How to Get Surround Sound in Your Car?
If you are a movie lover, you must have noticed that in theater, sound is almost equally audible everywhere. After the industrial revolution, the automobile industry is at its peak. The automobile manufacturers are trying to accommodate every possible technology into their cars.
In this article, our editors have explained proven and best methods to add surround sound in your car.
You can get surround sound in your car by installing a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system. It is recommended that speakers should be placed according to the guidelines to get the perfect surround sound in your car.
To have a cinematic sound experience in the car was indeed a great idea. All thanks to digital signal processors that now we can have surround sound in our cars too.
How to Get Surround Sound in Your Car?
The trend of installing surround sound in cars is getting popular day by day. Everyone wants to make their journey somehow memorable and less exhausting, and that is precisely a car surround does. Below, we have explained in detail the different surround sound systems for your car.
Types of Car surround systems
There are two types of car surround systems:
5.1 car surround sound
5.1 Car surround sound has five speakers and six sound channels. It was invented by Dolby Labs in 1976. It has a standard surround sound. As compared to the car surround 7.1, it is much cheap.
Also, the installation of 5.1 surround sound in cars is comparatively less laborious than that of 7.1 surround sound. However, the depth of sound in 2.1 surround sound is noticeably less as compare to 7.1 surround sound in car.
7.1 surround Sound: DVD/CD player
7.1 Car Surround Sound has seven speakers and eight sound channels. It has more sound depth as compared to 5.1 car surround sound. Also, its music comparatively has more precision. With excellent sound, wisdom comes the high price. It is expensive than 5.1 car surround sound. However, its installation involves a little bit more complicated steps to be followed.
Step-by-step Guide for Installing a Surround Sound System in Car
As you have gathered enough information about the car surround system, let us move towards its facility into your car.
5.1 Surround System in car
Here is the step to step guide to installation of 5.1 surround sound in the car,
Have a compatible Disc Player
Before installing 5.1 Car Surround, make sure that your vehicle has a compatible head unit and DVD/CD player installed in it. By term consistent, it means that the head unit or DVD/CD player should be capable of working in a surround sound circuit.
Either head unit of your car should be able to produce surround sound, or you should have a DVD/CD player in your car that can produce optical surround signals. These encoded optical signals will be further decoded by surround sound encoder.
Installation of amplifiers
Good, you have a head unit and DVD/player which are compatible with car surround sound. Now, the problem is that the signals produced by the head unit of the car are of too low strength. So, you have to install amplifiers in your car. These amplifiers will amplify the signals produced by your compatible head unit. These amplified signals will be easily translated by car surround sound encoders.
If the head unit of your car supports the preamplifier, you can use it too. Preamplifiers can modify the signal before it reaches the amplifier.
Add subwoofers
After installation of the amp or preamplifier, if your car does not have a subwoofer, then install one in it. You have to simply connect the wires of subwoofers with the head unit of your vehicle.
Installation of midrange driver
After installation of subwoofers, make sure that you have a proper and quality driver of midrange installed in your car. These drivers should be compatible with surrounding sound 5.1.
If you have not midrange drivers, then install it. Make sure that midrange drivers are on the backside of the car.
Installation of Tweeter drivers
Just like midrange drivers, install tweeters drivers too in your vehicle. Also, make sure that these drivers are fully compatible with to surround sound 5.1. Remember to have tweeter drivers in the front of the car.
Add crossover
Now, if you have the option of customizing the cross over points, then set the cross over points. Set the frequency of the midrange between 500Hz to 3000Hz.Set the rate of subwoofers below 500Hz frequency. In the end, adjust the frequency of tweeters just above 3000Hz.
Make wire connections:
Finally, we have come to the last step of the installation of a car sound surround 5.1. You just have to wire the sound surround 5.1 compatible head unit or DVD/CD player with the amplifiers. Make sure to make the proper connections.
Congratulations, car sound surround 5.1 has been successfully installed in your car.
7.1 Surround Sound in car
Here is the step to step guide to installation of 5.1 surround sound in the car,
Positioning of subwoofers
The most crucial part of installing a 7.1 car surround system is deciding the position of subwoofers in the car. Subwoofer is the instrument that will play one of the most critical tasks in the surround system.
Subwoofers will give the specific deep surround sound of the car surround 7.1. This deep sound is what makes it different and even better than 5.1 surround sound in car.
In regular cars, Subwoofers are usually not given much importance. Subwoofer is generally placed in the trunk of the vehicle. But in cars surround the 7.1 system, you have to put the subwoofer in the main body of the car.
Let it be the dash or rear panels of your vehicle. You may make a hole in them to place the subwoofer in it.
Once you have positioned subwoofers in a specific place, it is time to install them. You may hide the wires connected with the subwoofer under the carpet of the car. It will maintain tidiness in your vehicle.
Positioning of Speakers in car for 7.1 surround sound
As we know that in the car surround 7.1, we have a total of seven speakers. Now the main thing is placing the speakers appropriately in the car to have good surround sound.
You can use your desirable custom placement of the speakers. However, it has been recommended that one can have two speakers on the rear side of one’s car, two on the front side, one on the left side, and one on the right side. The remaining speaker will be placed in the middle of the car. In this way, you will have an ideal car surround sound.
After positioning your speakers, simply connect the wiring harness with the car receiver.
Running test of speakers
Even after placing the speakers in your desired positions, do not make that place permanent for them. Before making them stable at that place, just go through a little checkpoint. Connect wires with all speakers. Now, check that is sound reaching equally to all sides of the car. If not, then adjust the position of the speakers accordingly. This is a must to get surround sound in your car.
Permanent speaker position
Keep on changing the location of the speakers until you achieve the optimum positioning for a perfect surround sound in the car. Once you have attained the best positioning of the speakers, you can feel the sound equally anywhere in the car.
Now it is the time to make that position permanent. Remove the wires from your speakers. Take a jigsaw and make an appropriate place in the car to place your speakers. Be careful while using jigsaw. Avoid unnecessarily damaging the surface of your vehicle.
Make placements of appropriate size for placing speakers. Any smaller or larger than the required place will simply cause the vibration in speakers while moving. This will distort the surround sound severely.
Do not forget to clean the waste pieces off your car after using jigsaw.
Connecting wires to 7.1 speakers:
Once you have permanently placed your speakers in their position, now join the wires to them. Hide the cables under the carpet of your car to increase the aesthetics of your vehicle. It will also provide protection to the cables.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed a car surround 7.1 in your car.
Why should you add a surround sound system in your car?
You may be still wondering why you should have surround sound in your car? Either you should even have it or not? So let us make this decision easy for you.
When you are sitting in a car, the main problem you face from the stereo of your vehicle is that it does not evenly distribute the music to everyone. Someone who is sitting near the speaker will have too loud while the one sitting way from it will have too low sound. It can totally distort the enjoyment of the journey. When you have surround sound in your car, everyone can have equal access to the music.
Even if someone is traveling alone, then having Surround Sound can dramatically enhance the stereo experience of that person. Having sound coming from all the directions makes the journey very easy and enjoyable.
So if you are a person who loves traveling or you have to go a lot, then having surround sound in your car is the best option for you.
How to place speakers in the car to get surround sound?
To have proper placement of the speaker is inevitable for having good surround sound in the car. The problem is that there is a difference in surround sound in your home and in your vehicle.
In your home, you may place every speaker to an equal distance from each other. But in automobile, such placement of speakers is almost impossible.
Another major problem that arises in having an ideal surround sound in the car is the continuous disturbance from road noise or vibrations. So what is the solution then?
The solution to this problem is simple. You should place the speakers in such a way that every person, regardless of sitting at any seat, can have a direct view of the speaker. It may sound ridiculous to you. But it has a pure physics behind it. Actually, the frequency from these speakers is directional.
So if anyone can have a direct view of the speaker, it means that frequent from that speaker will be directed towards him/her. However, the placement of subwoofer does not matter much because frequency from subwoofer is not directional at all. But still, you should avoid placing it in the trunk. So that subwoofer can be adequately integrated into the surround sound system in car.
From physics to mechanics and then to the installation of surround sound in the car, so that was it from us. In the end, we wish you a melodious surround sound journey in your vehicle.
Team: Howstereo.com
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