Enclosed Powered Car Subwoofers

Get Thumping Bass With an Enclosed Powered Car Subwoofer

An enclosed powered car subwoofer is perhaps one of the most enjoyable aftermarket tweaks you can apply to your ride. Get the key info you need for purchase and installation here.

The vast inventory available through eBay includes gently used, new-in-box (NIB) and manufacturer refurbished powered car subwoofers. Their sizes vary, but the most common range is 6.5 inches to 15 inches. You can find models as small as 2 inches and models larger than 18 inches. There are no standard powered car subwoofer sizes or standard size increments. Installation options include:

• Trunk: Trunk installations are great for large subwoofers that emit bass thats audible from across city streets
• Rear deck: Located behind the rear seats, rear-deck installations treat passengers to luscious but not overwhelming bass
• Under seat: Under-seat subwoofers are slim and concealable, offering sound on par with rear deck in a discreet, hidden setup
• Doors: Door installations work in cars that already have door speakers, in which case you can swap these out for small subwoofers

The connection instructions depend on the type of radio you have. With most aftermarket radios and media consoles, you can connect your car powered subwoofer via right/left RCA connectors directly to the back of your in-dash radio or media console. If you do not have an aftermarket radio or your radio has no RCA right/left output, create negative and positive connections for each powered car subwoofer and attach these to the appropriate ports on the back of your radio or media console. Each enclosed powered car subwoofer may have a slightly different installation procedure, so refer to the manufacturer's instructions.

A speaker coil is essentially an electromagnet. The coil vibrates, pushing and pulling the speaker cone. The vibrating cone shakes the air, resulting in soundwaves emitted as audible sound via a driver that manipulates the speaker diaphragm. Single-coil speakers are common in standard stereo-speaker setups. A double-voice coil powered car subwoofer emits authentic stereo sound because each coil can receive and transmit the kinds of multichannel signals typically handled by multiple smaller single-voice coil speakers.

Root mean square (RMS) watts indicates the amount of continuous operating or output power a powered car subwoofer can handle without degrading the voice coils or emitting audible distortion. Peak power suggests the amount of power a powered car subwoofer can output during moments of climax or crescendo. In most cases, you should match your subwoofer's RMS watts to the number of watts your amplifier puts out for an optimal setup.