The people who own cars and are keen on their upgradation would know the implication of a good music system. Promising stereos and amplifiers are prerequisites for listening to music that tends to loosen up and unwind our brains. Amplifiers, commonly called “amps,” fulfill their purpose by magnifying music or vibratory signals, significantly intensifying them. Let’s see how to hook up a car amp.
Installing amps and speakers can be a task, but you can develop a few skills for tweaking and upgrading your cars. So where is the loss?
Below we share uncomplicated steps to install amplifiers in your car without wasting money hiring expensive mechanics to do the same job that can be done for free.
- Understand the parts needed to install a car amp
- Prepare the amp by connecting the power and ground wires
- Connect the remote turn-on wire
- Connect the speaker and RCA cables
- Run the cables and wires through the firewall
- Mount the amp securely
- Connect the speakers to the amp
- Test the system with a multimeter
- Adjust the settings on the amp
- Enjoy your new sound system!
How to Hook Up a Car AMP
Understand the parts needed to install a car amp.
It would help if you had the following tools and materials to hook an amp to your music system:
- Wires: The amp is connected to your vehicle’s electrical power supply using power and ground wires, which need to be thick and well-insulated to bear the stress of heavy currents so that they don’t cause any hazard or complication during the process. The instructions on the amp will tell you about the gauge of wire you will use. A lower gauge number means a thicker wire.
- In-line fuse: The fuse protects your car from a short circuit in the power transfer process, possibly leading to a car.
- RCA cord: RCA cable is necessary to connect the speaker’s receiver output and the amplifier.
- Speaker wires: Unlike the RCA cable, they run from the amp’s output to the speaker’s input.
Some amplifiers have a complete kit with all the corresponding cables and wires. Alternatively, you will have to search for each component individually.
Prepare the amp by connecting the power and ground wires
After turning the ignition off and disconnecting the battery (to avoid short-circuiting), prepare to route the power wire through the firewall of your engine through the car’s interior to the amplifier. An unused grommet will work best to allow the passage.
Use any bolt on the metallic frame of the car near the amp to connect the ground wire after scraping the paint off the surface so the metallic contact is unhindered.
Connect the remote turn-on wire.
Connect this wire to the power wire terminal. This step can be made easy if your amp kit has a remote-controlled output.
Connect the speaker and RCA cables.
Ensure proper connectivity by linking the speaker and RCA cables from the amplifier to the stereo.
Run the cables and wires through the firewall.
All these wires attached to the amp and stereo must now be connected to the main power supply via the firewall. The power wire will now be attached to the positive battery terminal left prepared earlier. The wiring is complete now.
Mount the amp securely.
Mounting the amp requires careful thought because amps require a safe place that is not too suffocating as amps produce heat that needs sufficient let out. The amps must be close to the speaker to avoid loose wiring in the car’s interior. Some possibilities for mounting amps include the following:
- The firewall of the passenger side
- Car trunk
- Under the seat
Connect the speakers to the amp
The wires from the speaker will finally connect to the amp and vice versa.
The amp will attach the front and posterior speaker wires to the corresponding compartments of the speakers. Additionally, subwoofers will also be attached to the amp at this point. The wiring is complete.
Test the system with a multimeter.
Reassemble the battery, turn on the ignition, and check your system.
Place DC multimeter probes on the respective input cables.
- Red probe: positive wire
- Black probe: ground wire
The system is set to use if the multimeter gives a reading between 10-20V.
Adjust the settings on the amp.
Regulate the balance, fade, and subwoofer settings from the stereo system. Match the amp’s input and the speaker’s output.
Enjoy your new sound system!
You are all set to go now. Enjoy a terrific sound system with minimum loss of energy or unsettling vibrations and buzzing.
My Opinion
Amplifiers are a good addition to your music system, so be bold with a DIY installation only because it sounds tricky. We promise that it is worthwhile. Try for yourself and thank us later. Hope you have learned how to hook up a car amp.
I am an Automotive specialist. I graduated from Michigan with Bachelor in Automotive Engineering and Management. Also, I hold degrees in Electrical and Automation Engineering (BEng), Automatic and Industrial Electronic Engineering, and Automotive Technology. I have worked at General Motors Company for over five years as the Marketing Operations Production Coordinator. Now, I own my garage in Miami, Florida. I love cars and love to share everything about them with my readers. I am the founder of the Automotiveex blog, where I share everything about automotive, like car news, car mechanical issues, and anything else that comes up in my blog posts.
