Re: Someone explain amps to me....(more) (archive)

A channel typically powers one "corner" of the car (front left, front right, rear left and rear right = 4 channels total). Each channel is wired to a cross-over, which splits the appropriate frequencies out to the woofer, mid-range (if present), and tweeter speakers for that corner.
(Note - some real afficianados go so far as to dedicate a channel to each individual component speaker - but that gets real expensive real fast.) If you add a subwoofer in the trunk, it is quite often driven by a second 2-channel amplifier, wired with both channels "bridged" creating in effect a powerful mono amplifier. An alternative is to buy a single 5-channel amp, like the ADS setup being advertised by BavAuto.com.

Now for complications - you didn't tell us what model and year car you have, but if its a mid 90's or later then the stock system probably has the cross-overs built into the existing stock amp, which complicates trying to power existing rear speakers with a new amp - you'll need to add new crossovers for the stock rears (since aftermarket amps typically don't have built in cross-overs). What a lot of people do (like me) in upgrading is to buy a 4-channel amp, new speakers and cross-overs for the fronts, add a sub or two powered by the rear channels of the amp, and completely disconnect the stock rear speakers - who needs 'em?. See my web site http://ebaines.home.att.net/e36_stereo_upgrade.htm for an example. -Chip

: The thing that confuses me about amps are the channels. How much can one channel power? Does 1 channel power a pair of speakers or just one? Finally what type of amp (# of channels) would I need to power component speakers, the factory rears, and a 10 or 12 inch sub.
: Sorry for the stupid question,
: James

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