Alright so a few weeks ago I took my subs and amp out of my truck. Now I'm wanting to somehow run an amp to all my speakers to ge the extra pow out of the speakers (aftermarket). They are rated at 260watts max. I have a little 200 watt 2 channel amp. Well we began installing and ran into problems. The music cuts out once turned up to a certain point and is actually not loud at all. So I'm thinking of buying a 4 channel amp to make the install easier and better. So how big of a 4 channel amp can I go without worrying about blowing up the speakers or head unit. When it's rated at say 1000 watt amp, is it 250 watts going to each speaker (4 speakers) or is it 1000 watt going to whatever you're powering? Can someone help me out here? ha. This stuff confuses the crap out of me, but I'm thinking once I get a 4 channel amp it should be easy as heck to fix my problem. Any ideas?

 

I have a 4 channel amp for sale(In 2004-2008 Parts Classified). Its a 500 W 4 channel and I had it on 4 aftermarket Pioneer speakers in my doors and it sounded great. It had plenty of power, but its easy to adjust if its too high. Im no stereo expert either, but I can tell you that the 500 W never blew any speakers after 2 years.

 

Well, guy, thanks but since posting this scatter brained message I've found a 4 channel amp. It's not ideal, I wish it was bigger, but it'll be good enough. It's a kenwood 300 watt 4 channel amp. I've also answered pretty well every question I posted about. I'm hoping it'll be about a 10-20 minute job to hook up the 4 channel amp and run the 2nd set of RCA jacks to the stereo. Thanks for the offer though. If this 300 watt amp isn't big enough I might come knockin, but hopefully I won't have to!

 

you guys need to stop paying attention to max power ratings. They mean almost nothing in regards to how much power is acutally going to your speakers. RMS is the number you want to look at.

 

Which is what I found out. And that automatically rules out any 1000W amps or anything bigger than 300w really. This amp I'm going to pick up today is 280w 4 chan amp. Which would be 70 RMS? I think my speakers are 75RMS max, so anything bigger than the amp I' going to pick up would pop the speakers. It's a rough lookin amp, but I'm going to tape it off and shoot some paint on it when I get it and make it look new.

 

But ideally you want an amp with some headroom, that is what the gain levels are for

 

assuming that 280 is an RMS and not max, then yes, it would be 70x4. And FYI...over powering your speakers will not "pop" them. Its all about how you adjust/tune your amp.

 

No problem, just thought Id help both of us out if I could. I also dropped the price.

 

Well I had to turn the gain all the way down. It had way too much static in it with the gain turned up. It's all hooked up to the 4 channel amp and sounds good. Problem I have now since it is a used amp is I think one of the female RCA jacks on the amp is loose and if you tap it it will get really staticy and quit playing the drivers side rear speaker, but play the other three. I need to rig something up tomorrow to try and stable it. But the fact that it only quits playing one speaker and makes the rest staticy when it's tapped doesn't make sense to me at all. Idk it's hooked up right now and placed just right to where it sounds good and plenty loud. I'm headed out here in a little while so I'll get to see how it performs while driving and if it is loud enough.

 

Are you running the stock head unit, or an aftermarket? If it's stock, you might be having problems with the line level converted (converts the speaker wiring to RCA). I haven't dealt with them in a while, but you might just be pushing too much output from the HU to the amps. Maybe turn the gain up on the amps, and go lower on the HU volume?

If you are not going to replace the HU, you can look for amps that have the line level converter right in them. Would make the sound better.

If you are suspect of the amp inputs, it might be worth it to go to WallyWorld and buy a crappy $40 amps and put it in to see if the sound improves. I actually have one of those amps around, and I use it in installs from time to time.

 

No i have a JVC headunit. I don't remember the model number but it's pretty fancy, it's touchscreen with a 4.5 screen and plays DVD's as well.

That's what I did kind of. I went to the pawn shop to get a 4 channel amp. It's in decent condition for it being in a pawn shop. I think what I'm going to do is rig something up to keep it stable. Idk how I'm going to do it though. One of the jacks needs to be pushed up.

 

Make me an offer on mine that has no problems and Ill save you the work and hassle of jackin with that amp. Haha

 

Wish I could, but I just got this amp and I already have 2 others just layin around. Your amp I;d put into my turck but then I'd have a 280 watt 4 channel amp, 600 watt two channel amp, and a 220 watt 2 channel amp just laying around. I've tried hittin up ebay twice now to see the 600 watt amp and no offers both times. If some reason this amp takes a crap and i sell the other two along with the 2 custom boxes I have for under the seat, and you still have the amp I just might have to. But until then I;m going to make this amp work.