Breakers Stereo

Adding a car amplifier to your car stereo system is a must if you’re looking for great sounding music. Not just for the guy that wants to shake the block with subwoofers in his trunk but also for the person that wants clean crisp music with a wide frequency range.  Not only will it improve the sound of your car stereo system better, matched with the correct speakers it will also improve the longevity of your car stereo system. There are many different factors when selecting which car amplifier will work good for you and in your car. Let’s go over a few different factors when selecting a car amplifier. Power output. This is the most basic thing most people look at when selecting a car amplifier but you have to match it up to the speakers that you have or are looking to buy. Contrary to most beliefs it’s not over powering speakers that will blow a speaker it’s normally under powering speakers that will blow a speaker. Let me explain, the most common factor that blows a car speaker is distortion and when you under power a speaker you get to distortion much faster than if you over power a speaker. Now don’t get me wrong over powering will blow a speaker if you run it into distortion. The key is DISTORTION BLOWS speakers. Look at RMS power at the ohms rating you will be running at otherwise you won’t be getting the power you might expect. If you’re running 4 ohm door speakers and rear deck speakers look at the 4 ohm rating on the amplifier for the expected wattage. Most co-ax and component speakers are rated at 4 Ohms so that is the rating you want to look at.   Example:                     50x4 @ 4 ohms RMS 85x4 @ 2 ohms RMS  

1. THD or Distortion rating. Very important factor especially when shopping for a great sounding car stereo amplifier. This is a rating that is in direct proportion on how clean the amplifier will play. Good sounding amps will be rated at >.05THD where dirty amps are much higher.
2. Variable Crossover settings. This is the ability to be able to select the crossover setting for each set of speakers in your car. This is important so that you can find tune your system to get the exact sound you’re looking for out of car stereo system. A good range for the crossover will be from 50Hz-500Hz. Try to stay away from car amplifiers with preset crossover points.
3. Stability. Not typically a factor to determine if a car amplifier is good or not but it is something you should be aware of when putting together a great sounding car audio system. Mainly important when selecting subwoofer because you want your car stereo amplifier to produce the most power possible and to achieve that you must first determine what impedance (ohms) the amplifier is stable at, then configure the subwoofers around that. Most good mono or 1 channel amplifiers are 1 ohm stable and most good 2 channel or 4 channel amps are stable at 2 ohms. When wiring subs you either wire in “series” or “parallel.” Here is how to figure out your end impedance when wiring subwoofers in series or parallel.

Parallel Formula   X = one voice coils ohms Y = the other coils ohms   Z = final ohms X + Y =Z One coil                       The other coil                                    Final Ohms 4                 +                   4                      =                        8 Series Formula    X=common ohms    Y=the number of voice coils        Z = final ohms X ÷ Y = Z Common ohms                 Number of voice Coils               Final Ohms 4 ÷ 4                       =                 1 Adding a car amplifier definitely enhances the sound of your car stereo system and it’s important that you choose the right one for you. If you have further questions on what will work best for you and your vehicle please give us a call for a free estimate.