Adding Surround Sound to your VehicleLooking to boost your stereo sound, consider adding surround sound. Surround sound in a vehicle is a hot new trend and many manufactures are starting to offer kits specific for vehicles.
Added Jan 26, 07 by caliberchic
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Adding a Surround Sound System for your Vehicle
- STEP 1: Select a head unit that can wire into a surround-sound processor. The processor is digital so the head unit needs to supply a digital signal. Commonly, fiberoptic cables are used to transmit digital signals between components. If your head unit cannot supply digital signals, include a CD changer with fiberoptic connection and connect the processor to the CD changer. If you do this, you need to remember that if you play a CD on the head unit you will not get a surround-sound effect. You will get the effect only when you play CDs from the CD changer. If you do not want to connect the processor through the CD changer, select a surround-sound processor that can accept RCA signals from the radio and convert them to digital.
- STEP 2: Include a high-end CD changer and/or DVD unit that can play the software that carries the surround-sound signals.
- STEP 3: Purchase a five-channel amplifier that can serve the front speakers, the rear speakers, and the subwoofers. You are feeding sound to the four corners of the car, plus the subwoofers remember each corner and the subwoofers are on separate channels.
- STEP 4: Include a 4- to 6-inch mid-range speaker and tweeter to serve as the center channel. This speaker combination needs to be in its own enclosure and should be placed in the center portion of the dashboard.
- STEP 5: Select an amplifier to run the center-channel speakers. You will not need an extensive amplifier a two channel amplifier will sufice.
- STEP 6: Include an electronic crossover, which can be outboard or built in.
- STEP 7: Speaker locations should be in the four corners of the car.
- STEP 8: Set the electronic crossover at about 80 Hz and up.
- STEP 9: Adjust the system once everything has been installed. Set the processor's adjustment in the middle, and first play with the amplifiers' gains. Turn the gain up until you just start to get distortion, and then turn it down just a little. Once the amplifiers' gains are set, you can fine-tune the system by setting the surround-sound processor.
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