You don’t need to be some sound engineering genius to know that your car’s sound system could use an upgrade. You’ve had those times when your favorite song comes in the speaker, and you want to blast the volume. Only you’re blessed with music that sounds like scratching a tin can.
Although cars already come with a sound unit and an amplifier, those succumb easily to the demands of your auditory needs. An aftermarket amplifier dedicated to boosting music solely can rescue you from eternal music damnation.
Whether you want full audio experience inside your car or flaunt your pimped car with heart-thumping bass, it’s a good idea to consider getting a car amplifier. Join us as we dive deeper into the underlying question, are car amplifiers worth the budget?
The Wonders of an Amplifier
An amplifier is a small device that can boost your automobile’s speaker system. It’s responsible for producing the sound you hear from your speaker. In layman’s term, the amplifier does its boosting job by converting the weak signal from your audio source and transforming it into a more powerful one by adding more voltage into the signal.
Amplifiers in the market come in varieties, but here’s the important thing to consider: the more powerful your amplifier is, the louder and crisper the sound it can produce, and the fewer the distortion is.
Most car audio systems today come with a built-in amplifier, but truth be told, the quality of music it produces are kinda…meh. The power they use to convert the weak musical signal to a stronger one is not sufficient to deliver that oomph factor, unlike what an added amplifier can do.
Why should you get an aftermarket amplifier for your car?
1. Improve your car audio quality
There’s a good chunk of technical mumbo-jumbo about the wonders of an amplifier, but in general, it helps you to enjoy cleaner music, as loud as you can.
Your factory speakers and amplifier can raise the roof at a powerful range, but you’ll notice the distortion in the music. This is due to the strain brought by the demand of the audio signals that exceeds what your built-in speakers and amplifier can do.
With a dedicated amplifier though, the distortion would never gatecrash the party. You’re free to enjoy your favorite songs as loud as you can without sounding like scratching on a tin can.
Of course, it still depends on the car amplifier of your choice, but you’re guaranteed a fresh upgrade to your music that you’ve never experienced before.
2. Get the most out of your new set of speakers
You can buy the best stereo or speaker sets out there for your car, but without an amplifier to unlock their true potential, you’ll be stuck with the same audio quality as before. An amplifier has better power capabilities to match the potential of your new music digs.
3. Drive your subwoofer to its optimum level
If you want to hear more depth to your music, you need a dedicated subwoofer amp to highlight those thumps. Subwoofers need more power to do their job, and aftermarket amplifiers fit the job
What kind of amplifier should I get?
That depends on your preference. Do you want some head-turning music tripping, or just loud enough to keep you alert and alive during the drive?
The first important stuff you need to check is the number of channels of an amplifier. Channels are the paths audio signals take to produce sounds through your speakers. The number of your amplifier’s channel can determine the power it can give to your speaker system.
To find out how many channels to look for in an amplifier, identify how many speakers or subwoofers you have or planning to install.
Car amplifiers come in six multi-channel varieties:
- Mono-channel
- 2-Channels
- 3-Channels
- 4-Channels
- 5-Channels
- 6-Channels
Depending on your car model, your music preference, and the number of speakers available in your auto, each variety can prove to be the better option than the other.
For instance, mono-channel amplifiers are your best options if you’re only looking to buy or use a subwoofer or a simple speaker system. They’re enough to provide the added power of your subwoofer or single speaker unit.
For people looking for a little boost, a dual-channel amplifier is the most common option out there.
Now, if you want the best amplifier that’s both powerful and budget-wise, you need to get your hands on the best 4-channel amplifier. It has enough power to provide juice to a set or two of speakers paired with a subwoofer unit. The best part is, it can boost your audio system for a longer period, at least until you fully upgrade your speaker system.
Five and six-channel amplifiers are suitable for larger cars with larger speaker systems, like SUVs. They can also take time setting up, so they may not be the best initial amplifier choice for you.
Amplifier Power
When reading the label or description, you’ll want to look for its RMS rating and peak power.
RMS pertains to the amplifier’s capacity to produce power while in use. The higher the RMS rating of an amplifier is, the better volume and quality it can produce. It’s vital to buy an amplifier that matches the RMS rating of your speaker. This is to avoid underpowering your amplifier, or worse, overpowering it and causing it to overheat and damage your audio system.
Meanwhile, peak power refers to the amount of power your speaker can handle in short power bursts. You’ll want a car amplifier with higher peak power so it can handle power bursts, no matter how long you use your speakers. The peak power of an amplifier is always higher than its RMS rating.
Amplifiers: your next best investment for your automobile
To answer the question of the day, yes, car amplifiers are worth the budget. Some may think that entertainment-related upgrades are a luxury, but with traffic getting insufferable, you’ll be thanking yourself later. To get the best amplifier for your car, it pays to do a little research and evaluation first on your car’s capacity before you start shopping.
Courtesy of Sarah Hayes
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