# I need some help in car audio



## jessman (Oct 24, 2006)

I got moved to the car audio department at bestbuy, when I used to work in digital. I have never been a car person, so it is hard for me to try and learn all this stuff pertaining to subs, amps, and speakers. Basically I was just wondering if you guys could give me some basic or advanced info here, so when customer come in asking "hey I got this 96 chevy blazer, and I need twitters, and a 10 inch sub box, and am amp" I can actually know what the hell I am talking about.


SO I will give a list of the things I have the most trouble with:

If a vehicle is a DIN format do they still need a wireing harness and antennae adapter for the new CD deck they buy?


Can someone use any amp (mono, 2 channel, 4 channel) with any subs?

Do all speakers come with twitters?

what is the difference between mono, 2 channel, and 4 channel amps?


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## Ageclipsegt (Jan 11, 2007)

jessman said:


> If a vehicle is a DIN format do they still need a wireing harness and antennae adapter for the new CD deck they buy?


Sometimes they need an antenna adapter to make it fit.



jessman said:


> Can someone use any amp (mono, 2 channel, 4 channel) with any subs?





jessman said:


> what is the difference between mono, 2 channel, and 4 channel amps?


Mono means one channel to run a sub, 2 channels is for 2 speakers or subs, or sometimes you can 'bridge' the 2 channels to run one sub. 4 channel should only be used for running speakers (the front 2 and the rear 2, or something like that)

You can use a mono or 2 channel (if bridgeable) to run subs, but mono is best



jessman said:


> Do all speakers come with twitters?


No. A lot do but no.


I can't believe they would put you in car audio, that's such a joke. Anyhow, you're gonna want to do some real learning. check out this site and just browse around, reading the FAQ's and stickies and stuff to get a good base. You'll want to learn about Peak power and RMS, as well as matching those between subs and amps, and you'll want to learn about matching the resistance between the subs and amps and the difference between wiring in Series or Parallel, and also about Voice coils.

You've got a lot of work to do
http://www.caraudioforum.com/vbb3/index.php


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## jessman (Oct 24, 2006)

do you work at bestbuy? thanks for the info


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

You'll want to start with a crash-course in car audio. This includes things such as the various size formats (DIN, double-DIN, import, etc.) harness types, batteries & capacitors, wiring loads, and much more. Some jokers come in with a fat wad of cash an expect to put in $5,000 worth of audio hardware in a car that they paid $500 for. Other times you'll be faced with the door mat parents who want to 'p.imp' their kid's car so they'll love them more.

I'd start by just studying the car audio wall at the store. You'll see the various types of head units and kits used to install them. When they start having you do the install work ask if they can shadow you for a bit to make sure you're getting a proper hang of it. Car audio can be simple once you understand it but can be scary when you're new to it. I've installed a number of radios and subs in my day but I hardly consider myself and expert on it.

Good luck! :smile:


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## jessman (Oct 24, 2006)

well I know for 100% certain, I won't be doing install. The main parts that confuse me now is all the Ipod hookups. I thought as long as there is an auxilary output jack on the deck you can just hook your ipod up to that and run it?


Also when I look up someone's car to see what size speakers they need, is that the ONLY size that can possibly go in?

I had one lady today ask me what size she needs, and I looked it up and it said 5 1/4. I told her only that size would work, and she said something about being able to buy brackets or something to put any size speaker in


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## Ayers27 (Sep 8, 2006)

I feel your pain. I got moved from warehouse to music, movies and games to car audio at Circuit City.(BTW, your installers where I live are horrible, I've never seen such hack jobs) Anyway I had to take the crash courses and learn everything and I still am learning. The biggest thing is matching ohms, and rms wattage. Peak wattage really means little when it gets down to it. We have a program at work that you type in the vehicle and it will tell you exactly what dash kits, wiring harnesses, antenna adapters, etc that you will need. 6 3/4 and 61/2 speakers are interchangeable. Some of the new GM trucks have 6 3/4 and that threw me for a loop at first.

You will probably sell a majority of class d(single channel) amplifiers as most customers opt to have the 4 speakers ran off the head unit and just the sub ran off the amp. subs like the MTX jackhammers and Kicker Comp VRs that come dual in an enclosure can be ran off a class d amp, its just a matter of wiring it correctly. 

And seriously, if you ever get stumped and don't have an answer to a customer's questions, just go ask your installers, trust me that would rather take a minute to help you then have to deal with an angry customer when they get to do the install and don't have what they need.


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## jessman (Oct 24, 2006)

thanks dude, actually I have been moved over to bestbuy mobile, which is even worse now casue it is all cell phones, and I don't know jack about them! plus I gotta sign people up for contracts, upgrade phones, etc. And it is all very confusing


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## Snoopdogie187 (Jun 27, 2002)

FYI.. best buys program to say the speak size i wrong. I have tested it with a few cars and only gets about half of them right. Nissan altima - it was saying an oval speaker in the back when its just a 6 n half speaker. 
and no you can always use smaller speakers then what is orginally in there (or bigger if you want to do some cuttig to custom fit them.)

and really for future refernce everything is laid out and if you read everything you can figure it out. 
Even a good way to learn is start looking at how other systems are set up. 

and for the auxilary output jack, that in itself explains, you need input first off, but for ipods they make a lot of products to make them work for most radios. and if all else fails, fm transmitters are nice.


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