Comments on: How to Choose a Car Stereo Amplifier

on 6/30/2006 More important than the actual wattage of the amplifier is the quality of the signal. A speaker driven at half its rated power with a heavily distorted signal will burn faster than a speaker driven at slightly more than its rated power with a high-quality, clean signal.

on 11/22/2005 Try to get a Class D amp for your woofers, they're more efficient and deliver more power than the Class A or B amps!!

on 11/22/2005 I have two dual voice coil 12" subwoofers with 1" exclusion each. They handle 800 watts RMS each. I only have a 640 watt RMS amplifier to run both of them at 2 ohms each. You've got to make sure it's RMS power, not MAX power. Each subwoofer only gets 320 watts of power, but it sounds good and it's enough power to impress just about everyone I show them to. Avoid pusing your subwoofers to the max, because they will "max out." This makes a clipping sound, which ruins the richness of the bass. The speakers also burn out much much easier.

on 11/22/2005 Before going to the store to buy an amp, have someone that you know and you are sure that they know what they are talking about go with you before to show you everything. Your friend doesn't care if you buy a $600 amp or a $200 amp...but the salesman does. If you are buying the amp for subwoofers, make sure you know how many watts each speaker can take (usually on the back of the speaker). If each speaker can hold up to 1,000 watts each, the salesman will want you to buy the 2,000 watt amp or the 1,800 watt amp, when the 600 watt amp will do just fine. But always remember that just like having too much wattage can blow your speakers, not enough watts can do the same exact thing!

on 11/22/2005 The gain controls how much power gets fed to the speakers. Using it as a volume control will blow a speaker in a matter of seconds if adjusted improperly. Turn the volume on the head unit up to 3/4 and adjust the gain until you hear distortion, then lower the gain slightly. This will keep the amplifier and speakers from being destroyed.

on 11/22/2005 Car amplifiers are the hardest thing to buy, so I would suggest you research them as much as possible before buying. The RMS power rating is the constant power rating and is what the amp actually puts out. Also, look at what voltage the reading is taken at. A vehicle runs at 12VDC when sitting and around 14VDC while running. A good amp also puts out minimal distortion which is a THD of no more than 2-3% for a sub amp and 1% for every other application.

on 11/22/2005 If you want to save money and save non needed wiring, buy an amp that has tri mode amplification with high rms power. It will save money, and you will have plenty of power to supply to your subs and amps

on 11/22/2005 Remember, wattage isn't always the best way to go. I've seen a 100-watt outperform a 1000-watt amp. So always remember to ask the salesperson about performance, not wattage.