New Audio System in a 96 GT

hey
im looking to install a new audio sys in my 96 4 door sedan GT. Problem is, I have no idea how to ;( Im thinking of buying some 12 inch subs from some german company soon to start me out. Im guessing I will need a amp too.. but from there on I have no idea how to set it up into my current stock audio system so it works. any ideas? I just wanna add 2 subs and maybe a new head unit for now. is it hard to install? anyone know a site that shows how to?

-dan

for that size of subs you do need a amp and for you is get a wiring kit that is about 500 wtts that is rated for the size of amp that you want.. and when you are running your wires run it though the fire wall and under your carpet in the car.. runn the power wire on one side of the car and runn your sound wire on the other side of your car.. yea it sounds redicules but it will save you some heart ache in sound quality later on down the road. for my self i have a 600wt amp in my trunk for my power wire i 4 gauge wire for wire and for my ground and my ground wire is about 1/2 ft good luck
jayman

Where did you bolt the ground wire? I'm having trouble finding a good ground.

If your seat folds down and i think yours don't my ground is were my seat is bolted to the fram. it's right there my ground cord close.. to my amp.. you can ground it any where as long as it's to the frame. for your back seat you would have to unlatch the back seat fold it fwd and then find a bolt close to where you mounted your amp.. when you find one.. make sure you scrach off some paint from the frame so that you have bare metal showing. that's how you would get a good ground

installing an audio system isn't hard at all if you like working with wires. The job can get tedious, running wires so that they are hidden and whatnot, but its not overly difficult. I grounded my amps to the bolt that hold the trunk carpet down.

actually i had circuit city install the head unit, and me and a friend install the subs and amp. if your getting subs, get an amp, its pretty much a given. if your 96 is like my 95 just lift up the plastic pieces at the door and run the wires down the sides, as for the firewall part, thats where i had a problem, no holes and no way to drill it. so i put it up by the emergancy brake, through to where the door hinge is and up a little tunnel thing there, and up to the hood hinge and under the hood. little round about way of doing it but its concealed and looks/works well. as for ground, pull away the carpet on the side of the trunk, find where the antenna is attached, unscrew it, sand the paint and put it on the bolt attaching your antenna. my cord is only like 3' but most of the length is to hide it. I have 2 12s and they're working great, especialy for having a really weak amp and good subs. As for wireing the head unit. That could be tedious. and you'll likely need a wireing harness for your head unit and mounting brackets. Personally i'd say go to circuit city, buy the head unit and have them install it for free. Well done there.

How about the remote wire for the amp? In my old car I just wired a switch up and stuck it in the dash, but I don't want to do that this time because I sometimes forgot and left it on and the battery died. So is there a place on the stereo to hook up the remote wire? Or how would I tap into the ignition?

Putting a dual single cell sub box for your 12's facing your trunk lid would work good. If your seats dont fold you got to port the speaker shelf so the bass can pound in the cab. Try removing the speaker shelf and look at the bare painted metal around the speakers , in between the two should be a venting hole. You can modify the venting hole so it is larger and allows the bass to flow freely in the car. Then you can port the speaker shelf in the center and either mesh it or buy some turbo tubes(chrome) that will leave it open for the bass.
I hope you use good powerful subs either on a 2 channel amp of 300 + rms watts minimum(150 rms watts per channel) the amps are more handy with high/lowpass filters , upgrade your systems front and rear speakers to match the low end bass your adding , most aftermarket brands of speakers can take light amplification boosts and sound a whole lot better less distortion.
It is also very important to have a decent head unit(aftermarket sterio) that will run the sub controlls and has decent high/low pass filters.
If you have no clue you could take this stuff in to a installer and it will be guaranteed to work as well as be backed up if something doesnt work right.

i ran the remote wire along side the speaker sound wire, no switch or anything, and it hasn't run my battery low. you should be fine.

oh markgase, thanks for the tips on porting the shelf. Never thought about that, will look into it when i get time.

When i installed my amp i wired it to where it automaticly comes on when i turn on my car. it's all gravy remote switch is good but if you do forget to switch it off than it's a pain but if you can wire it too where it turns on with ur ride than you don't have to worry about a switch or anything