Amplifier or Head Unit?

glemay
glemay Posts: 574
edited January 2004 in Car Audio & Electronics
Just wondering but I got 2 Pioneer 6 x 9's in boxes for my boat hook up to a Sony cassette player rated at 25 watts x 2. The 6 x 9's are rated at 200 watts max.

What should I do to get better performance? Get a new CD player head unit or a small amplifier? I'm not looking to spend alot of money, maybe $250 CDN at the most.

What should I do? What brands should I look at? Any recommendations?

Thanks

Gerald
Main System:
Denon AVR-2805, Polk Audio RTi70's, Polk Audio CSi40, Polk Audio FXi50, Paradigm PW-2200 v.2, Toshiba 42XV545U HDTV

Second System:
Denon AVR-1705, Polk Audio R40, Polk Audio CS245i, Polk Audio R15, Paradigm PS-1200a
Post edited by glemay on
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Comments

  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited January 2004
    You can do both. Circuit City has a Sony CD player for $100 and a Kenwood for $120. They wont have a bunch of features but will play fine. Circuit City also has the Alpine V Power 50x2 amp for $120. Its a great little amp and clean as a whistle. I have one myself and love it.

    There ya go. $240 and all you need. Go to circuitcity.com and check em out for yourself.
    polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
    MECA SQ Rookie of the Year 06 ~ MECA State Champ 06,07,08,11 ~ MECA World Finals 2nd place 06,07,08,09
    08 Car Audio Nationals 1st ~ 07 N Georgia Nationals 1st ~ 06 Carl Casper Nationals 1st ~ USACi 05 Southeast AutumnFest 1st

    polkaudio SR6500 --- polkaudio MM1040 x2 -- Pioneer P99 -- Rockford Fosgate P1000X5D
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  • glemay
    glemay Posts: 574
    edited January 2004
    MacLeod,

    I'm in Canada.

    Would a H/U that is 50 watts max x 4 become 100 watts max x 2 if I connect 2 out of the 4 channels to each speaker? So I would have the FL and RL hooked up to the left speaker and FR and RR hooked up to the right speaker. Is this correct? If so would it out-perform an amplifier that was rated at 50 watts RMS x 2?
    Main System:
    Denon AVR-2805, Polk Audio RTi70's, Polk Audio CSi40, Polk Audio FXi50, Paradigm PW-2200 v.2, Toshiba 42XV545U HDTV

    Second System:
    Denon AVR-1705, Polk Audio R40, Polk Audio CS245i, Polk Audio R15, Paradigm PS-1200a
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  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited January 2004
    Not really.

    A head unit is a poor power source. The reason is that you only have so much room to work with. When youve got about 3" to make an amplifier on the back of a cd player its not going to be much. A dedicated amp will always be louder, more powerful and tons cleaner than a head unit. If a h/u claims 50x2 its probably more like 15x2 rms. That 50 watts is a max, best case, if it ate its Wheaties number and not something its going to hit all the time. Whereas the 50x2 rating on the Alpine is a number its going to hit all day long with no problem. Also a h/u is usually not anywhere near as clean as a dedicated amp.

    As far as hooking 2 channels up to a single speaker, I would advise against it. I cant give you any scientific evidence against it but I just got a baaaaaad feeling about that. It could overload something, not sure what but I bet something would go FFZZZT!

    If youre just wanting something to make some background noise while you drive around then stick with just a head unit but if you want to have a good, clean, powerful signal to listen to then I very strongly recommend getting a dedicated amp. And when you can have a very good, high quality, clean sounding amp in the Alpine for $120 there is really no reason not to get it.
    polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
    MECA SQ Rookie of the Year 06 ~ MECA State Champ 06,07,08,11 ~ MECA World Finals 2nd place 06,07,08,09
    08 Car Audio Nationals 1st ~ 07 N Georgia Nationals 1st ~ 06 Carl Casper Nationals 1st ~ USACi 05 Southeast AutumnFest 1st

    polkaudio SR6500 --- polkaudio MM1040 x2 -- Pioneer P99 -- Rockford Fosgate P1000X5D
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  • sntnsupermen131
    sntnsupermen131 Posts: 1,831
    edited January 2004
    not a good idea to make a head unit thats 50x4 into 100x2...theyre not meant to take that kind of load
    get an external amplifier
    go to www.crutchfield.com
    look up us acoustics
    theyre pretty cheap and come with a 3 yr warranty
    if you go in the ocean with the boat id have a sealed waterproof enclosure around it...it needs to be sealed...if not itll rust out the amp
    -Cody
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