Amplifiers / Head Units / Processors / Electrical

just thinking, why do we still use head units? we are taking digital signals from streaming/flac/wave files on a phone or usb stick and converting that to analog just to convert it back to digital at the dsp... are there any head units out there that just go digital to a dsp rather than the extra conversion step? i was considering a carputer to just do source and dsp all in one via software and a soundcard up front

As with being located in Australia it's not that easy to get a big alternator cause most of the auto sparkys are f*#%wits... I asked him would I be able to run a SK-1500.1 and a SK-85.4 of my car and he said "yeah mate.. You could run them off the stock batt" I face palmed it so I put it to you people.... My car came from factory with a 100 amp alternator and it has I think 2 awg wire to the batt... I've already put an xs power d3400 in Would I be able to run these 2 amps how it is now and if not let me know what mods I need to do so I can have a piece of mind and not constantly worried ill be on low voltage Cheers mate

So the other day I did the Big 3 in my car. Everything had always been fine before it, I just did it to prepare for my next system. After doing the Big 3, I noticed something weird. In my car, there is a little heads up display for the driver, and after bumpin for a while, it said "Batter Saver Active." Wtf is this? I mean I would guess that it senses low power from the batt, but two different voltage meters show 12.8 w/ car off, ~15.2 idle, and ~14.6-15.1 while bumping. My voltage never drops below 14.3 volts, and I was just wondering why it would say something about the batter saver? Btw, i just added new wires, I did not remove the old ones.

if an amp is fuses with 2 20amp fuses.. what is the most the amp can put out power wise? i cant find a place that has amp output by fuse rating listed.... Thanks -AcId-

Ok so i got my aa-3,800.1 this is my first system where i will need to upgrade my electrical.. i dont have to much more money i can play with so what will i deff need to power this amp? i will be pushing two 12 DSS Ethos.. and i have a alpine 4 channel for highs... not trying to half ass it but i dont have much doe i can spend.. i have asked a few people but i get differnt answers... so what do u guys think ill deff need?

just wondering what everone thinks about the kicker 10zx700.5 amp or kicker amps in general? its on sale at crutchfield for $320 free shipping and i was thinking about picking one up since i was going to purchase a four channel amp soon anyway and i am looking to downsize my sub stage(currently running a saz 1000d at 1 ohm and was planning on running it at 2 ohms) and i wouldnt mind having everything all in one any thoughts or comments welcome.

I have an aftermarket Pioneer HU (AVIC F900BT) and it has a sub control level (from 0 to 6) and bass boost (0 to 6). Would having a bass knob make any difference or is it the same thing as the bass boost on the HU?

I have a '97 Grand Prix with a 220amp alt. and a 1.5v booster on it. I have a SAZ3500D BNIB, and will be picking up my 15" SMD in a week. I already ran the big 3 with 0 gauge and 2 runs of pos. & neg. to the back. Now I am looking at atlernators, should I get a 300+ alternator or can I run another 220amp alt. ? I can get another stock rebuilt to 220amps for about $200 and I know a couple welders that want to build a dual bracket, they are hard to find for a 3.8 V6, as are 300amp alts.. If I do get a 300a alt can I get by with just that one? And what are some suggested batteries for each setup? THANK YALL FOR YOU INPUT! I did try to search for my answer...

So i didnt realize till after i bought my amp its a 2 channel amp instead of mono. So heres the wiring im going to do http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchfield.com/ca/learningcenter/car/subwoofer_wiring/2DVC_4-ohm_2ch-br.jpg Now i cant understand my amp specs as i dont understand how to fully read them correctly. But there this 300X1 @ 4 ohm 500X1 @ 2 ohm 750X1 @1 ohm So my question is in the wiring i did how many watts will each sub get? Thanks

ok i have a 1995 dodge ram single cab and i am buying 8 rockford fosgate 5 1/4 4 in each door a set of rockford fosgate 6.5 components. i want to know what amps i should run these with i would prefer a separate amp for the component set. i am looking to buy from ebay,sonicelectronix,or onlinecarstereo. this is the product code for the speakers i am going to use. Rockford Fosgate P162S-- component set Rockford Fosgate Punch P152C-- speakers

well i got a weller 140 watt soldering gun, and some rosin core solder. I tried to solder my 1/0 to a ring terminal for one of my grounds, but the solder just balls up and doesnt stick to the ring terminal. i dont think im doing it right. lol. any suggestions?

So i got my 3500 v2 and hooked it up (post pics in just a min) im planning in running it on my SA-8 v2s for now @ 4ohm until i get my 0ga and mojos in. it should be be fine cause its not pulling more current than 4ga can handle right? also i ran it at 1 ohm for a moment and carefully increased the volume and i realize its not any louder than my saz-1000d was and watching my voltage im not getting any drop at all at idle. could there be something wrong with why its not pulling any more current than my saz-1000d was assuming it should be pulling way more? just confused at why.

Finally listened to you all and got a cheap charger at Walmart, 6A charge maintainer, microprocessor controlled, 72W 6amp fast charge 4A medium and 2amp slow 6V/12V automatic. Hooked it up and let it sit over night. In the AM the remote unlock didnt work so I knew it wasnt charged. Looked at the charger and it said full charge. I unplugged it and tried to start it, dead. Reconnected, put back to fast charge, it started...the fan revved higher and higher then shut off. I unplugged and reset, put on slow charge, fan stayed low reve so I left it for 2 hours. Came back, said full charge, but was dead. Gonna take the cheapie back today

I've always been a fan of getting an Alpine H701 with a W505, but I am scared that with the H701 being discontinued I may never find one. So I'd like to find some more options for what is available and capable of 3-way processing. Also would be nice to have a collaborative list here for those to reference to.

Last week my CDA-9886 started doing this thing where, from what I've noticed, at high volumes it will just restart in the middle of a song and keep restarting unless I turn it down. Running 1 Treo SSX 12 powered by an RD 1750.1D at .5 ohms for 2500 watts. Got a nice wal mart bat up front with 800 cca and a shuriken bt100 in the back, big 3 and all 0 gauge of course. Talked to the guy who's sold me RD stuff before and he said if it were the amp it wouldn't making the HU restart like that...which I pretty much knew. From what I gathered it's either a loose wire or worse, the HU isn't getting enough amps because of a shitty power cord to it... just wanted to get some opinion…

i was looking around on the net i saw this amp audiopipe 30001d its 30inch long wow has anyone used them? you can get them for cheap 400 also has anyone used the 2 channel and for channel amps?

Just bought a northstar nsb agm 34 Opinions? Any experience? What am I to expect of it? Electrical: runs of 0 gauge 220 amp alt Big 3 Duralast gold under hood Kinetik hc600 as 2nd battery Pushing roughly 2400 watts rms The kinetik is being replaced by the Northstar. I typically drop down to around 10.5v with car driving and sub playing. Just curious if this should solve my problem and if anyone has experience with these batteries.

Apparently Phoenix Gold is coming out with a High Current Amplifier Performance Auto and Sound - The Girls - The Cars - The Life - Phoenix Gold �THE ONE�

I bought my Alpine CDE 9881 from a pawn shop for 50 bucks back when I had my old car and I recently got a nissan maxima. One thing I rly hate, this headunit has no aux in front or USB and most important, it doesnt work with a steering wheel adaptor. I have had a few people offer me $65 for it (is that a decent price?) and I think I might sell it and get something a little better. I know crutchfield is usually over priced but their headunits seems fairly priced, especially since they give you all the install stuff and save me around 30 bucks. I'm not going to do much with this headunit, just listen to music on my ipod. Idk how to tune, etc. I'm also running a passive setup…

Hey guys, i'm a new member here and I was looking to get a little bit of help with my car audio setup. I recently bought a Skar Audio VVX 12" 4ohm DVC sub off SSA here and have it hooked up to a kicker zx1000.1 in a 1.6 cu. ft. ported box tuned to 32 hz. It slams pretty nice, shakes the hell out of my car and blurs my vision so I'm pretty satisfied with it. However, I'm pretty much running it on my stock electrical (I have a 2006 Pontiav Wave btw). My alternator is rated at 100A and my battery is rated at 550CCA and 55Ah. My headlights and my dashboard dim heavily even while driving but especially when stopped. I wouldn't normally care about this but on certain songs when…

So I just picked up a 2005 TrailBlazer and the factory Head Unit has to go.... I have alway like Kenwood head Units so, I'm looking at the Kenwood DDX514.... http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DDX514/Kenwood-DDX514.html?tp=20217 It seems to cover most of my wants... Nice Bright easy to see/read display in all lighting conditions. If its going to have one, it might as well be good! Ipod control, not just Aux input, but seemingly native controls with Album art, playlists and all (need a 30.00 cable) Ability to hook up an HD tunner (extra 80 bucks I think) Ability to hook up a Sirius (again Controls it natively, not just a aux input) (I have sirus and love it for travel) Abil…

When are the amps gonna be available??? ...I'm interested in the two channel version.

Found these on ebay because I was bored at work. They say the one for my explorer is a 250 amp and will do it @ 1200 rpm. for $170.00 free shipping. Anybody ever ran across/used them?

I was planning on getting two of these for the 2 BTL 12s Im getting but I looked at the pix and I didnt really notice any fans, does that mean I have to be weary of over heating? Ive had problems with amps doin that before. Also would it have a pretty good or just eh sound quality? Id be using it in a daily set up so yea.

Cant decide which amp to get for a 10" Fi Bl with BP Power and Flatwind coil. It will be ported @ 33Hz under the rear seats of a ford f150