Car Audio Advice Needed

[sevenzedek]

I have recently been blessed with speakers to replace the twenty-five year old speakers in my car because of an incentive program through my employer. With this program, I was able to acquire four 6.5 inch coax speakers and one 10 inch Pioneer Champion Series subwoofer. The specs on the subwoofer are 800 Watts RMS (3000 Watts peak) and 1 or 4 Ohm impedance. I plan to install this speaker in a sealed box so it is advantageous to power the full RMS wattage. I need to purchase an amplifier to power the subwoofer. Now, I realize that amplifiers generally tend to be expensive, but I am looking at getting one under $100. I don't want to spend too much money on this. Of all the inexpensive brands from which I have to choose—Pyramid, Lanzar, Pyle, Boss, and others, which brand should I buy? I am looking for an entry level amplifier that will do the job. After reading the reviews, I understand that the manufacturers tend to exaggerate the specs on their products and I don't know who to trust. Also, The reviews talk about "dirty sound." I don't mind if the specs on the wattage are exaggerated so long as I can anticipate it and compensate for it, but I would like to avoid the "dirty sound" of which I read.

Does anyone have any advice on which brand or model I should buy? I don't want this thing to overheat and fail a year later.

 

[Logan]

I can't speak from personal experience but Kicker supposedly makes some of the best car audio systems in the country, right here out of Oklahoma (I visited their plant). The owner is a good Christian guy, friends with some of our elders, and has been very generous toward the local crisis pregnancy center.

I don't know about prices, but I understand their quality is impeccable. We got to see the final testing room, a big anachoic chamber where the owner tests new products for sound quality (he has a chair in the middle and switches back and forth from known systems to the new system to compare).

 

[littlepeople]

Dirty Sound probably refers to an square wave distortion due to amplifier clipping. It's a really good way to melt the voice coils, ruining your speaker. I would always lean towards overpowering; never underpower a speaker. Any amp that generates 800+ish RMS watts at 4 ohms will be fine. There's more that could be said, but I think that will be a good rule of thumb for your scenario. Good names (10 years ago) were Kicker (cool that the owner is a Christian); Alpine, JL Audio; Rockford Fosgate.

 

[tman]

I run Lanzar and JL Audio amps in my truck. Lanzar amps are far better than the Pyramid, Boss, etc.... they are junk.