Looking for a better stereo musical experience in your car? Well, getting the best or the most expensive car speaker is not enough.
A car speaker comes with a whole lot of installation accessories, and you will be surprised to see the transformation with just the right accessories along with your speaker.
Installing a new sound system in your car can be a little scary if you do it for the first time. Once you are familiar with all the car speaker installation accessories, it’s no big deal anymore.
Before getting a speaker for your car, check for the right installation gears to install it properly. Here, we will lead you through those installation accessories concerning things to give your speaker its best look and performance.
9 necessary Car Speaker Installation Accessories:
1. Car Speaker Holder:
What is a car speaker holder? Well, a car speaker holder is a base where the speaker is placed with screws. As its name says, it holds your sound system.
There are dedicated spaces in the car interior for the speaker holder. You can also cut and adjust the size of the holder.
Besides, they come in variable sizes, which also depends on what you drive. So, a question might strike your mind, what about the sizes?
If you’re looking for something close to your ears 3.5 inches, 4 inches holders are the better choice.
These holders will fit anywhere in the car, even in vehicles with compacted space. 5 inch, 5.25 inch, 5.75 inch, 6 inch, 6.5 inch, and 8-inch speakers are also available both in round and square shapes.
Things to keep in mind before selecting car speaker holders:
- Measure the length, width, and depth of the factory speaker accurately.
- Check the other available spaces in the interior.
- The holder size should be suitable for the speaker.
- Check the user manual of the car to be sure about the dimensions or seek a professional installer.
Finally, your holder thread and screws thread should match for better finishing.
2. Car Speaker Mounting Clips:
Mounting clips, it is interesting as it sounds. Have you ever noticed the thing that holds a mirror on the wall?
Mounting clips are more like those. Car speaker mounting clips hold the car speaker holder with the interior of the car.
They are joined with screws and keep the bracket and grills stable and are mainly made with two types of materials.
Most mounting clips come with a plastic body and a steel screw. While buying mounting clips, it is better to select stainless steel ones else rust may form.
Again, mounting clips have variable sizes, and you have to pick the ones that match your speaker.
Level your steel screw with the mounting clip’s base carefully, or the screws will become loose with time and can cause damage to your beautiful music system due to shaking while driving on the rough road.
3. Car Speaker Wire Adapter:
What is a speaker wire adapter? Are wire adapters and wiring harness the same? It is a bit confusing to guess the difference by looking at them. Let us make it easy for you.
A wire adapter is a single conductor that connects two adjoining cables. On the other hand, a harness is a pack of multiple wires, conductors, wires tied with plastic ties.
A car speaker wire adapter generally connects speakers to factory harness. As the car speaker wire adapter plugs directly into the factory harness, there is no need to cut the original wiring.
So, with wire adapters, you can install a new set of speakers without interfering with the factory wiring.
Make sure to pick the same adapter which comes with your car. In some cases, the adapter female port is in different shapes. Moreover, a wire adapter can help you keep a factory feature that you want.
4. Car Speaker Adapter Brackets:
A speaker fitted to the door panel sounds fancy? Right? You only need speaker adapter brackets for that.
Car speaker adapter brackets are typically a frame used to fit the speaker directly behind the door panel. Car speaker adapter brackets are generally made of plastic.
They have an average diameter of 6.5” which can hold speakers with mounting diameter up to 5” (can trim to fit larger speaker diameter).
Sometimes car speaker adapter brackets may vary for front or rear door specific. The speaker adapter brackets come free with your speaker purchase along with other car speaker installation accessories.
If you’re planning on custom installation, you can make your adapter brackets from the plastic panel. There is a 12-inch x 12-inch plastic panel available in hardware stores.
Things to keep in mind before cutting your adapter brackets:
- Take a template of the adapter bracket you need.
- Cut carefully through circles.
- Place space for screws matching the thread position.
Use a sharp blade and precise measurements for better results.
5. Car Speaker Cable:
While choosing the car speaker cable, you should keep an eye on the AWG number.
AWG or American Wire Gauge number is a measurement of the thickness of the wire. The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire or vice-versa.
The thicker wires (12 or 14 gauge) have a high resistance to current flow and are generally used for long wire connections, high power, and low impedance speaker (4 or 6 ohms).
On the other hand, for short-distance connections (less than 50 feet) and high-impedance speakers (8 ohms), it’s wise to choose a higher AWG cable.
If you’re thinking about premium sound quality in your car, it should concern you which type of cable you’ll be using for car speaker cable.
If you’re using low-profile speakers with lower wattage, factory cable should be enough for that. But for a better quality speaker with a wattage of more than 75W, we recommend you to use 16 AWG cable.
Higher gauge speaker wire will always offer a clean and crisp sound. Don’t forget to use a ground point connection to prevent noise disturbance and keep that in mind; it’s always good to use some extra feet of wire.
6. Car Speaker Foam Ring:
Foam ring? We know what you are thinking. What in the world a foam ring will do in a car speaker? Let’s get on.
The car speaker foam ring fills the void between the interior door and speaker mounting places. It eliminates the chance of losing any sound in the internal door cavity and makes sure that the sound can clearly enter the car cabin.
Foam is always the right choice of material to absorb thrust or other forces without damaging your speaker.
The car speaker foam ring absorbs any turbulence while driving on a rough surface. Before deciding whether you should buy one or not, we are here to give you all the information you need.
There are two choices you’ve got. One, buy one from stores that match your car speaker size. The other one is making one yourself. For the second one, you need to know that there are three types of materials you can use for foam rings,
- ABS
- HDPE
- PVC
Why all the fuss about a foam ring? We will walk you through every single matter that can get in the way of sound quality.
ABS and HDPE are the superior choices for foam rings, but the problem is they might not be available in your local hardware stores.
The solution is PVC, which will give you waterproofing protection over the whole car speaker. Beware of organic or other materials that might damage over time.
7.Car Speaker Wiring Harness:
You probably have seen the multicolored wiring harness in your car and wondered what does it do?
Well, the wiring harness connects your new car stereo to your vehicle’s wiring. With it, you won’t need to cut the vehicle’s wires to install a new one.
Figuring out each wire’s purpose is a bit intimidating at first, but once you have done it, you will see how easy it is actually. There are three primary wires you need to separate at first:
- Check for the power inputs.
- Check for the ground wire.
- Identify the speaker wires.
If you are looking for types of wiring harness, there are typically two types for car speaker wiring harness:
- Basic wiring harness: It is the most common type of wiring harness.
- Specialized wiring harness: Most modern cars use it to deal with complex wiring and information data.
Moreover, an aftermarket car stereo harness uses a standard color code to recognize the wires, enabling easy installation of your car stereo.
Keep in mind that each vehicle features different wiring. Typically, you’ve got a choice of harnesses that will work for your car. Other times, you would possibly need quite one harness to finish the installation.
8.Mounting Screws:
Mounting screws are probably the most important thing for setting your car speaker in the most convenient position.
Whether you are installing a coaxial speaker or a component speaker, you need to make sure all the parts are well-mounted.
You will need a set of screws depending on the size and type of your speaker. Mounting screws have a wide range of sizes and types depending on the length, thread size, head and drive style, material, and exterior finishing.
If you are mounting the tweeter and woofer, you will need larger and stronger screws to make sure they don’t fall out.
The generated vibration can loosen the screws and diminish sound quality. We recommend you use drywall screws of at least a 2-inch length for attaching your woofer or subwoofer.
You may get a set of mounting screws along with other car speaker installation accessories while purchasing the speaker.
If you are buying, don’t forget to get the new and undamaged screws only and while handling screws, ensure you don’t lose any.
Are you wondering about where you will get the variable-size screws? Rest assured, you will find screws of all the sizes that you need in your nearest hardware store. Make sure you pick the right ones!
9.Car Speaker Grill:
Finally, it would help if you had a car speaker grills to protect your speaker from any external damages.
They are made of perforated metal mesh and mounting plates. To save the metal mesh from rust and corrosion, it has a powder coating.
Nowadays, most car speakers don’t come with a grill, and you will have to buy one separately. Before purchasing the speaker grill, make sure to know your speaker’s dimension so that your speaker grill fits your speaker.
Most get concerned about the speaker grill affecting the sound. It depends on the speaker type but if you want your speaker to last long, don’t think much and get a grill for your speaker.
Though the car speakers are meant to remain untouched, they can accumulate dirt, and deteriorating sound quality.
The removable grills allow you to clean it from time to time to give your speaker its best look.
In addition to protecting your speaker’s driver element, a speaker grill also gives your speaker a stylish appearance, and if you like, you can also have a custom logo painted on the grille!
Final Words:
Improving sound in your vehicle is quite a journey than a destination. Whether you’re rocking with your friend listening to AC/DC or alone vibing the sadness with RADIOHEAD, you should never feel discomfort listening to your favorite music.
Let your car be your favorite place to enjoy music, a better place for online meetings so that you never miss any updates.
With everything, we can assure you that you’ll be listening to your favorite music with premium quality car speaker installation accessories that will protect your gear from any harm and provide you noise-free sounds. Check it out!