Step-by-Step Instructions for Installing a Subwoofer in a Car

Life feels incomplete without music; whether you’re chilling out on your couch, working with some smooth tunes in the background, or driving and want to drown out traffic noises, music is a constant part of your life.

Now that you’ve got your trusty music player in your car, it’s time to complement it with killer subwoofers for the ultimate experience. After checking out these subwoofers and picking out what suits your needs and budget, it’s time to install it. Sure, you can pay someone else to do it, or you can find out how easy it is to deploy them yourself through the following six simple steps:

Get the Parts

Before you start, you will need to have the following:

  • The subwoofers
  • A subwoofer box
  • Amplifier
  • Amplifier kit
  • Tape

Note: You will need to ensure that the subwoofer box is designed for the speakers, and that the amp is just the right strength for your speakers.

Prepare the power line

Get yourself under the dash and find an opening in the firewall through which you can pass the power wire. In most kits, the power wire thickness, size ranges from 8 to 0. You should also find a fuse a few inches away from the connector that goes into the battery; pull that one as close to the battery as you can, but don’t connect it yet.

Connect to the player

Pull out the dash and the player head unit, and tape your remote wire to the RCA cable and thread it up from under the passenger side dash to the opening where the player was. After that, you can either connect the remote wire to the wiring harness, or straight wire it to the corresponding wire from the player, and connect the RCA cables.

Run the wires

You will now need to run the wires back to where the amp will be mounted; you simply need to run all the wires to the trunk (or wherever you are placing your amp.) – for safety, it is suggested to run the wires down the passenger side. Remember that deciding on the right spot to place the amp is important; it needs to be secured enough to not move around or slide when the car is in motion.

Lay the ground wire

Now lift up the carpet near the amp, and find a good ground spot of exposed metal from the body of your car where you can lay the ground wire. Remember that a bad ground wire can lead to a lot of issues with the amp, so be sure you have good ground – in some cases, you might have to sand off some paint in order to get a strong ground.

Place your subwoofer box

Finally, place your subwoofer box in the car. Now you will get to connect it to the amp with the speaker wire. After that, go back to the front of your car to the battery cable, and secure the fuse to something in the engine compartment – you can simply twist tie it into one of the hoses. Now, hook up the battery cable to the positive terminal on the battery.

After you are done, and before reassembling your dash, test out your subwoofers to confirm that everything is connected correctly. If so, go ahead and reassemble the dash, and start enjoying concert quality tunes in your car.

Will Hopstetter
Will is an automotive market enthusiast living in the United Kingdom. He holds a diverse background in automotive and enjoys utilizing that to produce insights into the inner workings of the industry.