Although speakers have their own critical placement issues having to do with sound, amplifiers have different location concerns. A good salesperson or installer at a car audio specialty store will know whether a certain amp can work well in the location you’re thinking about installing it, or you may be able to find out via an online message board which amps are best for questionable locales. Most amps, for example, will perform just fine when mounted under the front seats of a vehicle and will get enough airflow to keep cool. But in this location, making sure the amp has enough clearance and that it doesn’t interfere with the seat moving back and forth is the main concern.
Many people also choose to mount their amplifiers on the back of a big subwoofer box. Although this is an easy and space-saving solution that also looks cool, the constant vibration from the deep bass can potentially harm the internal components of an amplifier.
Keep these important points in mind as you decide where to install your amplifier:
Ventilation: Heat is a byproduct of an amplifier generating power. That’s why all amplifiers have some sort of heat-dissipation scheme built in: either heat sink fins or internal cooling fans, or sometimes both. But even with these chill features, the heat produced by an amp still needs somewhere to go — particularly if the amp is stuffed in a hot trunk on a sweltering summer day.
You never want to
If an amp does get too hot, most will (hopefully) go into a thermal- protection mode and shut down before any damage occurs to the internal components. Bottom line: You never want to install an amplifier in a place where there’s not decent airflow.
Accessibility: All amplifiers have gain controls that need to be adjusted, and many have built-in crossovers, bass boost circuits, and other controls that have to be tweaked when the system is initially tuned, and perhaps from time to time after that. So, if possible, you’ll want to consider mounting your amp in a location that allows you to easily reach it — without contorting your body like a circus performer or scraping your hands trying to reach controls. However, if you’re a set-it-and-forget-it type of person, after an amplifier is installed and your system is tuned, you may never touch it again.
Aesthetics: Displays of power are as old as the Sphinx, and most car audio enthusiasts understandably want to impress people with their awesome car audio power arsenal. So consider a spot in your ride where amps will have good ventilation and accessibility, but still allow you to wow the crowd in the parking lot or at your favorite hang-out spot. Many pro installers and some DIYers even build elaborate racks to exhibit their power to the people (see the “Rack it up” sidebar in this chapter).
Some high-end car audio systems sport an amp rack on which multiple amplifiers can be mounted, Racks can be as simple as a piece of wood covered in carpet or as elaborate as a metal or fiberglass sculpture-like creation complete with lights, motorization, mirrors, and, in some extreme cases, even waterfalls. Beyond the showmanship of a rack, professional installers and the best DIYers find that having multiple amplifiers on a single structure makes it easier to organize wiring and the amps' attendant power-supply accessories, such as fuse and power-distribution blocks.
Ventilation: Heat is a byproduct of an amplifier generating power. That’s why all amplifiers have some sort of heat-dissipation scheme built in: either heat sink fins or internal cooling fans, or sometimes both. But even with these chill features, the heat produced by an amp still needs somewhere to go — particularly if the amp is stuffed in a hot trunk on a sweltering summer day.
You never want to
- Install amplifiers in a small enclosed area, such as a stock storage compartment, unless you provide adequate ventilation or add a cooling fan.
- Cover an amp with carpeting or anything that will trap heat.
- Mount an amplifier upside down, unless the amp’s owner’s manual says it’s okay.
- Install an amp near heat-generating components or in direct sunlight.
- Custom paint an amplifier: A paint job may interfere with heat dissipation.
If an amp does get too hot, most will (hopefully) go into a thermal- protection mode and shut down before any damage occurs to the internal components. Bottom line: You never want to install an amplifier in a place where there’s not decent airflow.
Accessibility: All amplifiers have gain controls that need to be adjusted, and many have built-in crossovers, bass boost circuits, and other controls that have to be tweaked when the system is initially tuned, and perhaps from time to time after that. So, if possible, you’ll want to consider mounting your amp in a location that allows you to easily reach it — without contorting your body like a circus performer or scraping your hands trying to reach controls. However, if you’re a set-it-and-forget-it type of person, after an amplifier is installed and your system is tuned, you may never touch it again.
Aesthetics: Displays of power are as old as the Sphinx, and most car audio enthusiasts understandably want to impress people with their awesome car audio power arsenal. So consider a spot in your ride where amps will have good ventilation and accessibility, but still allow you to wow the crowd in the parking lot or at your favorite hang-out spot. Many pro installers and some DIYers even build elaborate racks to exhibit their power to the people (see the “Rack it up” sidebar in this chapter).
Getting wired
An amplifier is the one component in a car audio system that directly ties to all of the others. It taps power from the car’s battery, gets an audio signal from the head unit, and sends an amplified signal to the speakers. The way that the amplifier connects to these other system components is through wires.Rack it up
Some high-end car audio systems sport an amp rack on which multiple amplifiers can be mounted, Racks can be as simple as a piece of wood covered in carpet or as elaborate as a metal or fiberglass sculpture-like creation complete with lights, motorization, mirrors, and, in some extreme cases, even waterfalls. Beyond the showmanship of a rack, professional installers and the best DIYers find that having multiple amplifiers on a single structure makes it easier to organize wiring and the amps' attendant power-supply accessories, such as fuse and power-distribution blocks.
see more Carrying a Tune: Speaker Cable
So, the constraints of wiring also play a role in where you mount your amplifier. With all of the wires running to and from an amp, you’ll want it in a location that’s relatively accessible for making those connections. But at the same time, unless you’re planning on building an elaborate system that’s as much for show as for sound, your amps will probably need to be out of the way to make room for more mundane things like groceries and luggage. So the set-it-and- forget-it logic often applies for the majority of casual car audio enthusiasts.
Most people tend to mount amplifiers in the trunk — on the floor, on one of the side walls, or the front wall. In hatchbacks and SUVs, they likewise go in the cargo area, and in trucks behind the seats. But you can’t just stick amps anywhere because they need a solid surface to mount on.
Most people tend to mount amplifiers in the trunk — on the floor, on one of the side walls, or the front wall. In hatchbacks and SUVs, they likewise go in the cargo area, and in trucks behind the seats. But you can’t just stick amps anywhere because they need a solid surface to mount on.
Any solid metal surface of the car will work for mounting your amp, although one school of car audio thought believes it’s unwise to mount an amplifier’s chassis directly to metal since there’s a slight chance that it can introduce noise into the system via a ground loop. A ground loop is a current that occurs between two grounding points — in this case the intentional ground and the unintentional ground caused when the amplifier’s chassis touches metal — that usually causes noise. To eliminate this problem, professional installers often create a mounting board for the amplifier out of wood that is in turn attached to the metal of the car.
Every amplifier has inputs and output, sometimes on opposite ends and sometimes arrayed together. Inputs are where the un-amplified signal from the head unit goes in, and the output is where the amplified signal goes out to the speakers.
The inputs will include RCA jacks that accept a low-level or un-amplified audio signal, although some amplifiers will also have inputs for high-level or amplified outputs from a stock head unit. There’s also usually a connection for a remote turn-on lead from the head unit to tell the amp to wake up when the system is turned on. This wire (usually blue in color) is almost always small (18 gauge), has to be snaked to wherever the amplifier is mounted, and is usually terminated at the amplifier alongside the power cable. Besides telling the amplifier that it’s time to wake up and pump juice to the speakers, this turn-on scheme also ensures that your amplifier is not sucking power from your battery when the head unit isn’t on.
Allowing for inputs and outputs
Every amplifier has inputs and output, sometimes on opposite ends and sometimes arrayed together. Inputs are where the un-amplified signal from the head unit goes in, and the output is where the amplified signal goes out to the speakers.
The inputs will include RCA jacks that accept a low-level or un-amplified audio signal, although some amplifiers will also have inputs for high-level or amplified outputs from a stock head unit. There’s also usually a connection for a remote turn-on lead from the head unit to tell the amp to wake up when the system is turned on. This wire (usually blue in color) is almost always small (18 gauge), has to be snaked to wherever the amplifier is mounted, and is usually terminated at the amplifier alongside the power cable. Besides telling the amplifier that it’s time to wake up and pump juice to the speakers, this turn-on scheme also ensures that your amplifier is not sucking power from your battery when the head unit isn’t on.
The outputs of an amplifier feature terminals connected to wires to send power to the speakers, which are usually grouped with controls for gain adjustments, crossovers, bass boost, and sometimes for bridging two amplifier channels into one. Some amps also have a separate subwoofer-volume control with a wired remote that can be placed at arm’s length in the passenger compartment so that adjustments to the bass level can be made on the fly.
You want to make sure you mount an amp so that it’s easy to get to the inputs and outputs, but it’s also important to position an amp in such a way that the wires running to and from it are out of the way so that they won’t be subject to abuse and possible damage.
You want to make sure you mount an amp so that it’s easy to get to the inputs and outputs, but it’s also important to position an amp in such a way that the wires running to and from it are out of the way so that they won’t be subject to abuse and possible damage.
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