How-To
How to Keep Car Amplifier Cool and Stop It Overheating
How to keep car amplifier cool: give it air space, mount it the right way up, check impedance, set the gain, fix the wiring and add a fan where airflow is poor.
The archive
Car audio reviews and buying guides
Everything we have published, newest first. Every product below was bought at retail, measured on the bench and installed in a car before a single word was written about it.
Troubleshooting
How to Get Water Out of Car Speakers: Drain, Dry and Test
Drain the door, dry the speaker with room-temperature airflow for a day or two, test it, and fix the leak so it stays dry.
How-To
How to Tune Car Subwoofer Settings for Clean, Blended Bass
How to tune car subwoofer settings: set the gain, low-pass filter, phase, subsonic filter and bass boost so the bass blends with your speakers.
Installation
How to Install Subwoofer in Car: Step-by-Step Wiring and Mounting Guide
How to install subwoofer in car audio systems: mount the sub in its box, wire the voice coils, secure the enclosure, connect the amp and set the controls.
Troubleshooting
How to Reset a Car Radio: Reset Button, Factory Reset and Radio Codes
Soft, factory and power resets for car radios, and how to find and enter the anti-theft code afterward.
Troubleshooting
How to Remove a CD From a Car Stereo: 7 Safe Methods
Safe ways to free a stuck CD, from forced eject and resets to careful manual methods, plus what not to do.