Installing Amps/Subs/Etc

Installing Amps/Subs/Etc

I'm going to buy a sub one of these days and would like to figure out how hard it would be to install all this myself. I'm not really wanting to pay someone, because I know it will help me learn and cost much less. So, I know that the power has to get to the battery... how do you get the cable all the way from the trunk to the battery.. cleanly? How about the RCA cable that has to go from the HU to the amp.. how do you wire that cleanly? Where is a good spot to ground the amp at?

Just need some advice.. I'd like to do it myself when I get my sub/amp and need some instructions before deciding for sure.

I installed amps, tweeters, mid, and sub.
It took me about 20 hours to do everything from wiring to building boards to put amps and sub.
..... I'm a slow worker...

I ran the power wire and remote wire through the center console and under the rear seat to the trunk.

I put the ground wire under the rear seat.

Hard to see, but it's the black wire you see on the right end of this picture.

I built a simple thing with woods to mount the amps, power splitter, and RCA converter.


Speaker wires for the RCA converter, I got them from the rear speakers.

just make sure when you are running the wires you keep the speaker wires and RCA's away from the power wire. otherwise i usually run the power wire down the side were the battery is located and the rca on the opposite. on this car it would be power on the drivers side. i dont know how easy it is to run it down the sides of the corolla under the carpet by the door. yet i am still lookning at what setup i am going to build but when i do build it i will post pictures of the whole process. also are u going to get an aftermarket HU or stick with the factory one? if you stick with the factory you can tap into the signal from the rear 6x9's just be carefull when spliceing the wires. if you have an aftermarket which is recomended since our factory radios suck keep the rca's away from the power wires because you can get feedback in the subs and hear your engine throught the speakers. and the amp size and power will depend on what AWG wire you run. a very small amp and small sub would only require 10AWG a average amp 8 awg and anything with some good power 4AWG. or larger for those serious systems. hope it helps. and for grounding just pick a nice spot in the trunk or under the rear seat. the shorter the better. just make sure you bolt in on tight.
If you are a first timer doing this the installing the wires from front to back could take an few hours but practice makes it faster. for me i could wire a car including a new headunit, amp and subs in about an hour and a half. making everyhing clean and hidden. making the sub box if you dont buy one is about an hour longer if you have the wood. i recomend 3/4 inch particle board. gives you a solid inclosure. and wood glue to make sure no air leaks out. also use screws the glue only keeps seals the box. 1inch and 5/8 drywall screws are good. too and you can capret it anwywere walmart sells felt you can glue to it when all said and done. or go somewhere and order the same matching carpet the corolla uses.

That looks like a fuse between the distribution block and the amp... next time let a shop do it, no offense but definatly beginner install... Im hoping you have a fuse within 12 inches of the battery as well for that power wire that is WAY to small for two things to be powered off of... just my 2 cents though
Speaker wires for the RCA converter, I got them from the rear speakers.[/quote]

Yes, it definitely is a beginner install. This is the first time I did everything myself.

I ran 8 gauge wire from the battery to the distribution block, then 10 gauge wires from there.
I have 60A fuse about 4" from the battery. 25A and 30A after the distribution block.
I thought 8 gauge is enough for total of 250W RMS, but that's just my thought. The amps might be too far away from the battery to use 8 gauge wire.

As long as its 8 gauge your fine, hard to tell from the picture and most stereo shops will usually just sell 10 gauge to make hte sale... 8 gauge is usually safe for any single amp below 500 watts... My recommendation is take the fuse holders out after the amp as there is no purpose for them, Kenwood amps are fused themselves and you have a main fuse... Also you kind of used a lot more stuff than you needed... the Kenwood has built in crossovers and high level inputs so you really didnt need the Crossover or the high level converter... but as long as it sounds good I wont complain. Get rid of those fuse holders after the block though!

Oh, I see. I knew nothing about how the fuse should be set, so I just put those 2 there after the distribution block. Both Kicker and Kenwood have built in fuse. So I'll take both of those 2 fuses after the distribution block.

For the high level converter, both Kicker and Kenwood have built in as well. The sales person at the shop recommended me to get external one because he said the built in ones are not as good as the external ones. I guess he just wanted to sell something more because I don't hear any difference with the external converter. Only thing is I can control the gain with that converter, but it's no use since the amps have their own gain control...

The converter is nice if you have an upgraded factory system like the Mach ford system, or Bose or whatever because you can turn the line input down, but the downside to converters is they pick up a lot of noise as well and can feed back depending on the unit.

its easy to find a whole in the firewall by the battery, and all the interior pieces pop off pretty easy to fit the wire underneath. then run your RCA cables on the passenger side away from the power. heres a pic of an easy clean install.

It's not easy, but I believe it's doable for anyone. You will find lots of discussion in this forum if you just spend some time reading all the threads. That's what I did.

In the end, you'll go " Wow, I installed the whole system myself" and you'll definately be proud of yourself.

Good Luck!

After you hook up everything, the most scary part is turning on the stereo. All your hope goes to the tip of your finger that's pushing the button to turn on the stereo saying "PLEASE WORK!".

And then of course forgetting that you turned the levels all the way down so that you wouldn't blow anything until you could adjust it.. and wondering why there is NO BASS.

Also it sucks when someone else wired the subs in the box.. crossed one of the terminals and the subs just cancel each other out.

Yes, that's very important and I forgot about it. About 3 years ago, I blew an 10" Kicker competition by doing that. I had the gain all the high on the amp and when I turn on the stereo, it just made one big noise then the sub was blown.