Modern car audio is quite complicated. She, in contrast to the car radio of the previous years, creates surround sound and conditions for comfortable listening to music programs regardless of the location of people in the cabin. It also takes into account the acoustic features of the interior, its relatively small size and other factors that impede good sound quality. Such audio systems use several loudspeakers with varying frequency characteristics, as well as a subwoofer that creates rich bass. Without this additional device in the car, any music sounds impoverished, and low frequencies are weak.
Today, it is not difficult to buy a subwoofer in a car; it is important to choose it correctly. The market offers devices of two main types - active systems with a built-in amplifier (“boxes”), and passive ones, which are powerful speakers of the infrasound and lower audible range that require amplification.
In cases where the car owner’s musical preferences are limited to the classical repertoire, jazz or pop music, a “box” is quite suitable for him, which provides a low level of non-linear distortion, while being unpretentious. It can be equipped with a bass reflex or do without it. Special knowledge for the installation of an active system is not required, the attached instructions describe in detail how to connect a subwoofer to the car. It is best to purchase one of the installation kits that includes everything you need: power, signal, control and speaker cables, as well as mounts.
Often the car radio has its own powerful and high-quality amplifier. It remains only to figure out how to connect a subwoofer to the car. The presence of an output for it on the rear panel of the head unit is marked as follows: SUB. The connectors are usually standard, RCA.
Usually this device is installed in the trunk, under the back seat it does not always fit. To understand how to connect a subwoofer to a car with an amplifier, you need more patience. Firstly, the device can be mounted on the rear shelf, but for this you will have to cut a hole of the corresponding diameter under it. This is not always convenient, especially if there are several speakers, but this arrangement guarantees the absence of sound pressure losses that are inevitable when placing them in the trunk. Secondly, you need to mount the amplifier, and this is a rather voluminous and heavy device, equipped with radiators for heat transfer.
Before you install a subwoofer in a car, you need to take care of its communications. The general and main requirement is that all wires must have good insulation and be without twists. In order to avoid interference, it is not recommended that they pass in the immediate vicinity of the standard wiring of the vehicle.
Thinking about how to connect the subwoofer to the car yourself, you will need to think about a way to protect its diffuser from accidental damage, because the trunk is designed not only to accommodate a speaker with an amplifier, it may contain other objects.
Owners of powerful and high-quality car audio, as well as other music lovers, will not be amiss to once again recall the need to turn off the stereo system before entering the courtyard, especially at night, as well as the harm to health caused by excessive sound pressure.