How To Install Car Speakers
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The stock speaker systems that come in many new cars are, to put it simply, are often lousy. Luckily, not only are after-market speakers a relatively cost-effective way to boost your car’s audio capabilities, but also are generally easy to install . See Step 1 below to start learning how to install a new set of trunk-rattling speakers in your car!
How Much Does A Gps Navigation Head Unit Installation Cost
Image Crutchfield
If you want to install a GPS Navigation head unit on your vehicle, expect to pay around 300 dollars for a professional installation. This price usually includes the complete mounting kit and wiring harnesses with no extra charge. If other requests like specific speakers or backup cameras are needed through this final cost could increase depending on what is desired at any given point during the construction process.
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Removing Of The Stereo From The Car:
The first and the basic step are removing the stereo from the car. For this purpose, you should power off the battery of the car to remove the stereo.
Take a wrench for this a chosen the nut of the battery on which black cable of the stereo is connecting. Carefully loosen the clamp nut and remove the black cable from the battery so that it could be free from the power unit.
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How Much Does It Cost To Install A Car Amplifier
A simple car amplifier will cost you between $100 to $ 150 to install from a professional installer. But this cost could increase depending on your goals such as how many channels amp do you want. Most car owners spend $150 to $400 for both parts and installation. It typically takes three to four hours for the installation of a new car amplifier.
Car Amplifier: $60 $500
Parts and Labor: $140 to $400
Labor: $100 to $150
Some factors affect the installation cost of the amplifier:
- Wiring Quality
Installing Your New Stereo
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How To Install A Basic Aftermarket Car Stereo
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For some people any stereo in a car is sufficient. For others, only the best will suffice. If you are the latter, you may need to consider an aftermarket stereo that outperforms the stereo originally in your car. These can be professionally installed, or you can do the job yourself.
Dash Kit And Stereo Harness Adapter
When you finally get your new stereo removed, it is time to purchase a Dash Kit. Youre going to need to purchase one specifically designed for your vehicles make model and year. These are needed for the new stereo to fit properly and flush in your vehicle. The next item to add to your shopping list is a Stereo Harness Adapter in order to wire up the new stereo. An Antenna Adapter may also be required depending on your type of vehicle, the Harness adapter and Antenna adapter together will run you around $20-$30.
To install your new dash kit, clip the pieces together and slide your stereo through the face of the dash kit. Screw the sides to the stereo to secure it.
Set the stereo harness adapter and antenna adapter aside as it will be saved for the next step.
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How Does One Find A Good Installer
You can find a good installer by doing your research and asking friends and family for recommendations. A good installer should always be able to provide you with references in your area. They should also offer warranty coverage on the installation and will be able to walk you through whats involved in an installation when you call them with questions before they do it for you.
I’m Miles Walker, founder of HeadUnitAdvisor.com I have worked in sound technology for 8 years now. Here I educate the audience about car audio and stereo stuff. I also do Unboxing and reviews of the latest Car Stereos .
How To Wire A Car Stereo
This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow’s Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 278,209 times.Learn more…
Installing a new car stereo is a great way to breathe new life into your old daily driver. Adding a CD player or MP3 ready stereo to your car can give you the opportunity to listen to new music as well as improving the overall sound quality of your cars sound system. Doing the installation yourself can be a bit daunting, so its important to approach it with patience. Because every car and every model stereo are a bit different, you might want to do some research on your specific car before getting started.
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How To Splice Car Audio Wires
The first and most important factor we will have to grasp is understanding how to splice .
This is going to be the majority of the work in building a car stereo harness. Hence we have to understand the correct and incorrect ways to splice wires.
The preferred method of removing the insulation shield is using wire strippers because they are specifically designed only to remove the wires insulation shield and not damage the internal wiring.
If you use scissors of any kind, you will most likely damage or remove some of the wire.
The best method of connecting wires together is to solder them. Many people often crimp wires together using a terminal, but that method is also subject to wear and tear and can eventually lead to faults.
Heat Shrink is by far much more effective than electrical tape and is far more robust, withstanding a lot more punishment than electrical tape can handle.
Check out the video below, where you will see how to splice and connect car audio wire.
Wrapping All Connected Wires To Secure Them
Once you checked all the wires, and then connect them with the car very carefully. Its better to make the connections permanent. There should be no bare wire in your car stereo otherwise it will harm you. Wrap all the wire connections with some tape.
There are some other ways by which you can wrap wires but with tape is the most common is the easy way of all.
When you are connecting two wires, it requires solder or soldering wire .for that, first melt the solder, place melted solder onto the two-wire connections and wait until it cools down and sticks properly to the wire connections.
Now it becomes a permanent bond and after that wraps the connection with some tape. Connectors are also available in the market .you just have to put both wires into it and twist them with your fingers.
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Ground The Car Wires With Electrical Tape:
After the removing of the stereo from the car battery you should disconnect the power.
And should ground all the wires in the car. The yellow wire should be connecting to the batter and the red wires should ground with ignition switch and black should ground at a metal ground. After removing the stereo wires in the car should need to be grounded.
Installing A Used Car Stereo With Or Without A Pigtail
If you have a used car stereo that you want to install and the pigtail that came with the head unit, check the list above to see what each wire in the pigtail needs to connect to.
If you don’t have the pigtail, look for an adapter that’s designed to connect that head unit to your make and model of car. If that doesn’t work, obtain a replacement pigtail to proceed anyway. Hopefully, the colors of those wires will match up to the aftermarket standard.
Otherwise, you’ll need a wiring diagram, which is sometimes printed on the exterior of the head unit or available online.
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Something To Go By For Factory Wiring
All vehicle manufacturers use a different color code for their wiring so there is no universal color code I can give you for every vehicle. There are, however, resources available to get these color codes. I like to use the12volt.com to get factory wiring information.
Now, I know it would be tempting to just start matching up wire colors and get the harness connected but it is always a good idea to verify all the wires before making your connections. Ive seen resources give the wrong information before so its just a good habit to get into.
Get Started On The Wiring
Matthew Wright, author
Don’t screw the new stereo into the bracket just yet. It’s time to start the wiring process. Since you were smart and purchased the wiring adapter with your car stereo, all you have to do is connect the new stereo’s wiring harness to the adapter, and it’s plug-and-play.
To connect the stereo’s harness to your adapter, you’ll need to strip the wires and crimp the connections. Never install a new car stereo using only electrical tape or those twist-on type connectors used in house wiring. These aren’t acceptable or safe ways to keep automotive wiring in place.
Matthew Wright, author
Many car stereo wiring harnesses will have a screw type connector at the end of the ground wire. If for some reason your current stereo was not grounded through a wire you can ground the car stereo by finding a screw under there to which this wire can be attached. If your car is like most and has a ground wire for the car stereo already, just cut the connector off and crimp it to the adapter harness.
Matthew Wright, author
Once you have all of your electrical connections made, plug the adapter into the car’s wiring harness. Then plug the stereo itself in for a test run. It may seem silly, but the worst time to find out about a wiring issue is after you have re-installed all of those trim panels! Once you’ve checked the power and all of your speakers, unplug the stereo unit.
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Install The New Car Stereo Into The Bracket
Matthew Wright, author
Wiring is finished the car stereo works. Now all you need to do is put the new stereo into the bracket. It should have holes in the side just like your old unit did. Use the screws that came with the new car stereo they will be correctly sized. Once it’s in, snap the trim plate onto the outside.
How To Test A Car Radio
To test a car radio, there are 3 main things youll need to do:
1. Connecting power to the radio
As I mentioned earlier, you can use a +12V to 13.8V DC power supply for your car radio. Optionally, if you dont have a 12V supply you can temporarily connect it to a 12V car battery long enough to check out the radio.
In either case, youll need to do the following:
Be sure to insulate any unused exposed wires including the speaker wires . You dont want any wires shorting together during testing. For insulating them, electrical tape works great or you can use duct tape or even masking tape carefully if you must. Id avoid transparent Scotch tape as it tends to come off too easily.
The idea for testing is to temporarily do what you need to for checking that it works. For a real vehicle installation, better connections like crimp connectors should be used.
CAUTION:If using a vehicle battery to power you radio under test, never allow the metal case of the radio near the battery.
2. Testing the speaker outputs
To test the speaker outputs:
Note:
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How To Install A Car Stereo Without A Wiring Harness Adapter
Learning how to install a car stereo without a wiring harness adapter is very strait forward if you have the proper tools handy for the job! Your main goal is to install a new stereo into your vehicle while not damaging important wires or causing any automotive fires in the process.
Ive decided to create a step by step guide for this, it will be pretty quick and easy to understand hopefully. Ill list the tools that I recommend having handy for this job below as well.
What Gauge Wire Is Used For Car Stereo Harness
Wire gauge, by its typical definition, is the measurement of a wires diameter. The size of the diameter will determine the amount of current that the wire can safely carry. The wire gauge will also determine the electrical resistance of the wire itself .
Typically the car stereo will have wires with a wire gauge between 14awg and 18awg.
The power lead will have the thickest gauge , and the rest of the harness wire will be thinner, typically between 16awg and 18awg.
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How To Install The New Stereo
Check For The 12v Wire
Set your multimeter to the appropriate scale, connect the ground lead to a known good ground, and touch the other lead to each wire in the speaker wire. When you find one that shows approximately 12V, you have found the constant 12V wire, also known as the memory wire. It’s yellow in most aftermarket head units.
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