I'm about to buy a Pyramid 800W Amp for about $85 with shipping. Can anyone tell me if this is a well known amp company or if i will find it breaking in a couple of weeks? I'v looked and i couldn't find anything, thanks

 

I would recommend against the purchase of pyramid amplifier. What kind of system are you building?

 

I already got a MTX sub, got 2 sony V1631, will get the aura bass shakers. But i'm not sure what to power them buy. I only got around 150 to spend, and i want the most power for it. Would pyramid be a good brand? if not, what are some good inexpensive brands. thanks alot

 

You'd be better off buying a "cheap" kenwood or sony amp that is rated for less. You are buying bogus watts. That 800W amp can probably push 20-30W RMS - it is easy to make an amp "spike" really high. A good indication of power is the size of an amp (there are exceptions) - the pyramid amp I think you're looking at (PB580) is pretty small, 16x10x3 - a kicker 250x2 amp is 23x10x3. "decent" amps start at about $1/watt RMS, and go up from there. Anything less is probably a piece of junk.

Crutchfield has a Kenwood 35x4 amp for $170, you could bridge the rear channels to get 35x2 + 100x1, and use the head unit's power for the bass shakers. Not going to be extremely loud but it'd work.

Dumb question: if you have a sub, why are you getting shakers as well?

 

$85 for an 800w amp including shipping? Damn that sure is cheap.

 

My sub is 325 watts. Do i have to have an amp thats at least 325 watts? What will the effect be if the amp is not 325 watts?

 

Is that 325 WRMS or just peak watts? The specs should be either on the box or you can look it up on their web site...

As far as how much power to use... that depends on a lot of things... What type of music do you listen to ???? If its rap or techno I would think 90% of RMS would be ok... (for top down driving)... However, if 325 is RMS then that sub may shake your car apart . I had an 8 inch 100WRMS(how muh I provided not rating of sub) JBL PRO sub in my hatchback RX-7 and I could shake bolts loose with that...

If you have the money for a 300+ watt amp then go for it... BTW, I looked at the mtx site and none of their subs are rated at exactly 325 (RMS or PEAK)... But all of them are around 200 WRMS. With this in mind I would say go with 200 WRMS amp, should be more then loud enough....

Hope this helps...

-- Robert

Here are some usefull sites to help you with your install:
Tech Info:
http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/educati...acticaltips.htm
http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/educati.../installamp.htm
http://www.teamamp.com/papers/wirechart.html
http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/educati...wer-ratings.htm
http://www.electrosound.com/articles/distortion.html
http://www.elitecaraudio.com/home/html/sea...?query=&topic=1

Online Shops
www.ampman.com
www.crutchfield.com
www.carmedia1.com
www.buyloud.com

 

One more thing I forgot to mention... for the RCA cable you want to run UTP (Unshielded twisted pair).... contrary to what most might tell you shielding is actually bad (not insulation, foil shielding).

-- Robert

 

WOW, thanks so much Goldtrom. You just gave me a perfect picture of what i wanted. Ok so this is what i got. The MTX 6000 sub, 250RMS with peak 500watts (lol, what does this mean?) Then i will get the KENWOOD KAC-829 600 WATT 2 CH. Amp. And that will just power the MTX. Do you think if i want another MTX, that the kenwood would be able to power them both? And i will screw the bass shakers for now. And i'll leave the sony's to be powered by the panasonic head unit. Sounds good?

 

I hate to make people spend money ... but you really need to plan ahead on this.... I'm getting screwed right now because I under estimated how much stuff I'd want.

I purchased a $300 50x2 WRMS amp and now I need another 125x2 amp (about $400) for my new 150WRMS speakers... and I'm keeping the 50x2 only because I don't want to waste it. If I had planned for a 4 speaker system I would have just bought a 4 channel amp. Oh, well....


If you ever plan to add rear speakers or power your fronts, or maybe even all of the above.... you may wish to consider a 4 or 5 or even a 6 channel amp... they exist as more of a space saver then money saver.

Think about what your doing before doing it (unlike me). If I had to do it all over I would have just planned on a 5 channel amp (2 fronts, 2 rears and a sub).

-- Robert