Factory amp plug n play upgrade?

[swami]

i was wondering if i could use an amp from say a lincoln with higher wattage rating as an easy and cheap upgrade. any ideas? TIA

 

[cobrakidd03]

I think that all the JBL stuff from ford and lincoln are rated the same in power. Correct me if i am wrong. May want to try adding a Mach 460 set up from a mustang. For right now I have my 2 12's hooked up to my stock JBL bass amp and doesnt sound bad at all.

 

[swami]

i have the premium sound system. i had the mach 460 in my '99 GT. i never looked at the amp though. Hmmmm?

 

[SuperHO]

For right now I have my 2 12's hooked up to my stock JBL bass amp and doesnt sound bad at all.

you're kidding, right? the stock sub amp's MAYBE 80 watts....there aren't very many 12s out there that're happy only being pushed by that little bit of wattage. Do you realize you could damage those subs by underpowering them that much?

 

[cobrakidd03]

I have actually never had any problems with my subs.

 

[hawkeye18]

IIRC the stock sub amp is 75Wrms @ 6 ohms. Running two 12s in parallel creates around 200-300W @ 2 ohms, which the stock amp isn't near rated to handle. You're going to blow the amp up if you continue, and sound quality will be horribly degraded from, say, a real amp. You probably think it sounds fine simply because you've never heard what "fine" sounds like... :shakehead

 

[Grantorinslo]

you're kidding, right? the stock sub amp's MAYBE 80 watts....there aren't very many 12s out there that're happy only being pushed by that little bit of wattage. Do you realize you could damage those subs by underpowering them that much?

Actually you'll damage the amp first. Not too bad though, it'll just cut out the bass when it overheats. Depending on the line convertor you use you might be able to hook up an aftermarket amp to the sub line either pre or post factory samp, but the sound will not be the same as setting up a sub out from the head unit. Almost any sub larger than 8" will overheat the stock sub amp regularly if it is used in line at all, you will damage the sub when the amp cools down and suddenly starts sending signal to the subs again.

Don't buy an RCA convertor at a stereo shop - the ones they stock are "high to low" convertors, whereas the subout (preamp) is a "low level" so using an adaptor before the amp causes a "low to ultra low" conversion - so only use a solder in RCA convertor or find an amp that does not use RCA inputs.

In my most successful setup without running a subout from the head unit I went against my own advice becuase I kept the stock deck and did not buy a wiring kit. I was running the stock amp followed by a hightolow convertor followed by an 800W (350 rms) amp running 2 12" MTXs (poly cone) however I had to replace the stock sub cover with one that fit and had more fins and set up a fan to cool the stock sub. The stock sub would still overheat sometimes during mid-june to late-august. I tried it without the stock subamp and it sucked (just a tad more bass than the stock 8), using the above setup I had the amp input set to "low-level" and it was better but not as good as it should have been for the power level subs and amp I ran. This setup worked for at least a year without blowing the stock sub amp and was still functional when the stereo was removed due to a wreck.

Bottom line is you can do it, but it would be better to spend the 5-10 bucks on the proper wiring kit to bypass the stock amp and run an aftermarket one.

 

[cobrakidd03]

a real amp. You probably think it sounds fine simply because you've never heard what "fine" sounds like...

Actually I know what a "fine amp sounds like. I also have a 1200 watt amp that i had in my last 2 cars. so ya I know what it sounds like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thankyou:

 

[hawkeye18]

And yet you think that a 14 year old, 75 watt amp sounds just as good. Suuuuuure.

 

[30footSHO]

Wattage is not necessarily a measure of quality. I can find plenty of amps that say "1200 watts" on them. Bottom line is, you'll be smelling some burnt circuit board before too long, and when you finally upgrade, you'll wonder how you ever thought the old setup sounded good.

 

[cobrakidd03]

actually 30footSHO I have had these subs and amp for over 2 years and have had no problems with it. So for you to say " i'll be smelling burning circuits befor too long is crap!

 

[cobrakidd03]

oh and Hawkeye18 I never said it sounded as good as my other set up!