Audio power advice

That's the sort of output I want Peter, been using a wee rechargable Bluetooth speaker, but wanted more permanent as continually forget to charge. And enjoy playing about with stuff, I admit that's as much the reason as anything. Only bother with music on long drives. So I don't have a high bar to hit here!
 
Probably the most important part of it all rather than the BT device or amp is actually the speakers and there placement / fitment and quality.
There are a host of BT receivers out there that you can connect to with your phone and some really decent 12Volt amps off Aliexpress that are genuinely usable in a noisy car environment.

Plenty of threads on this forum on other peoples solutions for speakers.

Graeme


.
 
I figured I should set up and test prior to car installation in case a total load of rubbish. So ran from cig lighter. Blimey it's powerful for a small thing! Tested with a pair of 40w pioneer car speakers, it's a bit too much for them, but at half volume on amp, half from phone, it's as loud as I would want, and these speakers are small enough to sit on parcel shelf in pods, no holes needed. Amazing wee device, very pleased! Not sure I understand how it manages what it does though!
 
Done, and only cut myself once (the plastic of them centre console has sharp edges!). 20 quid mp3 player with 128 GB sd card in to hold whole library of music in car, nothing seen. I took a short video with sound but I'm not able to upload video files unfortunately. So, I'll have to describe! With rather puny speakers (40watt peak, two of), the sound is a little better than a std car stereo, but would be significantly better with larger speakers, I have to limit the volume significantly. Would I recommend the amplifier, definitely.
 
Just done this upgrade to my car. Twin coil stereo speaker, 6” from autosound in Bradford, fitted in place of the original rear shelf speaker. Removed the front rear fader from the centre console and used the original whole to mount the Bluetooth amplifier. Removed the Radiomobile 1080 radio and the front speaker while I had the console apart. Had a Rover radio blanking cover to fit on the centre console so all very neat and factory looking.

Absolutely delighted with the sound quality, excellent bass, probably from the speaker being in the void above the petrol tank, no need to drill any holes, speaker fitted using the original fixing holes in the rear shelf. Excellent stereo from the speaker and I’ve bought 2 more speakers for my other cars.

very discreet and all can be seen is the small silver control knob on the side of the console.

Used the original radio 12v feed with a 5amp in-line fuse and that’s that.

Highly recommend.
 
Think on this idea. Another car I had was fitted with a hot point in the engine bay that was covered with a screw on plastic cap to avoid accidental shorts. The connection would accept 6mm ring fittings. It was also connected to the alternator output. When I started fitting relays to the headlights (fuse board starting to melt ) I fitted such a point, fed by a heavy lead connected to the light switch input, and protected by a 40A resettable breaker. It could also be supplied from the through bolt on the drivers floor, as Peter did. I find it very handy for items needing full time 12v in the engine bay.
 
Amplifier power output is a much abused term, and there have been wildly exaggerated claims from all sorts of amplifiers in the past. Information on the manufacturers web site is vague, and device is smaller than one would expect
With only a 12 volt power supply, delivering 120 W or even more as an option offers, would need some pretty high audio currents through the speaker wires, and possibly more heat dissipated by the amp than its size could cope with.
I would only caution that this level of power should be installed and checked by a car audio professional; also he might be able o say more than I dare on a public web-site.
I do not want to say any more on a public site.
 
120 Watts audio will require aspeaker the size of yur spare wheel, and the result in a P6 cabin would be disorientating and painfully deafening, and dangerous as the driver would not be able to hear ay external traffic warning sounds.
Electronically, controlling 120 W will generate a lot of heat and need substantial heatsinks. Heavy duty wires to the speakers and good connections all round.
A domestic TV at full volume might put out 1-2 Watts; do you really need more than 5 times this sound??
 
Hi Robin, i agree, can't be done with music that drowns everything out by being so loud. Regardless of the car I'm driving or the music system it's never very loud with me. I think the ratings of car stereo are likely exaggerated, and regardless, that's the max output, unlikely to be there on the dial in normal use, a bit like the max speed on the speedometer, it's there in black and white, but never reached, and even the thought is terrifying!
 
Max rating is like horsepower for engines. You don’t drive a car at full load all the time, but you want enough to make it comfortable in its normal range. Unless you drive a Corsa.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top