I just got my first car and I want to fukk with that music bruhs, only thing is I don't know what I need to get started or what I need at all. Amps, whoofers, tweeters , I don't know what any if that is. Hell I don't even know about speakers , 12s or 15s or whatever , never knew what any of that was. Put me on game
What's your budget?
A couple general things:
1. The bigger you go, the more issues you will need to deal like capacitors to prevent spiking, stronger alternator so your battery doesn't drain faster, and space planning considerations.
2. Pre-plan your whole system before buying anything. You don't want to get a big sub-woofer box if you still want usable trunk space. Take measurements of your trunk and existing speaker sizes. If you don't know or don't want to pull out the door cards, go to
Crutchfield: Car Stereo, Speakers, Home Theater, LCD TV, Digital Cameras, they list all speaker sizes that will fit into your existing speaker locations.
3. Don't skimp on amps to get better speakers. You may ruin your speakers. You are better off with stronger amps and middle-of-the-road speakers.
4a. 12 and 15 are usually sub-woofer size speakers and for low frequency output. They do make smaller sub-woofer speakers and enclosures. Some sub-woofers are powered and some are not. If they are not, you need to get a separate amp that will be fed a separate audio signal from a crossover which will go into your sub-woofer. If you have a powered sub-woofer, you don't need to get a separate amp.
4b. Mid-range frequency speakers are usually smaller. Some cars have oval speakers. Make sure you know what you have. You can't fit an oval speaker into a circular opening and vice versa without doing major modifications.
4c. Tweeters are for high-frequency range output. If you don't have tweeters in your car, they have tweeter enclosures so it looks clean with your interior.
4d. Control of output to the tweeters, speakers and sub-woofer is usually controlled by a crossover. Some head units have an internal cross-over if they feed into tweeters and some amps have internal crossovers. The crossover will feed high frequency signals to the tweeters, mid-range frequency signals to the mid-range speakers, and low-end frequency signals to the sub-woofers. Because of this, crossovers will bring better clarity by splitting up the signals.
5. You can go simple to crazy.
Plan a: better head unit (CD/radio/MP3 player), upgraded speakers. You can do this yourself possibly.
Plan b, keep head unit or upgrade head unit, add an amp with built-in crossover, upgrade speakers. You can do this yourself possibly.
Plan c, upgrade head unit, feed to crossover, add amps, tweeters, and subwoofer, thicker speaker wires, capacitors and upgraded speakers. Will require planning assistance. Talk to a salesperson. Install may require assistance.
Plan d,
6. Self-install is the cheapest since you are doing the labor. But, you don't want to ruin your car, parts or hurt yourself. Always unhook the negative terminal from your battery when doing work on the audio system. If you don't want to do it yourself, a car audio shop can do the install. Crutchfield has instructions for do-it-yourself types. If you get a head unit from Crutchfield, they'll include instructions and any extras so you don't need to go out and buy extra parts for the install.
