Car Audio Amps

Let’s go over some basics about different types of car amplifiers. As examples, I will use Hifonics Zeus series amplifier and Kicker ZX400.1. The main purpose behind amplifiers is to take lower level audio signals and to boost to make those signals greater. There are some things each amplifier is going to have and I want to you show you what they are. If we take a look at Kicker ZX400.1, on one side of the amplifier, you have power and ground terminals as well as fuse and remote connection. On the other side are RCA inputs to connect to the audio source and RCA outputs, and speaker terminals where you connect your speaker wire to the amplifier and run it to either your speaker or subwoofer. There are other adjustment controls including bass level control. On the front of Kicker ZX400.1, we’ve got other adjustments such as gain, crossover frequency, and bass boost.

Each amplifier is going to have same basic inputs, outputs, adjustments, and different terminals, however, they are located on different spots on different models. If we move over to Hifonics Zeus amplifiers, we have examples of 2 channel amplifier, 4 channel amplifier and 5 channel amplifier. The 2 channel is going to be ideal for powering 2 speakers, so if you want to just power your front speakers in your car, you have your terminals for that: your positive and negative terminals for one speaker and another set of terminals for another speaker. In the 4 channel amplifier, you likewise have your power and ground terminals as well as 4 sets of terminals for your 4 speakers. This is ideal for powering up your front speakers as well as rear speakers. The 5 channel amplifier covers what the 4 channel does and on top of that you can add your subwoofer. If you install the 5 channel amplifier, you can power your entire audio system.

There are many different types of amplifiers on the market. For instance, there are different classes of amplifiers including Classes A, AB, BD, D, and more. What the class in the amplifier refers to is the internal circuitry of the amplifier, how the amplifier works. I will cover these topics later on. There are also different types of channels. The example we used, Kicker ZX400.1, was a single or mono block amplifier. The other examples, Hifonics Zeus amplifiers, were of course multi channel. The number of channels implicates the number of speakers that amplifier can work with. As with the above example, in the five channel amplifier, you can work with all four speakers as well as a subwoofer, basically the entire system powered off of one amplifier.

As mentioned above, the purpose of an amplifier is to take low level audio signals and to enhance them to make the signals greater. What this does is to improve the sound quality of your system, enabling you to play the music louder yet with less distortion. If you do go into after-market car audio products, it is important to get an amplifier to get the most out of your audio system.

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Let’s take a look at JVC CS-BB2. This is a 6 inch high powered subwoofer that is also very compact. You can fit this pretty much anywhere in your car. It’s going to come 5.1 surround compatible, so if your head unit is compatible with 5.1 surround sound, this is going to work nicely with your system. As far as connection goes, if you look on the side, there are a couple of connections. You’ve got your harness for your power and ground as well as your remote and your speaker level inputs. You also have your RCA interconnects, your left and right channel in. In addition, you have a connection for your wired remote. If you zoom in over to your remote, it is very compact and you can install this wherever you need to, be it driver’s side or whatnot. It has a bass level knob so you can adjust how much bass you’re getting as well as this boost button so you can that extra oomph from your subwoofer. Overall, JVC CS-BB2 is a fantastic compact subwoofer. Even though it is only 6 inch, it is very loud and very efficient for being that size. It has high powered magnet that helps produce some great lows.

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Let’s talk about how to hook up an amplifier. For those who never installed an amplifier before, sometimes it can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Once you understand the basics of how to do it, it becomes very simple. There are three main parts to hooking up an amplifier. Number one, you need power your amplifier. Number two, you need to give your amplifier an input signal. Number three, you need have an output signal coming from your amplifier to your speakers or to your subwoofer.

First, let’s talk about how to power your amplifier. Here, we have Stinger SPV44 battery. It is very important to disconnect the negative battery terminal when you’re doing an install like this. And, here, we have our four gauge power cable and four gauge ground cable. The first thing we’re going to do is to connect the ground cable to a terminal of the amplifier. Put it into the portion of terminal that says ‘ground’ and screw that down. Once we have this connected from the negative on the amplifier, we’re going to ground the other side of the cable to the chassis of the vehicle. Now that we have our ground cable connected, we’re going to connect power cable. With our stinger battery, we’re going to connect this with our battery clamp. Connect power cable to the positive battery terminal. The power cable goes through the fuse holder and then is connected to the positive terminal end of the amplifier. After this, we’re going to connect the remote turn-on wire. This connects to the wiring harness of your receiver. In this example, we have Kenwood DNX6140, a fantastic GPS, navigation receiver. It is color coded and labeled on the back of the wiring harness. Different manufacturers use different color codes and different ways to label, so you need to be careful and make sure you connect the correct wire. Take the wire and connect to the remote turn-on portion of the terminal on your amplifier.

Once you have the wires connected, it is time to give your amplifier the input source. Here, at the rear of the receiver, we have RCA interconnects, Kicker X-series RCA interconnects. They are connected to the subwoofer out portion on the receiver. Take the other side of the cable and connect them to the amplifier. Now that your RCA interconnects are connected, your amplifier is receiving an audio source and you need to give that source some place to go.

The last part of setting up your amplifier is to connect it to your speakers or your subwoofer. We have here Kicker CVR subwoofer, which is already prewired. Secure the speaker wire in the output terminals. Once your subwoofer is connected the amplifier, our installation is done. The whole procedure is very simple. Remember the three steps of installing an amplifier: 1. Power the amplifier 2. Give the amplifier an input signal 3. Connect your speakers or subwoofer to your amplifier for your outputs.

Video review: youtube.com/user/SonicElectronixTV#p/u/26/lYja

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Let’s take a look at Eclipse XA 1200 amplifier. Eclipse is a division of Fujitsu of Japan, which is a high-end electronics manufacturer. Eclipse is their car line. This is Eclipse XA1200 amplifier. They utilize a lot of technologies within this, one of them being ICEpower technology. What ICEpower technology does is to allow the amplifier to produce superior sound quality while keeping it in a smaller compact case. It also reduces energy demand, still allowing the amplifier to be reliable and stable. That is something unique to the Eclipse amplifiers. Let’s take a look at the amplifier. Start with the bottom and top of the amplifier, you can see the aluminum heatsinks which keep the amplifier cool. On the side, you have your RCA connect inputs, input level, level control, low pass, as well as bass boost adjustment. It is class D mono block amplifier and all the inputs and the controls are right here on the side. Take a look at the other side. You have two 40 amp fuses, power ground, remote inputs and speaker outputs. All of these are gold plated screw terminals to give you the best power transfer signal that you can possibly get from the amplifier. These screws make it secure. Again, this is Eclipse a XA1200, class D single-channel mono block amplifier with ICEtechnology. Included in the box is also bass level remote that comes with a wire. You can mount that underneath the dash to control the bass boost.

Video review: youtube.com/user/SonicElectronixTV#p/u/29/DauX5a6C0bs

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Alpine MRP-F300

If you are fairly new to the world of car amplifiers it would be best to go through all the necessary steps in order to not only sure insure great quality sound, but also prevent catastrophic situations like shortages.

To start there are several types of amplifiers that you will be able to choose from. You have the monaural or mono which is the most basic, the two-channel amplifiers, and your multiple channel amplifiers. In essence a channel is a set of positive and negative terminals that you use in order to drive power to your speakers or subwoofers, meaning; the more channels you have, the more speakers you will be able to connect together.

Choosing the right amplifier to suit your needs will depend on a couple of things. To discuss this in further detail, here's what each amplifier can offer you and what the set up each is best suited for:

Mono or monaural amplifiers: "Mono" amplifiers are generally considered to be "Class D" amplifiers. This means that they have a higher power to heat ratio as compared to two-channel or multiple channel amplifiers, making them best suited for subwoofers that demands for a lot of power. Since mono type amplifiers tend to work best at 2 ohms of impedance (or the resistance to vibration of the medium in sound transmission), they are perfectly suited to drive a singular 4 ohm subwoofer or two 4 ohm subwoofers possessing only one voice coil for each.

Dual channel Amplifiers: To put it in simpler terms, a dual channel amplifier is two mono amps built into a singular frame. This property makes them well suited in running a single 4 ohm single voice coil or two 4 ohm dual voice coils. For these set-ups like "bridging" might be needed, which not all dual channel amplifiers may allow. So take note of this first when planning to buy an amplifier.

If you're not really familiar with the term bridging, it's basically trying to combine two channels in order to get the recommended wattage. For this, you might just want to leave it to the experts because certain errors in calculation can result in a shortage or permanent damage to your amplifier.

Multiple channel car amplifiers: Multiple channel amplifiers will allow you to hook a number of speakers (up to four), while still giving you control over most of your sound needs; voice, bass, balance, fading options.

To conclude, if you're planning to install your amplifier, you will need to learn about proper wiring first. You can organize your wirings later on, in order to make it easier for you to fix if you ever run into problems with one of your speakers. Aside from this, you will also probably want to learn more about peak power and root mean square (RMS). Learning about car amplifiers before buying them will help you get the right set and also avoid future damage.

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