What Does a Car Amplifier Do?
When driving in your car or heading out in the morning, you will want a cool, soothing music to calm your nerves or some energizing music to boost your mood for the day ahead. Good music not only entails the music itself but also the quality of sound to ensure it comes out with the intended rhythm and beat accompanied by the nice poetic words to make it complete. Most car stereo systems do not give you the nice sound quality you require and thus the need to equip your vehicle with a good amplifier so as to boost the sound quality of your stereo. You might be wondering what an amplifier does. Well, first off, it boosts electric signals. Secondly, it increases the entire power that goes into the speakers.
The quality of factory installed amplifiers has is at times not good as mostly the focus is on the car performance of the vehicle on road and safety, installing an external car amplifier is necessary to improve the sound quality. In most cars the amplifier that comes with the car stereo does not have enough power, offering around 10 watts in a single channel. You can, therefore, upgrade your sound system by adding a subwoofer or upgrading speakers but you also need to install an external amp to power all the improvements.
Amplifiers guarantee you loud quality music if that's what you got in mind. The best part about using an amplifier is that whether you run your system louder or softly enough for a conversation, it will still bring out all of its excitement and detail. Most people think that accessorizing your car with an amplifier is a piece of baggage and a waste of money. But that thought is for people who don't take that much pride in their cars.
Benefits of Having an Amplifier
The main reasons for having an external amplifier in your vehicle are; to power more or larger speakers or to improve sound quality.
- For better sound quality- an important gain of adding an amplifier is that it boosts your sound quality giving you a cleaner power source that can enable you to play that high sound with your speakers without straining. A built-in amplifier is limited, but an external power amp isn't limited by the space available. Therefore at any volume level, your music will sound cleaner and even more defined than before.
- Power for enhanced speakers: a built-in power amplifier might not be able to handle your new set of upgraded speakers. Thus you need an external amplifier that can help you achieve this, unlike the inbuilt amps.
- Powering a subwoofer: subwoofers usually require more power than the normal speakers that come with the car at first buy thus you have to upgrade to a power amp that can handle the subwoofers. It is advisable to have a separate amplifier if you have subwoofers installed.
- Amplifier Channels: Amplifiers are categorized by the number of channels. i.e. A one-channel, or mono amplifier that can power a single speaker and a two-channel that can power two speakers and so on. It is good to know the stereo system you have so that you can choose an amp with the right number of channels you require to achieve the maximum potential of your stereo.
- Amplifier Power: the output of an amplifier is the maximum amount of power measured in watts that can be achieved by the amp. It is usually the number given per channel. When purchasing an amp, it is essential to match amp output power to the power needed by speakers. This is because too little power results in weak and poor quality sound, while too much power can destroy your speakers.
You can buy an amplifier from various sources including online and over the counter in electronic shops. Amplifiers are specific and technical pieces of equipment. It is quite complicated trying to sort through many specifications and terminology, and it can be quite confusing. You should not attempt to install an external amp if you do not have the expertise because an improper or inadequate wiring can damage the other parts of the car or overload existing power systems.
Installing a Car Amplifier
Installation of a car amplifier is not an easy task, and thus not anyone can do it. It is very important to look for a professional technician or someone who understands the functioning of each car part to help you out so as to avoid unnecessary damages in your vehicle. If you decide to take the task yourself ensure you follow all safety precautions and use the car manual to understand how the car is wired so as to avoid short circuiting. You will require screwdrivers, wire cutters and various other tools to proceed well with the installation, depending on the system, you might require additional tools. Use the car manual at each step and check it throughout the installation to avoid damages.
- First, you need to connect the amplifier to your stereo, since they do not come already wired, you need to do it correctly to avoid damages.
- Use the wiring kit which will give you the guidelines on how to send signal and power to your amp.
- The other wiring required is from the amp to the speakers.
- Each process should be taken keenly, and the wires should be neatly placed and sealed.
Bottom Line
Amplifiers come in handy when you have a test for good music and also all in all when you want to improve your car stereo sound quality in case your speakers produce a distorted sound. If you decide to add more speakers or subwoofers to your car, you also need to seek advice or pick the right amplifier to ensure you put it to maximum use and also to avoid damaging your speakers. In general, it is good to go for an external amp to improve the sound quality of your car stereo.
