5 Best Car Amp Mounting Ideas

The amplifier is an essential component that drives power into the speakers. If you want your music to be loud and crystal clear, amplifiers are definitely part of the picture. However, it’s important to find the right mounting location for the amp to maximize its advantages.

No hard and fast rules exist that say exactly where an amplifier should be mounted inside the car – it’s a matter of space, function and preference.

As long as the amplifier has adequate ventilation, and enough space to ‘breathe’ – since it could run the risk of overheating if it’s in a nook that’s too cramped – you can basically mount it anywhere inside the car.

We will explore Five different car amp mounting ideas, from underneath the front seat to the spare tire area, to even an amp rack. The last item is a unit or case that serves as an amp holder. All of the options have their pros and cons — you be the judge.

4 Reasons You Shouldn’t Mount an Amp Over a Sub box

Mounting your amplifier over a subwoofer box has always been a topic of heated debate in the car audio community.

Generally speaking, mounting your amps to a sub box is not recommended at all. Nonetheless, so many people have been doing it for a very long time with no problems whatsoever, probably because those people build very good enclosures from 3/4″ (or thicker) MDF with extensive bracing.

Others (especially impatient greenhorns) are too lazy to do that and build un-braced enclosures from thin MDF or even worse plywood. These enclosures aren’t strong enough and will easily flex more than a well-built enclosure and will likely cause early amp failure if the amp is mounted to the enclosure.

There are a lot of things in life you can get by without any major problem. That does not mean by any means that it is a good idea, or that it should be done.

Here are a few reasons why mounting an amplifier to a sub box is a bad idea:

1. Damage to Amp’s Internal Components

The reason why car amp prematurely fail when mounted to a subwoofer box is because of vibration-induced failures (also known as vibration fatigue), which is one of the main mechanisms that causes the failures of electronic devices.

It goes without saying that electronics are subjected to vibrational stresses, and car amplifiers are no exception.

I mean, when the subwoofer is pounding hard, the material making up the box flexes and therefore causes the sides of the box to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the amplifier mounted to the box; specifically to the electrical components through the electrical leads which are soldered into the PCB (circuit board). This wreaks havoc through the solder joints and electrical leads which are soldered into the circuit board, causing the components to break loose, which eventually leads to early amplifier failure.

Vibrations are liable to cause early amp failure in different ways. Being subjected to vibrations for an extended period of time causes:

Keep in mind that the vibrations won’t negatively impact your amplifier immediately but over the long run.

Also, this depends to a great extent on power. I mean, a well-built box housing a 200 watts RMS subwoofer is unlikely to cause an issue.

Furthermore, it must be noted that some amps are more prone to vibration-induced failures than others.

2. Risk of Theft

If you frequent any of the popular car audio forums, you’ll notice that “subwoofer box theft” comes up quite a bit.

In fact, we’ve come across several posts on car audio forums and social media where people have been victims of theft of their subwoofer boxes and are asking for how to secure subs to prevent that from happening again.

Mounting your amplifier on a subwoofer box means presenting an all inclusive package to potential thieves on a silver platter.

The theft thing is the best reason not to mount it all together since it would be much easier for a thief to snatch it all at once.

3. Amp Overheating

If your amplifier is mounted flush against the subwoofer box with no air circulation on the bottom, it’ll easily heat up. This is especially true if the subwoofer box is mounted in sedan’s trunk.

It should be noted that lack of airflow is one of the most common cause of amp overheating.

4. More Work Taking the Box Out

Another reason to not mount your amp to a subwoofer box is because it limits your ability to disconnect that subwoofer box if you need to remove it to make extra room for cargo. This also holds true when you’re swapping out boxes.

Tips For Mounting An Amp To A Sub Box

If you have to mount your amplifier on a subwoofer box for whatever reason, there are a few precautions you need to take to ensure your investment will last for many years to come.

1. Double or triple baffle the sub box

The mounting surface you attach the woofers to is susceptible to excessive and severe vibrations. Doubling or tripling its thickness makes it stronger and allows it to absorb some of the energy waves generated by the sub(s). This allows for less box flex and cuts down the amount of vibration that’s transmitted to the amplifier.

2. Make sure to brace your enclosure

Bracing is the KEY to a well-built subwoofer enclosure. It’s a technique used to prevent unwanted physical stress (from panel flex and vibration) to the amplifier.

If your enclosure is built with inferior or too thin materials, or if it’s just generally poorly built with no bracing, you’re probably going to get a lot of flex in the box, which will then be transferred to the amplifier causing damage to its circuit board.

3. Use rubber washers on amp’s feet

Another tip to consider when mounting an amp on a sub box is to put like 4-6 rubber washers at each foot of the amp.

Doing this kills two birds with one stone. The rubber washers will give the amplifier some cushion which will significantly dampen the vibrations, and at the same time get the amp about 1/2″ off the box which will allow it to “breathe”.

5 Best Locations to Mount a Car Amplifier

Now that we’ve explained why mounting an amp to a subwoofer box is a bad idea, and what you should do if you had to, it’s time to tackle the ways of doing it correctly.

Down below, we’ve listed some great car amp mounting ideas for different vehicles.

Underneath The Front Seat

Mounting your car amplifier underneath the seat is the most preferred choice option among car audio fanatics.

The main advantage to mounting the amplifier underneath the seat is that you get to use shorter signal and patch cables.

If you’re installing a 4-channel car amplifier to power your door speakers, by mounting it under your seat you will have a central location to route all of your speaker wires.

On a related note, it’s worth noting that car audio cables are unbalanced cables. And because unbalanced cables can pick up noise as a signal is sent along the cable, they’re more suitable for short distances, like connecting a head unit to an external amp. This minimizes the risk of unwanted noise and signal degradation.

Additionally, another reason to consider this amplifier mounting option is because it’s a great way to hide your amplifier out of sight.

The downside, however, is that your amplifier might keep overheating due to lack of airflow being mounted in a confined space such as underneath the seat. This is especially true if you live in a hot area, or if you have a cheaply made amplifier that tends to get hot easily.

Moreover, it can be difficult to easily tune an amplifier mounted underneath the seat since you can’t reach it easily without sliding the seat.

It must be noted that not all cars have enough space under the seats to accommodate an amp. This is especially true when the amp is too long or too tall. So, before attempting to mount your amp underneath the seat, you need to measure it to ensure it’ll fit in there.

You’ll also need to consider the clearance of the seat when it moves (stick it under the seat and move the seat back and forth to see if it will fit properly under there), if people’s feet will hit it while in the back, if there is a floor vent under it (in colder climates the amp would be blasted with heat from your AC), not to mention if the amp is accessible if necessary.

When it comes to mounting a car amp underneath the seat, one of the biggest problems is the wide variety of amp sizes. Generally speaking, only small car amplifiers are suitable for being mounted in there. However, sometimes depending on your car, you may also be able to fit a mid-sized or even a large amplifier underneath the seat.

It goes without saying that you always need to make sure the amp’s case is isolated from the chassis of the vehicle. This is to prevent ground loop and noise problems.

One of the best ways to achieve that is to mount your amplifier to a wooden mounting board then bolt that piece of wood to the metal floor of the car. If you don’t want to drill holes into the car’s body, you can simply glue the board to the metal floor using construction adhesive.

To keep the amplifier running cool, use standoff screws to raise the amplifier a bit off the wood so there is air space under the amplifier allowing good ventilation.

Another easy way to hold an amplifier into place under the seat is to use heavy-duty industrial strength velcro tapes.

One thing to watch out for when mounting an amp behind the seats is not to forget to leave a few extra inches on each wire in case you need to fold the seats down.