tech support. Just click on "Contact Us" at the top of this page for the toll-free number and other methods of contacting us.

My current set up is using a factory installed Rockford Fosgate 10 speaker system in a Nissan Titan with an aftermarket HU. I'm wanting to put in a 4 X amp and upgrade the lower door speakers. Is it okay to continue to use the factory Fosgate amp for the 3 dash and upper door speakers while using the RCA outputs from the HU to send signal to the amp for the 4 lower door speakers? Someone gave me a Jensen 2-channel amp to put with my 2 Kenwood Kfc-wps subs and I don't think the amp will push the 2 subs.

Suggested edit. No need to display this. Fairly common knowledge, but still Specify which terminal on the battery to connect the power cable to. So I installed a jvs assassin watt amp to run 6x9. Problem is only bass no highs. What is wrong. I will be replacing a stock head unit of a Ford f with a Kenwood head unit. Truck has an after market Alpine amp installed years ago. What needs to be done to use your ready made wire harness and SWC that I have ordered from Crutchfield along with the Kenwood?

I am installing an older 45 watt per channel 80 max two-channel amp in the back of my year-old car and running an 8-gauge wire for it. My question is: do I need also need an 8-gauge fuse holder at the battery connection?

I have one, but it is huge. And since the amplifier only requires a amp fuse, it looks like overkill. A 10 or gauge fuse holder would fit in the space near the battery better. But always a but! I don't want to choke down the 8-gauge wire at the very beginning of the ft run. I am using the 8-gauge to future proof the install in case I need to install a newer, more powerful amp at some point. Head has 2 line out Jack's, amp has 4 line ins.

I'm trying to run 4 speakers from the amp. I tried splitters but the out put is weak. It's a jensen xda94rb amp, the control app is worthless. Much stress, please help. Installing on a motorcycle. Simple enough for the power wire, and ground wire. However, my ACC wire on the bike is connected to a 2 prong plug. One side goes to where it needs to go to give power when the key is turned on, the other side goes to ground If the sound gets muddy when you turn it up, you need the added power of an amplifier.

You probably know the difference in sound between your TV speakers and a home theater system. An amplifier in your vehicle can make that kind of difference.

You'll hear a bigger, fuller sound, with more detail and greater impact, especially if you've installed better speakers in your vehicle. The first consideration is how many speakers you'll be powering and how much power each speaker will handle. Once you know that, you'll know how many amplifier channels you'll need and how much power you'll want. Yes, you can, as long as you have a basic knowledge of electronics and you're handy with tools.

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