Car Audio Explained (FAQ for upgrading what you have)

[catatonic]

I figured since I got some PMs from my posts in a car-stereo related thread, that I might as well just start up a thread explaining everything one will need to know to install a car stereo.

OK some background....I have been installing car stereos for poeple since I was 14 years old (I'm 27 now), from a simple tape deck and speakers, to large 3000w+ systems. Nothing has changed so far as installation and basic concepts, which is all most will need to upgrade/replace a stock system, so here we go:

1) find out what electrical system you car has:

Most cars are negative ground (the car chassis goes to the - terminal of the battery). This is important, since some older cars are positive ground. You cannot easily install a radio in a positive ground system. How you do this can be done in two ways

1a) buy a radio for positive ground vehicle (pricey)

1b) buy a regular negative ground radio, and make a custom mounting that will isolate the radio chassi (also negative ground) from the positive grounded panels of the car. You will also have to wire the + terminal to the sheetmetal nearby, and the - terminal to the ground wire found connected to the old radio.


2) make sure your speakers are NOT grounded to the chassis:

This is found on some older cars as well. If you have this, you will have to run new speaker wires to each speaker location if you plan on running a modern radio. This will avoid any risk of damaging the amplifier in the new unit.

3) Radio sizes/types:

You have the obsolete knob type radios:

these types of radios have two movable knobs on each side of a protruded radio face. These are found in cassette/8track/radio variants only....some of the later models had CD-changer control (Kenwood for one). There are two sizings of this style radio, one of them having a wider center "nose" than the other. measure this part of your dash trim before shopping to make sure your purchase will fit.

DIN-type radios:

DIN radios are the current standard...and there are a few variants.

euro-DIN is the current standard in terms of width, and even GM's DIN+1/2 and the popular double-DIN radios foudn in many asian luxury cars.

Then there was various carmakers that chose to use a wider or narrower version of the DIN standard. Your best bet is to measure the radio that's in there, and compare to what you plan on buying (measure from the inside of the trim ring of hte new unit if possible in stead of the faceplate....it will give a better estimate of proper fit)

4) speaker sizes:

You need to know only three things: width, height (for non-round speakers) and depth. Depth is particularly important for door-mounted speakers, so to not interfere with the function of your windows. All car speakers should be 4-ohm impedance (only relevant when installing an amplifier). Listen to speakers before buying, and get what sounds the best to you.

5) amplifiers/outboard processors:

Amplifiers will give you more power to drive difficult speakers, or to get mroe loudness. Outboard processors will REQUIRE an amplifier afterwards, and are there to perform equalization or other sound-processing functions. Processors are only used in the most high-end of car audio systems, and personally I think they are overkill for a car environment (not to mention extremely pricey). Amplifiers on the other hand can be had for a hundred dollars or more for a lower-wattage quality unit, and can really make a difference.

Subwoofers REQUIRE the use of an outboard amplifier. Bass requires moving HUGE amounts of air, which you cannot do on the 1-7w that the average radio puts out (those 100wx4 numbers are PEAK wattage, which has minimal basis in reality...in truth most radios only put out about 25w total across all outputs). That's where an amplifier comes into play. In my opinion, at least 100w RMS (continuous) is required for use of any subwoofer. I have ran all of the ones I used in my personal systems between 140-180w RMS. All amplifiers are to my knowledge negative ground, as are any audio processors.


.....for part 2, actual installation, look for my next post in this thread sometime soon.

 

[roughrider]

Thanks for the info. If I may make a suggestion, see if you can find images to go with each section. You can use google images.

 

[FriscoSoxFan]

Here's a picture of the installation of an XM commander unit in the Ashtray of my '03 Passat. I used a PIE converter to hook it up through the CD changer interface in the trunk. The ashtray cover will close as well, to keep it discreet.

When the vehicle is in drive, the shifter is not in the way.

 

[catatonic]

Nice install FriscoSoxFan.

My answer to the shifter in the way issue on 87-93 mustangs was to relocate the HVAC controls to the ashtray (replacing the cover as well), and then make a custom mount plate to put the radio and pocket back into the area (in those year mustangs, the pocket was attatched to the radio). This allowed to retain the pocket and fit up to a double-DIN radio in the fox body mustangs.....or a single DIN and some gagues

Pics will be included in the install segment...it will take me a while to finish that up.

 

[ouch]

Nice thread. I look forward to part 2.

But who on Earth would need a 3,000W car stereo? That's way too much power for the average high end home system, and is only implemented for the sake of saying "look at me, I have xxxx watts".

Reasonably efficient speakers don't need all that much juice to rock the house. Some of my friends run horn speakers with little three watt amps, but they're maniacs. Even notoriously hard to drive, low sensitivity speakers, such as my Magnepans, only need a good 100-200 watts to really shine.

 

[catatonic]

The 3,000w system was for a friend of mine that was competing in an SPL drag event (sound competition for loudness within a reasonable amount of accuracy).

It was a early 80s F-150 standard cab that had to undergo extreme interior re-work to fit all the equipment. Not to mention reinforcing the bodywork to keep it from rattling.

He done pretty well for his wattage class. It actually sounded really good, it was just too easy to get it too loud.

All in all, it was great fun to see it all come together...It looked amazing from the inside, sounded good, and was loud enough to get some trophies.

 

[catatonic]

Alright, The Installation.

There are three steps for installation. Removing the factory radio, electrical installation, and physical installation.

Removing the factory radio is just that. It will either require pulling a trim panel off of your car (refer to the Haynes or Chilton's car manual for your vehicle to do this), and the radio itself can either be removed by screws/bolts or through the use of a DIN tool.

Here's an example of the trim plate:

Here is an example of using DIN tools to pull out a radio. You stiuck the tool in the holes, pull each tool away from each other to disengage the retaining springs, and pull the unit towards you:

You will find some plugs that connect the radio...be sure to remove those without damaging them. Also take note of the antenna cable (thick black wire with a large plug on the end). Make sure it can fit into the new radio just like it fit the factory one, if it cannot, you may need an antenna cable adaptor.

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Next up is electrical installation. This can be done in the comfort of your own home. You will need some heat shrink tubing, a lighter, some solder, a soldering iron, a water-soaked sponge (please dispose of properly as it will have lead in it) and someplace to work safely. for the sake of safety, please make sure no pets or children will come in contact with the hot soldering iron...these things are capable of extremely nasty burns in a very short time. Keep in mind you are melting metal with this device, so please let's treat this tool with as mush respect as one would treat a gun for example.

Here is an example of a wiring harness. These will all look slightly different as they are all vehicle-specific:

Here is an example of a soldering iron with a cheap stand...this is enough to do what you need to. RadioShack sellse usable ones for about $7-10.

A footnote about "cold heat" soldering irons. I've used them, and they are alright if you are using lead based solder and doing smaller work. I DO NOT reccomend them for this job, since it's larger than the work I've had done properly using the cold-heat tools. There is such a thing as a cold solder joint, and you don't want those...the end result of a cold solder joint is having to re-work that bad joint.


To figure out what wire goes where, refer to the wiring insteructions that came with your wiring harness and radio. It will tell you what color is what lead. Match this to what the lead is for your radio. Note that radio makers may not use a standardized color scheme, so make sure that each lead is right by name, not color.

HOWTO solder:

Soldering is a metallurgical bond between three components. The two target components, and your solder. To accompliush this, all objects must be equally heated (through use of the iron in this case).

First thing is you "tin" the tip of your new iron using solder. Do this IMMEDIATELY after plugging it in the first time...well as immediately as you can, the iron takes time to heat up. You should always do all solder work with a "wet" tip. The water wet sponge is for wiping the tip of residues after each solder joint. You tin, solder, wipe, if needed re-tin.

slide a piece of heat shrink tubing to one of the wires, this will be what covers your solder joint.

Now, take your wires and twist them together in a butt-joint (0 degrees), and then apply the iron to the bottom of this, and then put the solder wire on the top of the wire joint...it will start to liquefy and flow into the wires...once this has happened, you can remove the solder wire, and then the iron. The joint should look like this:

Note this also shows how the heatshrink should look after it's applied.

To use the heatshrink, you slide it over the joint to cover it, and then get out that lighter....keep it about 4" from the heatshrink, and then move it closer until you see the heatshrink shrinking. At no time should the flame come into contact with the wires or tubing.

Once you have this all done, it's time for physical install....time to get back into the car!

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physical installation

You will need whatever tools you used to get the old radio out, a slotted screwdriver, and possibly a utility knife.

This is a typical mounting kit for a GM vehicle, notice the pocket in it. Many radio kit makers try to make use of any dead dash space from removing a large radio. I've always preferred having a second "1/2 DIN" opening availible instead...since I like using equalizers (a form of signal processor) in my cars.

What you have to do is get this kit installed. In some cases it's as easy as slide it in, and screw it in (in the 92/93 mustangs I owned in teh past I had to drill 4 small holes for the kit to fit), and in others you will have to experiment a bit to get those adjustable side plates, like in the above GM to fit.

Once you have done this, connect the radio wire harness to the factory wiring connectors. Don't hook up the radio just yet.

Next you need to put the Radio sleeve in. This is the metal sleeve that your radio locks into. Here is an example of one....it's slid halfway down teh radio in this picture:

What you do is slide that into the mount kit, and using a flathead screwdriver, bend all those little tabs you see outward, to grip the mount kit. This will ensure that your radio doesn't come flying out one day...this is a good thing

Once that is done, pull your wire harness through there as well as your radio antenna wire (thick black thing with a huge plug) and connect those to your new radio (make sure the radio is right side up, I only say this because I've done this myself). Once that is done, slide it into the sleeve until it locks into place. Apply the trim ring that came with your radio, put on the detatchable faceplate (if yours had one), and give it a try!

That's it for this post!
Next post: troubleshooting tips