What’s the essence of playing music with a speaker that’s not delivering a good sound? Irrespective of the music genre, poor sound quality will take away from your listening experience.
If your car speakers aren’t giving great sound, the fault isn’t yours, and neither is it the manufacturer’s fault. In many cases, it’s because your car speakers don’t have enough bass to deliver that banging sound you want.
Instead of getting frustrated, what you can do is connect a car subwoofer to your car stereo, with or without an amp. A subwoofer is a piece of sound equipment that adds more bass to the sound coming from your speakers.
How to Connect a Subwoofer To The Car Stereo Without an Amp
There are various subwoofers, some of which have an inbuilt amplifier, while others don’t. The subwoofer with an inbuilt amp always offers an easier route to installation. But for a subwoofer without an amp, you’ll need to run some manual connections.
Here’s what you need to do to connect a subwoofer to your car stereo without an amp:
Step 1: Turn Off The Ignition and Disconnect the Car Battery
While the goal is to improve the sound quality of your car speakers, connecting a subwoofer to your car stereo can damage certain components. In fact, without taking certain precautions, it’s possible to mess up your car’s entire electrical system. There are many cases of car owners spending hundreds of dollars on fixing a faulty electrical system.
We recommend turning off the ignition to prevent situations like the above. Then, disconnect the car battery by removing its negative cable. By disconnecting the car battery, you can prevent it from losing voltage while you attempt to connect a subwoofer to the car’s stereo.
Step 2: Take Out the Fuse Box
In most cases, a car’s fuse box is in between the stereo and power supply. Therefore, you need the fuse box out of the way to work conveniently. Unscrew or dislodge the fuse box and set it aside.
Taking out the fuse box will give you the required room to access the power supply. This access is crucial because you need to connect the subwoofer directly to a power source.
Step 3: Remove Car Speakers
It’s impossible to connect a subwoofer to a car stereo without poking around the speaker’s wiring. Therefore, if you’re not comfortable working with wiring, it may be best to call in a professional.
You’ll have to disconnect the car stereo completely. That requires removing the stereo from its compartment before loosening the wires behind it. For safety reasons, it’s best to wear rubber gloves at this point.
Step 4: Reconnect Speaker Wire with
Now that you have ample room to access the speaker wires and the power supply, you need to start making the subwoofer connection. However, you can’t connect the cables of your subwoofer with that of the speakers directly. You’ll need an adapter to create the perfect connection to the subwoofer from the stereo’s wiring.
Usually, the adapter comes with wires that tally with wiring from the car stereo. Simply connect wires from the adapter with a corresponding stereo wire, and you have the adapter connected.
A connected adapter will help you make a simple connection from the power supply to the subwoofer. Without an adapter, you can still connect the subwoofer to the car stereo without an amp, but it’s a complex procedure.
Step 5: Connect and Position the Subwoofer
If you have an adapter and follow the process in the last step, you’ll only need to connect the subwoofer’s output to the jack. Once you do that, you’ll have your subwoofer working in perfect conditions, and the bass sound from your car stereo will come out better.
You can still connect the subwoofer directly if you don’t have the funds or time to purchase an adapter. The only challenge is you’ll have to follow a more stressful process to make the connection.
First, you have to identify the low-frequency effect jack of your stereos and connect it directly to the subwoofer’s output. Sometimes, it’s easy to locate the jack and the port, and other times, it isn’t.
If you don’t find the low-frequency effect jack, try searching for the right connector and left connector on the stereo. You can connect the cables into the subwoofer (this usually works if the subwoofer has both right and left outputs). If the connectors have a single cable, you can try using either the left or right output source.
Connecting a subwoofer to a car stereo without an amplifier requires changing the car’s original connection. Therefore, after making the connection, it’s important to consider the location of the subwoofer. Where you place it can determine how long the connection stays in place.
From experience, it’s best to place the subwoofer far out of reach. Behind a seat or in the trunk of your car are two practical options.
Step 6: Test the Car Stereo
After running through steps 1-5, we recommend you do final checks before turning on the car stereo. It’s always better to make sure you got all the connections and positioning right before you start using the stereo. After confirming the connections, place the speakers back in their respective positions.
Then, reconnect the car battery and turn on your ignition. Power on the stereo and play some music. If everything checks out, you should be enjoying a fuller sound with increased bass.
Final Words
Connecting a subwoofer to your car stereo without an amp may seem daunting, but it’s doable. Firstly, you’ll need a set of tools, including testers, screwdrivers, and a flashlight. For safety reasons, you should also have rubber gloves.
Also, you have to decide the type of subwoofer you want before you try connecting it to your stereo. When you have the tools ready, you can follow the step-by-step guide above to connect your subwoofer to the car properly.
Don’t forget to carry out final checks before you start using the subwoofer. Good luck!