I bought a stereo from Best Buy a week ago and now I'm about to have it installed in my existing system. It has 50 watts per channel and they want to mesh it with my original factory amps that came with the car. Is there a way that they can actually do this, or are they going to burn something out? My understanding is that my factory amps are only rated at 15 amps per channel, but I'm not sure. I would greatly appreciate input anyone has to offer.

 

Screw the factory amps, dude. They suck. A good brand, 50W/channel amp will be plenty to handle what you've got in your car if the speaker setup is stock. Just plug them into the outputs of the head unit. Heck, I'm running a 35x4 and its perfect for the mids/highs and I've got a convertible!!

Then, pull the factory amps, and sell them to some bloke who hasn't upgraded and needs an amp. Or keep them and figure out how they work, and use them for some project for the heck of it. An audio-band amp makes a nice output stage for a DIY waveform generator .

If you've a 'vert, the only amp you might want to keep is the headrest speaker amp. I don't remember if that has stereo-level inputs or if it has line inputs. Try it with line first, if you get nothing out of it try it with stereo outputs, and gently bring the volume up until the headrest speakers clip. Then you know the approximate level to set your fade at so you can turn the rest of your speakers up all the way.

 

Your head unit will only have ~15Wrms/ch output, and the factory amps are only rated for ~7Wrms/ch input, so if you attempt to use them you'll just fry something. You have to bypass the amps and run your speakers directly from the head unit, or even better, get an aftermarket external amp. The easiest way to bypass the amps is to simply run new speaker wires.

 

Yeah I have a Convertible and just put in a new stereo after replacing a rigged job by the previous owner. He had already bypassed the amps and went straight into the speakers, but used crappy wires. I can hear the stereo just fine, but hardly any lows and sounds kinda blah. Should I replace the speakers in the car? (I took out the vert seats, so no headrest speakers)

 

focal or alpines ya replace them

 

stock factory speakers arent gonna give you much in the lows. Even with aftermarket speakers, you would need to amp them

my 50X4 put out 22w RMS . that was barely enough to drive 6.5 oversize speakers loud enough to hear over the wind with my windows open

trying to get good sound out of papercone speakers is a losing proposition, i would just get speakes first if you cant get the amp, but ask them to run RCA cables for you so you dont have to take the dash out when you do decide to get an amp.

 

heh. My Alpine 35x4 powers 2 5.25" (also alpine) and 2 4" bostons to loud enough to hear with the top down going 80. No lows though... that's handled by the subs. Older audio gear (its probably 5 or 6 years old by now) truly is better... damn 1997 was a long time ago... I'm so fuggin old now...

 

old **** is better. new stuff is made to be used for a year and thrown away. old stuff is bigger, but 10x better build quality.

-Bej

 

I will agree with that statement fully bejbis

I am running a full Infinity system in my RX.

Infinity Referrence 5.25" in the front
Infinity Kappa 6.5" components in rear
Infinity Referrence 10" subs (Qty: 2)
Infinity Kappa 102a (Qty: 2) one to each interior set
Infinity Kappa 202a run to the subs.

It sounds awesome and my setup doesn't take up that much space. The big dog, 202a, is mounted on the back wall. The 102a amps are mounted behind the seats vertically off the floor. The subs are mounted in custom kickplates between the shock tower and back wall (aimed toward each other and slightly up). It bounces the sound off the hatch glass.

Extremely clean sounding with plenty of rich lows, clean mids, and ear-splitting highs.

Like everyone else said, replace ALL the speaker wiring. Sure, it will take most of a Sat. afternoon to do, but you will be happier with the results later.

-Audio