amps

[bigboyaks]

hi, could someone explain to me the concept of amps. would one amp with say 4 channels be enough to enhance 4 speakers, or do you need one amp for each speaker? sorry if im bein stupid

 

[steve p]

hey mate,

yes thats right thats how it works.

You need to know what you want the amp to do.
A mono amp would be for a subwoofer. where as a 4 channel amp will power your speaker set up. but its doesnt mean you cant power the sub with the 4 channel.
Class D amps are probably the best you can get, not cheap but you get what you pay for.
I find with amps, subs, speakers you get what you pay for.
Im in process of sorting out my setup, im after clarity not loud car shaking bass. So im getting high quailty components front and rear and 2, 2 channel amps to power them.

Oh and also a high quality head unit with a sound processor is well worth investing in.

hope this helps,

steve

 

[thejoose]

hey mate,

yes thats right thats how it works.

You need to know what you want the amp to do.
A mono amp would be for a subwoofer. where as a 4 channel amp will power your speaker set up. but its doesnt mean you cant power the sub with the 4 channel.
Class D amps are probably the best you can get, not cheap but you get what you pay for.
I find with amps, subs, speakers you get what you pay for.
Im in process of sorting out my setup, im after clarity not loud car shaking bass. So im getting high quailty components front and rear and 2, 2 channel amps to power them.

Oh and also a high quality head unit with a sound processor is well worth investing in.

hope this helps,

steve

Class D is not good for full range amplification. It allows lots of power for a relativly low current pull but they dont sound too good above 100hz hence why most sub amps are class D

For full range amplification class a/b is usually the best. but there are some class a/b bass amps (Usamps 1000 and 2000 and the tru tech hammers) they really suck power though but we are getting out of the scope of the OP.

Each channel allows you to power one speaker a 4 channel amp allows you to power 4 speakers (usually 2 up front and 2 behind). Some amps allow you to bridge channels (that is combine them) to allow you to amplify 2 speakers with twice the power. Other 4 channel amps allow whats called a tri mode. take a 4 channel amp that does 100w per channel (or 4x100w)

in 4 channel mode it could power 4 speakers with 100 w to each speaker
in 2 channel mode it could power 2 speakers with 200 w to each speaker (because you are combining the 4 channels into 2)
in 3 channel (or tri-mode) it could power 2 speakers with 100w each and 1 speaker with 200w (in this mode you only combine 1 pair of channels)

These tri mode amplifiers are perfect for a first system as they allow you to power a pair of speakers and a sub from one amplifier

check out http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=97 for sme great 4 channel amp reviews

 

[bigboyaks]

cheers thats been alot of help. anyone possibly recomend me a decent amp for my set up. i have Alpine spr-13s components, alpine spr 13c coaxials, and a vibe cbr 12 active (built in amp). This is being powered by a pioneer deh-p7700mp at the moment, although thinking ill get a new one. cheers

 

[degrees of passion]

hi,im no expert and iv only recently found this forum,but i would advise you to do some research on amps first on the net.

From what i can remember,as well as whats alredy bin sed,you need to match the RMS powers of the amp with that of your speakers handling,and try not to get too caught up in the whole selling point of 'peak' power as RMS is much more important.So for example,you got 2 6x9s that have a 250w peak,but 75w RMS.So ideally you wud get a 2 channel amp(presuming your not running your front speakers off it aswell) that has an RMS of 75+75=150w.But then agen i think its better running a higher power amp a little lower than the other way around and running a lower one at its limit all the time.maybe someone can correct me or help me out here,but im sure i read b4 that all amps arent anywhere near 100% efficient,but im not sure if thats already been taken into account when rating them?

with all the alpine stuff id go for an alpine amp,try looking at the v series ther pretty decent.my old setup had a mono block running a sub,and a 4 channel amp split between the 6x9s in the back and components in the from,all alpine.