Advice on amp for Alpine head unit?

[BGonaSTICK]

Picked up a cheap S/H Alpine CDA-9851 for the car last week, and wanted some advice on an amplifier for it.

The wiring loom in my car is a bit old-skool and everything goes back to the factory (rubbish) amp in the boot, so I can't easily re-wire it from the head end. I'm just going to run fresh cables all the way back to the boot again and leave the existing wiring well alone.

Not done one of these for many many years - any advice anyone can give me on what sort of amp would be a good choice? The head unit chucks out 18 watts RMS per channel, and has three 2V pre-outs. I might chuck a small sub in the boot at some point, but will keep the factory speakers for now.

Cheers

[Mship]

Take it your keeping the car now then Stick :?

Never had to fit an Amp myself mate so can't help you their. Maybe a sift through the ICE section of one of the motor forums might throw up a few answers, the MGRover forum has an it's own ICE section .

Kev

[BGonaSTICK]

LOL, yeah, I'll have to go digging around I think. Don't know quite what I'm doing yet. I'll probably just try and hook it up as-is for now, and then add an amp and sub when I've got the rest of it figured. A CD changer might figure too

More on this later I think... ops:

I updated my car/HGF saga on the other thread, but yes, I've decided to hang onto the motor for a little while longer as the gasket turned out to be OK. The water was probably condensation! I hope so anyway.

[Unknown user #1]

You can put Blaupunkt TravelPilot satnav radio in there 45W/channel, plays MP3 (not all models) and does satnav (turn by turn).
Looks a bit cheap but then it won't attract interest from er.. undesirables.
How does that sound?

[BGonaSTICK]

I agonised over whether I should try and find something to plug right in, or something that sounded good and would run an amp/sub and decided on the latter. I also don't want to spend any money!

I don't care too much for sat-nav. I prefer to get lost and do it all the hard way - I don't have a mobile phone or a diary either!

[nanochickin]

Have a look at this Stick

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/home/

A guy i work with has a Rockford setup in his X-Type Jag. Sounds absolutely evil >

You cant really go wrong with other Alpine stuff either. I used to have a set of Alpine 6x9" powered by a Kenwood header unit in the back of my Mini (First car ) They used to vibrate the car so much that the rear view mirror kept coming off the windscreen and the rear windows kept popping open

It got even worse when i added a cheapo Mosfet amp. The bass was fantastic although it did affect the quality of the sound and my hearing

Basically what i am saying is that you won't do badly with Alpine amps and speakers

[BGonaSTICK]

I reckon you're right. I'll have to have a good look at the wiring that's there first I guess. There are stupid little speakers all over my car, and I have no idea how the crossovers are setup.

Are most amps much of a muchness in terms of type/layout/format? Is there a particular type that I should either go for or avoid?

My last amp had two channels in and four speakers out, full stop!

And no, it didn't run on valves!

[nanochickin]

Nah mate you want an amp bridged for each speaker

The crossovers are probably passive ones on each channel, I.e low freq cut on mid range and High range

Most amps come either 2 way, 2 way bridgeable (i.e 1 channel) or 4 way. I would rather go for two 2 way amps than one 4 way. Just preference, plus it looks better in the boot

Don't bother with your cheapo Mosfet amps that you see at the local car shops they amplify more noise than music

As long as you go for a decent on a budget Amp like a Kenwood or Alpine, connected to decent speakers and a good active crossover system you should be OK

make sure you take the power straight off the battery with its own inline fusebox and make sure you have a really good earth on everything including the header unit or you may get the dreaded alternator whine through the speakers :?

[BGonaSTICK]

Thanks m8. I'll take all that on-board and see if I can make it work somehow. Expect more questions! :clap:

[BGonaSTICK]

Well, I lashed out on an Alpine Ai-Net MP3/CD changer and a Vibe CBR12 300w RMS active subwoofer. Only the cabling is outstanding.

Hooked up the head unit last week - it's fantastic, just need to add on my extras :spite:

May not upgrade the internal speakers and amp. They sound reasonable, and I've blown my budget already ops: