MjRocket

Worf

Wow! Im impressed...That looks very nice indeed, great packing of the space and the fans are perfect with the vents already on the console. A+

rnixon

Great advice. Both of the compact options are a little poor spec-wise. I don't think I can bring myself to hook them up to decent speakers.

Anyone got an amp cover going cheap? I'm tempted to modify one to get a little more space (mostly length and ventilation).

MjRocket

[QUOTE="rnixon;11383113"]
Great advice. Both of the compact options are a little poor spec-wise. I don't think I can bring myself to hook them up to decent speakers./QUOTE]


Your going to find that all of those compact amps are class D so the THD specs are going seem poor spec wise, probably roughly 1% THD.

However in an automotive environment your not really going to notice much of any diffrence in distortion, So dont be afraid to test the waters.

Just stay with reputable brands and you will be good to go.

This is coming from someone who highly values SQ and I run a compact full range Class D amp in my car powering a $1500 set of SEAS Lotus Reference components without an issue

rnixon

Thank you for all the advice and ideas. The signal to noise on the more compact amps was what really put me off. It'll be a while before I get around to installing it, but I've gone with an Alpine PDX-V9 (cheaper than the PDX-F6, despite the extra channel).

I have a vague plan to fit it exposed at the end of a shortened amp cover, although I suspect that I'll be running without the cover at first. I have a few things to do before I can start the wiring, which will no doubt take me far too long.

MjRocket

rnixon

Great choice..I'm very familiar with that particular Alpine amp, you will be pleased with it.

It's very Dynamic sounding and has plenty of good clean power.

chitown928s4

I have a small alpine amp powering my bazooka tube tucked in between the spare tire mounted on a piece of board matching the outline of the tire cover. Works great and spare is still intact.theres enough air still surround amp and hasnt overheated even during summer use. Ill see if I can get model number and pics.

worf928

I noticed that for me, the banner ad at the top of the forum pages was from Amazon trying to get me to buy Blaupunkt and Alpine amps. Anyone else?

That looks like a rockin' amp. If that had been available a couple of years ago it would have been at the top of the list.

I learned a couple of things doing my install that I'll pass on with apologies in advance if its all too obvious.

Mock-up a cardboard box that's the same size as the prospective amp to get a really good feel for how it's going to fit.

Make sure you know where the connections will be made on the amp and that you have enough room for both the amp and the connections.

RCA cable doesn't like to take hard-right turns. I ended up using L-connectors at the amps.

It's not hard to make your own RCA cables for the pre-amp runs. And it beats having to figure out how to loop and hide many extra feet of cable.

Bigfoot928

I think I was one of the 1st to put the crossovers in the door.... another place for an am is to just put it on top of the wood piece covering the fuse panel... the only thing it does is shorten the foot space for passengers..... I did it for several years with a rather large amp and never had any issues...

Rob Edwards

On a GTS / airbag car, how 'bout the glovebox? It's air conditioned, and the 'flat' part of its floor is 12.5" x 5.5x 2.5". Certainly not big enough for a giant battleaxe of a sub amp, but it might fit a small 4-channel for the door speakers, plus a sharkwoofer in the rear.

Keep your owner's manual and registration in the door pocket. The cop can get it his own damn self.

James Bailey

Note to self always date short women !!!

Alan

Signal to noise ratio in car is a lot different than a home sound stage. You have so much background noise regardless of the electronic environment that its a bit sillly to quibble about minor levels - unless you plan a lot of listening in the garage with the engine off .

THD makes more sense to focus on here.

Alan

rnixon

I take the point, but I also see it as indicative of how much attention to detail was paid when the amp was designed.

Alan

With small footprint multi-channel amplifiers its always a compromise between SQL specs and SPL specs. The available size pretty much dictates Class-D only amps for power dissipation reasons, and packaging these for multi-channel outputs in a small space makes the isolation of the switching noise from the input stages very difficult.

It's a challenge - and of course designers do a better/worse job but they also have to consciously choose that trade-off point here. Generally everyone wants more power today - so that's where things have been moving.

The good news is that there are at least multiple options today - a few years ago there were just a few small 2 channel amp options and that was it.

Alan

77tony

Alan, Stealth Is that your car ? T

Alan

Yes, I actually have two of these now - one on each rear seat. With the acoustic cloth covering it is indeed pretty stealthy. I like this because it doesn't compromise passenger space or seat operation at all and only has a very small impact on available hatch space.

With the seats folded I can still load quite big things - the enclosures & the amps are actually very strong. Just need to be careful of the fabric - but thats easily/cheaply changed if needed.

This is very close to the battery so a quite practical location for nice beefy supplies & grounds, I have also installed an audio only smoothing capacitor in the void above/ahead of the battery box - just enough room (tight).

You'd think the amps might get hot in the hatch with Phoenix sun but that hasn't been an issue at all. And they dissipate equally well in either orientation.

Alan