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what sort of amp do i need

luke02

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Hey ive bought a kenwood dpx-u6120 headunit, alpine spr-60c and spr-69 for the rears. Im wondering what sort of amp (if needed) i should get. Is there a noticeable difference using the speakers off an amp. Any suggestions would be good.
 

Muke

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Hey Luke, well no you don't need an amp. They will run off that headunit. However it might not be very loud. The h/u puts out 50W/channel max. Which is probably more like 20W RMS (couldn't find an RMS figure). (For basic understanding, just look at RMS figures). People with more knowledge than me can tell you about the other power figures, sensitivity etc, but for basics for non-audiophiles that's the main thing you're looking at here. All those other figures might tell said audiophile roughly how loud it will be, but not me.

So if you want to amp the system, you will be looking for a 4 channel amp. Those speakers are rated at 110W RMS and 100W RMS, so you're not going to want anything putting out more than about 100W RMS per channel @ 4ohm at 14.4V. Any more is pointless unless you planned on upgrading the speakers later on. And you probably don't need that much power either.

I'm running Alpine SPX-17REF (75W RMS) and an old Alpine V12 amp that puts out 80W RMS. (I run a 12" sub off the other 2 channels, being 150W RMS though the amp puts out 200W RMS bridged). So I wouldn't use it at full volume, that's a more powerful amp than I would ever use with these speakers. ie- waste. Hope that all helps a bit.
 

Fun_Bucket

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The opposite of was muke has just said, you are better off with an amp that puts out more power than the speakers can handle, rather than less. This way the amp will run freely to the speakers limits, as aposed to the amp hitting it's output limits and sending distortion or worse yet a clipped signal to the speakers. This is refferred to as head room.

That's on paper, in the real world speakers only use a small amount of power, music is dynamic it's not a constant tone. Despite what people might say that all amps sound the same, they don't as they differ in build quality. Your head unit may have 15 watts per channel, but will sound nothing like good amp with only 20 watts per channel. The same way a 20 watt amp can out perform a 100 watt amp.

End of the day the speakers will sound much better amplified, and you get what you pay for as when you buy anything.
 

mpower

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Type R speakers definitely need an amp.
 

Muke

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Cool, thanks for the correction Fun_Bucket. :) I'm very happy to be shown to be wrong.
 

luke02

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luke02

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Doesnt have to be alpine. If theres something the same but cheaper that youve used. I would like your opinions
 

Fun_Bucket

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Mono means one channel, i.e for driving a subwoofer. 4 speakers = 4 channels. The first one you linked is fine, you could probably spend around half that with a different / cheaper brand but totally up to you.
 
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