help me out im new to car audio

[hdj20 10+ year member]

hey all i am turning 16 and i have a 1998 potiac grand am coupe. ive been reading on some options i have for my system setup. i am on a low budget right now and i found a dual sub/amp combo. power is 1000 watts. then i was looking at some cd/mp3 player head units to get and they said somewhere around 160 watt max power output. does that mean getting the sub and amp combo is basically a waste of money?

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[Qbenjamin 10+ year member]

For starters, never go by "Max Power," this is power that you will never see. Look at the specs of the equipment and find out what the RMS ratings are.

 

[jj4475 10+ year member]

Ok you need probably have lots of questions.. So go ahead and make a list lol

 

[BASS14 10+ year member]

i have a alpine 600watt rms amp and a Alpine Deck/Head unit for sale......let me no if u interested and ill shoot you a PM with pics and the price!!

 

[Qbenjamin 10+ year member]

What budget do you have, and what exactly do you need?

Amp

Subs

Head Unit

Wiring

If you don't have at least $300 to start, you need to save up more.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

search around.. find some products that you like within your budget.. Give us your budget, THEN ask questions. Most of the stuff you find at bestbuy/circuit city as far as speakers/subwoofers are crap for the most part...only know to the general public

and the 160W radio means to all 4 channels...so 40W per channel... just FYI

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

whats ur budget? look in the classifieds on here. theres always pretty good stuff for sale for cheap.

the power the HU says it puts out is going to be the power of the internal amplifier. and no matter what generally the HU isnt going to put out more than 25watts rms. has nothing to do with what your external amp is going to do.

 

[BASS14 10+ year member]

im guessing he dont have that big of a budget!!!

 

[hdj20 10+ year member]

so does the head unit amplify sound 4 channels by 40 watts is that what that means? my budget is somewhere around $200-300. im not looking for like top quality best equipment out there. what ive looking towards is the magnum dual package at circuit city. and just a simple pyramid head unit so i can hook up my mp3 player as well.

 

[ArrizX 10+ year member]

so does the head unit amplify sound 4 channels by 40 watts is that what that means? my budget is somewhere around $200-300. im not looking for like top quality best equipment out there. what ive looking towards is the magnum dual package at circuit city. and just a simple pyramid head unit so i can hook up my mp3 player as well.

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You're better off buying good, used equipment off this site.

That way you have halfways decent stuff, still in your budget.

Post up in the WANTED area, everything that you need. Someone is bound to hook you up.

 

[BASS14 10+ year member]

so does the head unit amplify sound 4 channels by 40 watts is that what that means? my budget is somewhere around $200-300. im not looking for like top quality best equipment out there. what ive looking towards is the magnum dual package at circuit city. and just a simple pyramid head unit so i can hook up my mp3 player as well.

i got a deck and an amp that ill sell you cheap!!! and they are Alpine so they are good brands!!!!PM me if ur interested!!!!

 

[orphe 10+ year member]

as far as a good but "cheap" amp I would recommend power acoustics amps. for the price ther are not bad at all

 

[hdj20 10+ year member]

is mtx any good?

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

so does the head unit amplify sound 4 channels by 40 watts is that what that means? my budget is somewhere around $200-300. im not looking for like top quality best equipment out there. what ive looking towards is the magnum dual package at circuit city. and just a simple pyramid head unit so i can hook up my mp3 player as well.

please dont buy pyramid. you can get an entry level alpine, pioneer, eclipse on here for 150 or less.

yes it means itll send that power to each of the four channels. max power means nothing. look for rms rating. thats the actual power you will see to each channel. with HU power thats normally 20 watts to each channel.

 

[hdj20 10+ year member]

well what is the bad side of having a low end hu? i mean if you have the right system and what not the hu is just used for mp3/cd playback right?