Thanks to valuable help from Manyk, I’ve got my ancient Alpine 3527 amplifier and 8″ SAS Bazooka subwoofer installed. I used to have these things powering the sound system in my first car, a 1987 Nissan Pulsar. I then moved them to my next car, a 1998 Subaru Forester. They sat in my dad’s basement for four years while I drove the Impreza. I couldn’t be bothered hooking them up to that car for whatever reason. Anyway, I decided to add them to Emeril. I bought all the parts yesterday, planning to do the installation by myself today. But, I was glad to have some company when Manyk offered. It turns out the job would have been nearly impossible to do alone. Routing cables under carpet and through the frame of the car requires an extra pair of hands and sometimes even an extra pair of ears to hear.

The amp is now under the passenger seat. The power cable goes from the battery, across the outside front of the firewall, then into the car on the passenger side. It goes under the carpet behind the dashboard, and then out from under the seat to the amplifier. The amp is grounded to the mount for the parking brake handle, after discovering that the “normal” grounding spot to one of the bolts holding the seat didn’t work as a ground. The signal cables and the remote turn on lead from the stereo run underneath the centre console, and then under the carpet so they come out beside the amp under the seat. The speaker wire runs along the passenger side, underneath the rear seats, and out into the trunk, where the sub sits.

After hooking it up, I was nervous to find out if everything was still working. Of course, I turned the key, and… nothing. Obviously there were a few minor electrical issues to work out. It turns out that the crappy amp installation kit I bought had a faulty fuse holder, so no current was going through to the amp. Fortunately, I had a cheesy little multimeter with me to diagnose the problem. I guess it’s better than sticking my tongue onto the cable to test for current! I also had a spare fuse holder, which saved the day.

The end result is that everything is working perfectly. It’s a “stealth” install, so nothing is visible. You’ll have to look pretty hard to see anything. The sub is fairly small too, so it doesn’t make the entire neighbourhood shake and encourage thieves. It just provides some solid bass support inside the car, which is exactly what I wanted. Now I can cross “subwoofer” off of my “Things I Want” page. The next step is to find some way to stop the stupidly designed Bazooka from rolling around in the trunk. 🙂