Installing an amp in your car is one of the trickiest things that you can do if you do not know how to do it. If you want a professional to install it, by all means it is probably the best road to take if you do not feel comfortable with doing it yourself. But if you feel that you can handle the step by step, tedious process of installing an amplifier in your car, here are the steps to do it successfully.

The first thing that you want to do is decide which side of the trunk you want the amp in. Then disconnect the negative battery terminal. But before you do that, make sure your radio does not have a security lock or a security code on it. If it does, make sure you know and remember the code to reactivate the radio before you disconnect the battery terminal. Find a good spot to run the power wire for the amp through the firewall. If you want, you can just put a hole in a grommet and run the wire through that. If you have a rubber grommet, install it to protect the wires. If you do not install the rubber grommet, the wires will start chaffing and that is probably the worst thing you want to happen with your amp.

Install an in-line fuse holder. The International Auto sound Challenge Association regulates that the in-line fuse holder be within 18 inches of the battery terminal connection. The fuse protects your car from burning up in case there is a wiring issue between the amp and the radio. After you have the power wire the way that you want it, go and use plastic wire ties to protect the wires and secure them in place. Now it’s time to run the RCA cables. Run the RCA cables from the head unit, to the spot where you are going to mount your amp. Here is a good tip to make sure you get the best noise possible. Do not run power wires and signal cables on the same side of the car. Then connect the speaker wire from the terminals on the back of the amp to the speakers. Red in red and black in black.

Just a few more steps and you will be ready to listen to your car’s audio with your newly installed amp. All that’s left to do is connect the negative terminal of the amplifier to the chassis of the car. Being that it leads back to the negative terminal of the battery, any metal point on the chassis will work. Once you have that all connected, cover the wires with some sort of substance like paint or chalk to prevent any sort of rust that will occur over time. After everything is connected and all the wires are in place, and secure, then you can insert the main power fuse.

Reconnect the negative battery terminal and there you go. You have successfully installed an amplifier in your car! It sounds like a long process with a lot of wires running all over the place, but it will be worth it. You will save a lot of money in the long run if you install the amp yourself. Depending on how many watts you want your amp, you will be looking at around 200 bucks for a good 250 watt amplifier.