Tips on Your Car Radio Installation

Installing an after market sound system in your vehicle is not such a daunting chore when you break it down to it's component parts. This makes it easier to plan out and complete the job.

First decide the right sound system for your car. Let us assume you just want a decent system and not go over the top with mega watts of amplifier power and a system that is worth more than the car it is riding around in.

A decent system is going to comprise a radio which will feature am and fm radio bands and a cd player. Some of the more pricier units may boast a cd changer or maybe a removable faceplate for security. But let's keep it simple. Our radio will have am and fm and a cd player. The speakers will be like eight by nines for the rear and round 6 inch speakers for the door panels. A good rule of thumb is that the speakers should be able to handle twice the wattage your radio can produce. Consider this. Your radio can produce say 40 watts. That is a respectable amount of wattage for a simple in car system. But that power is going to get divided from between two or four speakers. In an ideal world each speaker should be getting only ten watts. So go for 20 watt capacity speakers. Most people tend to favor a mix of front and rear sound so no set of speakers should ever get a full 40 watts and this keeps you from having to pop for huge wattage capacity speakers that you don't need. Sound quality comes from the radio and speakers as a unit..not the speakers alone. Too much wattage capacity at the speakers is a waste of money. And at the same time, running speakers that are too low in wattage capacity are also a waste of money as they are getting over driven by the watts and they sound terrible.

First off, remove the existing radio from it's home in the dash. Once this is done break out the new unit and test fit it into the hole in the dash. Some radios will come with some trim panels that will fill in any gaps the new radio is too small for. Make absolutely certain, that you tie off this radio so it can not ever move once installed.

Follow the installation manual as regarding wiring the unit in as well. There seems to be a standard in wiring harness' these days but never the less pay close attention to things. It may very well be a good idea to completely run new wiring. Which is not the major job it sounds like. You new radio just needs a power wire, an antenna, a ground and wire leads to all the speakers.

Remove the old speakers in the rear window area and test fit the new speakers. If you have to do some trimming of the rear shelf then go ahead and do it now to insure a tight fit. One thing you do not want is a loose speaker as they tend to hum and buzz on the low notes and in general make your listening experience less than enjoyable.

Once done with the rears, test fit the door speakers too. These especially need to be snug fitting as they also get all the impact from slamming doors.

If you are going to install an amplifier you really need to get the power supply wire a direct connection to the battery. This is due to the fact that there is probably no fuse inside that car that will take the kind of load the amp is capable of placing on it. Plus that same fuse you may tap into already has a certain amount of load on it from whatever it was intended to protect, such as the air conditioning or heating system. Besides, the amp is going to have its own fuse or circuit breaker to protect it so running your power wire directly to the battery wont hurt anything.

If you opt for the amp then the speaker wires are going to exit from the radio and go directly to the amp and then exit the amp and go to the speakers. Most amps have an optional switch you can install on the dash to activate the amp or turn it off as you like. Internal switching within the amp will allow the speakers to operate as usual when you don't want the extra watts.

A very good idea if you need to join wires together is to use crimp fittings. You can get these at any auto parts store or electronics shops. They will join your wires up for you and you can avoid the nightmare of electrical taped connections that can get hot and actually burst into flames if the wires should wear through and touch. Such an event can ruin your whole day not to mention having a fire erupt under the dash while driving is a distraction beyond most anything you can imagine. i speak from experience here.

Complete your installation and check all your wiring. I like to use zip ties on wire cable runs to keep everything tidy. Switch on the power and and check all functions to see if everything is operating as it should. One word of caution here. Do not ever bypass the fuse or circuit breaker on the amp or radio. If the fuse keeps self destructing, or the breaker keeps popping open, they are simply doing their job. There is a problem somewhere and that fuse or breaker just saved you bacon. Track down and fix the problem. You will be much happier for it.