Car Stereo Wiring

Driving is just not that much fun without a car stereo in place and hitting the high decibels with your favorite song playing. In case you are planning to install a new car stereo in place, you need to know the car stereo wiring basics to go ahead. In this article, you will find generic instructions on how to wire a car stereo in any car model.

Car Stereo Basics

It will give you an idea about how to go about the wiring job. It is made up of four primary parts, which include the head unit which has the CD player, speakers, sub woofers and amplifiers. All other parts are connected to the head unit by a pair of wires for each.

Most car stereo systems have two main speakers at the front and back. Amplifiers do the job of amplifying the audio signal supplied by the head unit before it is supplied to the sub woofers. The amplifiers get their power from a direct 'hot wire' connection made with car battery and is connected to the car chassis for grounding. Sub woofers are optional accessories for a car stereo that provide the deep bass, which improves the quality of sound.

Wiring Tips

You cannot pull off a wiring job without the proper tools and equipment. Firstly, you will need to know how to remove the dashboard for stereo wiring along with the doors. Purchase the appropriate Hayne's manual for your car model which may have instructions regarding this. You can also find help online.

Things You Will Need
Before we begin talking about how to wire a car stereo, you will need to know about the tools, devices and other things, that you will need for the job. They are as follows:

• Wiring Harness (Specific To Your Car Model and Stereo Make)
• Amplifier Wiring Kit
• About 7 Feet of Speaker Wire (14 Gauge)
• Speaker Wires
• Stereo, Speakers and Sub woofers
• Amplifiers
• Electric Tape
• Wire Strippers
• Wire Cutters
• 9 Volt Battery
• File
• Knife
• Pliers

With all these tools and things in handy, you can begin the wiring job. I assume that you have some experience in car repairs and know the basics of how electrical connections are made. Have a look at the wiring color codes and installation guide provided along with the kit. It is essential that you shut off the car engine and disconnect the negative terminal of your car battery before you go ahead.

Connecting New Stereo Speakers
First part of the job is putting the new stereo speakers in place. For that you will have to remove the old speaker from the speaker enclosure. If the old speakers wires were connected to the head unit by a metal clip, then you have to remove the old wires and slip the new speaker wires in place. If that is not the case, then cut and strip the old wires and connect them by twisting, with the stripped wires of the new speakers. Cover the exposed metal wire, by electric tape. Connect the new speaker wires, taking care that the black wire (negative) is connected to the negative terminal and the red wire (positive) is connected with the positive terminal. Using a screwdriver, fix the new speakers in place, but do not shut the speaker enclosure just yet.

Replace Old Stereo Head Unit
Using the Hayne's manual or information garnered from the Internet, specific to your car, remove the parts of the dashboard for accessing the old head stereo unit. Remove that old head unit. Get hold of the stereo harness and connect it in such a way, that acts as a bridge between the old connector of the head unit and the new head unit. Also connect the radio antenna cable to the head unit. It can be identified by the big plug at the end. Make the speaker wire connections by cutting, stripping and twisting wires together. Then shut the stereo enclosure.

Head Unit to Amplifier Connections
Next you need to make the amplifier connections with the head unit of the stereo. You need to connect the red (positive) end of the amplifier power cable to the positive terminal of the car battery. The connection is made with the use of an O ring.

Now fix the fuse in the fuse holder and run the power cable to connect with the amplifier where your stereo amplifier is placed. To do that, you must pass it through the firewall of the car. Also run the thin wire you find in the amplifier wiring kit in a parallel, but opposite direction to power cable, towards the stereo head unit. Also run the RCA cable from the head unit to the amplifier at the back.

Amplifiers to Sub Woofer Connections
Decide where you intend to place the sub woofers along with the amplifier at the back of the car. Wherever you place it, remember that the black ground cable, which is about three feet long, has to be connected with the car chassis for grounding. Attach the amplifier to the sub woofer and fix both in place.

Make the RCA signal cable and remote on cable connection with the head stereo unit. On the other end, make the RCA cable, power and ground connection with the amplifier. Position your sub woofers and connect them with the amplifier.

Fixing Head Unit in Place
Now you can connect the speaker wires (14 gauge) with the amplifier channels and with the sub woofers. Finally, you can place your head unit in place. Make sure that all the connection are made properly and check them up with the car stereo manual. Fix the head unit in the dashboard and put it back together. To conclude this job, reconnect the negative terminal of the car battery. With that, your job is done! You can look forward to listening some funky music.