i'm a car audio noob and i need a little help

fistofmeat

okay, i have exerience w/ electronics and wiring, but absolutely none when it comes to car audio installation. i wanna replace the head unit in my car and have no clue how to hook up an amp or sub. also, my left side speaker channels is messed up (when i hook up a speaker to it, i only get static) and my right ones gives me mild static, but i can still hear the music clearly. i wanna know if it's alright to just run a new speaker wire under the carpeting from the head unit, or do i have to hook it up to power. would i have to get andy specific kind of wire? also, i have an old head unit that i never installed, but it doesn't seem to work now, even when i apply the 12 volts to it. is there any way to test it, or should i just throw it away. one more thing. when i buy a new head, do i just hook up power and speakers to it, or is there more to it than that?

thanx for the help guys.

MacLeod

A HU has 3 wires that must be connected for it to work. One is the ground of course (black), the other is a constant power (usually yellow) and then you have a ignition or remote wire (red) that will hook up to a source that gets power only when the ignition is turned on so it will know when to turn on. To test your HU, make sure its grounded and then apply the 12 volts DC to the yellow AND red wire and it should come on.

As for hooking one up, that will take quite a bit of explaining and it depends on what vehicle youre talking about. One thing to consider is that Circuit City usually offers free installation with most of their HU's so that may be something you want to consider.

It is perfectly ok to run new speaker wires under the carpet to your speakers. Just make sure theyve got plenty of slack, are out of the way and are nowhere near anything that can stip the insulation away like maybe a screw head of something.

exalted512

fistofmeat wrote:

okay, i have exerience w/ electronics and wiring, but absolutely none when it comes to car audio installation. i wanna replace the head unit in my car and have no clue how to hook up an amp or sub. also, my left side speaker channels is messed up (when i hook up a speaker to it, i only get static) and my right ones gives me mild static, but i can still hear the music clearly. i wanna know if it's alright to just run a new speaker wire under the carpeting from the head unit, or do i have to hook it up to power. would i have to get andy specific kind of wire? also, i have an old head unit that i never installed, but it doesn't seem to work now, even when i apply the 12 volts to it. is there any way to test it, or should i just throw it away. one more thing. when i buy a new head, do i just hook up power and speakers to it, or is there more to it than that?

thanx for the help guys.

the kind of car you have would help us to lead you into a better direction. But like mac said, to test a radio, just hook up 12V to the red and yellow wire and ground the black wire, you can do this at your car battery if you want.

There is nothing wrong with running speaker wires straight from the head unit to the individual speakers, getting through the grommet into the door can be a pain in the ****, but other than that, its pretty straight forward.

To hook up a new head unit, car dependent, you need to buy a wiring harness, dash kit, and sometimes an antenna adapter. The wiring harness just connects to the wiring harness on the radio via soder or butt connectors, then plugs into your factory radio harness. Antenna adapter, if needed, snaps on to the end of the stock antenna behind the radio, and the kit is needed when the housing around the radio is larger than the aftermarket radio, it fills in all the space around it. If you can get to the radio, which can be hard depending on the car, the rest is just matching colors. If you can do that, you can install a radio.
-Cody

fistofmeat

my car is a 90 corolla dx. as far testing the hu, it's a rampage cassete player i bought a few years ago, and it only has left and right speaker, grnd and the 12v wires comping out of it. should i hook the power up to the switched 12 or the constant 12?

btw exhalted, i agree with your sig wholeheartedly :P

MacLeod

For testing, just hook the 12V up to both the yellow (constant) and red (remote) leads.

And Rampage is a very crappy Autozone brand. If you can swing it, I HIGHLY recommend upgrading to a new one. Doesnt have to be pricey either, $150 can land you a very good head unit.

fistofmeat

i'm don't intend to use it in my corolla, i just wanted to know if iworks or not. if it still works, i could prolly get something for it off the 'bay, but if it's busted i'm just gonna throw it out. i plan on getting a new hu from somewhere. i listen mostly to metal and electronica, so what setup would you guys recomend for less than $500? im not into a sub, it would mess with the metal, but i want something that can put enough bass into the electronica. not to make it boom, but to have defined bass. one more thing, would tweeters improve the sound of the metal if the bass were too high and if so, how would you go about connecting them?

MacLeod

Youre not going to get any kind of worthwhile bass without a sub. Dont think of a sub as those ground pounders you hear cruising thru the mall parking lot, thats not what theyre about at all. Get you a good 8 or 10" sub and a decent amp to power it and it will add plenty to your sound quality.

fistofmeat

what brand of sub would be considered "good" and how much would i expect to pay for one?

MacLeod

Well there is this one for $90 http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZJSApxetXxz/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=520&I=107DB104 or this one this one for $120 http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZJSApxetXxz/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=520&I=107MM2104

It all depends on how much youre wanting to spend.

fistofmeat

i want to be able to do the whole system for around $500. what would be a good setup for that price, or is that not enough money to get a good setup?