Car audio amplifiers are a critical accessory for anyone who is interested in high quality car audio. Most car audio decks and receivers do come with a built-in amplifier. Unfortunately, this amplifier may not be powerful enough or high quality enough for your needs. A dedicated separate car amplifier will have it’s own connection into your car’s electrical system and can provide powerful amplified audio signals for your speakers. Though there are many differences based both on engineering and marketing, the main difference between car audio amplifiers is the amount of power they can output, typically measured in watts. In general, a more powerful amplifier will also cost more. Secondarily, the quality of the amplified signal and the amount of distortion introduced is also important.
Probably the most common use for an aftermarket car audio amplifier is for added a subwoofers or multiple subwoofers to a car. A subwoofer is a larger speak that primarily reproduces bass and sub-bass frequencies and give both an aural punch as well as a physical jolt to your music. Since a subwoofer moves so much and has such a big job, it requires a lot of power. A dedicated car audio amplifier is typically used to power subwoofers. A pre-amplified signal from the car audio deck is run into the amplifier along with the required amount of power. Then, heavy duty speaker cable from the amplifier connects to the subwoofers. Unless your receiver has a subwoofer out, a cross-over is often used in order to make sure that only the bass frequencies are fed to the subwoofer. Most amplifiers for car audio are stereo meaning that they have two inputs and two amplified outputs driven by two parallel and identical amplification circuits. Since a subwoofer is almost always a mono output, many car audio amps can be “bridged” which means that the stereo capabilities are ignored and it used to produce a single powerful amplified signal for the subs.
Car audio amps can also be used for other speakers in a car such as rear woofers or even front speakers. They can be higher quality or more powerful than the amplifier already in the car or deck. Unless you are experienced or can follow instructions very carefully, it’s a good idea to have help with car audio amplifier installation. You need to be careful to hook into the car’s power system correctly and safely, and the amplified audio signal can be dangerously powerful as well if not handled carefully.