QuestionHello,
I was hoping you wouldn't mind giving me step-by-step directions for installing my subwoofers into my car. I have a dual 12-inch Bandpass subwoofer enclosure with a dual 580 watts XIA3145 amp and Boss 8 gauge amplifier installation kit. I plan to put them in the trunk of my Saturn SL2.
Thanks alot.
AnswerHi Shane,
Sorry about the delay in answering this question.
Generally, when I'm installing an amp, I like to mount the amp first and run the wiring from the back to the front. There are installers who do it the opposite way, though; this is just what works best for me.
First, you'll want to connect the power, and ground wires, RCA cables, remote wire and speaker wires to the amplifier. I think your Dual amplifier has set screw ports for the wires, so you don't need to connect fork terminals; just strip about 3/8" of insulation from the ends of the wires, place them in the ports and tighten the screws. If your amp wiring kit came with the fuse holder already in place, you'll want to disconnect it.
I like to tape the remote wire and RCA's together, along their length, so that it's easier to run them together. They're going to be routed to the same location.
Now take the amplifier to the car, find your mounting location, and screw it down. If you have fold-down rear seats, you can always mount the amp to the back of the seat. This gets it out of the way, but allows easy access for adjustment.
Remove the lower rear seat cushion. I don't recall exactly how this is done in your Saturn; if I remember right, the rear cushions rest on top of a plastic framework. You may have to remove a bolt, or just push back on the front edge of the cushion to release the catch.
Route the ground wire to a clean point on the metal floor of the vehicle. I like to run it under the rear seat and to a point on the floor near the rear door opening, but you can use any solid, clean part of the floor. Scrape away the paint on the ground point with a scraper or metal brush; you want shiny metal showing. Crimp a ring terminal onto the end of the ground wire, and fasten it securely to the ground point with a self-tapping screw.
It's very important that you pick a spot where the screw won't damage anything under the floor. For example, the fuel tank is mounted right under the rear seat; you don't want to drive the ground screw through the top of your gas tank. You might need to look under the car and determine where the screw will be. Once the screw is in place, it's a good idea to cover the area with dielectric grease (available at any auto parts store) or silicone sealant; otherwise the screw is likely to rust. If the screw end is exposed under the vehicle, try to cover that as well.
Run the main power wire under the rear seat area, and along the driver's side of the car. To do this, remove the plastic sill panels along the door opening, pull the carpet up, and push the wire under the carpet. Route it up to the driver's side firewall.
Ideally, the RCA cables should be routed down the other side of the car from the power wire. (In practice, it doesn't make much difference; so if your amp's mounting location makes it impractical to run the RCA's down the opposite side, I wouldn't worry about it). Run them under the carpet just like you did the power wire. When you get to the front of the car, you can either run them under the front edge of the carpet and around to the back of the head unit, or you can run them up under the dash and across to the radio opening. If you run them up under the driver's side dash, make sure they can't get caught up in any moving parts of the vehicle.
The RCA cables should be plugged into the head unit's subwoofer output, or rear RCA output. The remote wire should be connected to the blue/white remote output at the head unit.
Your power wire will need to run through the firewall to the battery. Take a good look at the firewall under the driver's side dash; you might see a large rubber grommet with a factory wire bundle running through it. If so, you should be able to punch a small hole in the grommet and run your power wire through. Be very careful not to damage any of the stock wiring while you're doing this.
If no grommet is available, you may have to find an open spot on the firewall and drill a hole. Use extreme care when picking a spot to drill; it's very easy to damage something on the other side if you're careless. I like to use a self-tapping screw to make a small hole in the firewall and verify clearance, then enlarge it with a step-bit (ie, a Unibit).
In your Saturn, your battery will use a side-post terminal. To properly connect the amplifier's power wire, you'll need to replace the factory battery terminal with a replacement terminal that's made to connect a ring terminal. You can find this at any auto parts or car audio store.
The fuse holder for the amp kit should be connected in-line on the power wire, as close as possible to the battery connection. Then just connect the power wire to the positive battery terminal. It's a good idea to disconnect the negative battery terminal first, make the positive terminal connection, then re-connect the negative terminal.
After this, you just need to connect the speaker wire from the amplifier to your sub box's speaker terminals.
Hope this helps!
Brian
