Size and Style
Some people want to hide their amp; some people want to show it off. Lifestyle and space constraints often dictate amplifier size. If you leave your car parked on the street a lot, you might want to have a small amp hidden under your seat or in your trunk. If you want to show off your amp to your friends or display it in plain view, a designer look might suit your needs. If you don’t have much space, sometimes two or three small amps can be better than one big one. These days especially, amplifiers come in all sizes; some are the sizes of old pocket radios. They also come in lots of colors and styles. Whether you’re plain or artistic, you should have no problem finding an amp to fit your personality.
Fine-tuning the Sound
Many amps come with built-in bass equalizers, filters and crossovers, all designed to help your installer fine-tune your system. For example, you might be stuck with a pair of 4” speakers only capable of reproducing midrange and high frequencies. A properly adjusted filter or crossover will cut out the low frequencies and only allow midrange and high frequencies to those speakers. Sure, filters and crossovers improve the quality of sound, but they’ll also save your system from damage by allowing each speaker to focus on its core strengths or design intentions. For subwoofer applications, bass equalizers can be helpful in compensating for a car’s acoustics. Bass equalizers are certainly useful, as long as they’re not abused.
Digital or Analog?
Years ago, a 1,000-watt amplifier was about the size of small surfboard. However, with Class D technology it is not unheard of to get this kind of power out of an amplifier measuring 12” in length. However, Class D amps have been limited to mainly subwoofer-specific amplifiers due to their switching (digital) power supplies. These amplifiers are typically 25 to 30 percent more efficient than their Class AB counterparts, which is why their packaging is so small and one reason why they are a great match for subwoofers.
The old reliable Class AB amplifier is well known for its sound quality and makes up a good 80 percent of the car audio amplifier market. They are also available in virtually any size imaginable, from 25 watts to beyond 2,000. Class AB always makes for a good option to run your mids and highs.
Some multi-channel amps are now combining both digital and analog technologies. There are several available that combine analog (Class AB) channels for the mids and highs with a single digital (Class D) channel dedicated to subwoofer applications.
Pay for Quality
These days a good 2-channel amp starts around a couple hundred dollars, while a high-quality 4-channel amp starts around $300. If you need a 5-channel model, you’ll have to spend at least $400 to get something good. Don’t be enticed by no-name equipment with hard-to-believe prices. Cheap equipment may not always hold up well, especially in abusive situations.
Use a Professional Installer
Have your components installed by a reputable, certified installer. An inexperienced individual could easily connect something incorrectly, causing expensive vehicle damage. While quality audio components are a necessity in reproducing an artist’s music accurately, even the best equipment installed incorrectly will yield poor results. Happy amplifier shopping!
And finally, whether you listen to rap, classic rock, jazz or classical, there’s nothing like having plenty of power on tap when you really want to crank it up. However, one killer power amp coupled with average speakers and a stock CD player isn’t going to translate into an audiophile-quality experience. If you want more from your car stereo, a speaker upgrade will definitely result in the most noticeable improvement in sound quality. Since budget is often an issue, upgrade your system one step at a time—fullrange speakers first, amplifier second, subwoofer, etc. Each step of the way, simply purchase the best gear you can afford.
THE MANUFACTURER’S PERSPECTIVE
How can the average consumer go about choosing a high-quality amplifier?
First: Beware of the “bling.” It is there to hook you and costs money. Power meters, see-through panels, chrome and LEDs do nothing for the sound. Find a balance and don't get sucked in by stuff that has no use and is only meant to distract you. Money spent on “bling” for the outside is money not spent on quality for the inside.
Second: Ask to see the manuals. A company taking pride in its product will want you to understand how the product works and will provide a useful, informative manual. If you can't understand how the controls work from the manual, you should probably look elsewhere.
Third: Check out the car audio dealers. Specifically check out the sales guys and installers. See what they have in their cars. Yes, the manager will have his people using the products he wants to sell. But, by the same token, those guys want decent stuff in their cars, so if they're using it, that's (generally) a good sign.
These external things will help narrow your choices to the better performing products. Of course it's the internal elements that contribute most to reliability and performance. Multi-layer circuit boards, symmetrical design, heavy-gauge traces and appropriate power supplies are just a few. Unfortunately, these are hard to recognize and most sales people won't be much help.
So read those reviews. When magazines review a product they take a good, close look at how it's built. Read the whole text of the reviews. If you can't find the amp you're looking for, find another one from the same series. The build methods will be the same and you'll get a better feel for the real quality.
