one good thing to remeber about amps is that most companys test there power with 15 volts and our cars run from what 12.8 so theres a little bit of a diff. one way to figure out how much power you amp can make is to multiply volts x amps (2 20 amp fuses and 12.8 volts makes 512 watts max) i learned that in school i was actuly paying attention that day!!


but if you check around some companys test with 12 volts but there ussaly the more expensive ones jl audio kicker memphis ppi

and you get what you pay for plain and simple

Actually i think they are 12.8 volts until the car is started, when i hops up to 14.? volts. And its hard to tell how or if a particular company tests their equipment. Yes many of the good brands test them at a normal voltage but not all do. The industry is just now starting to standardize all of this stuff but not everyone is doing it. The companies that do carry a certification on the box. This is a valid point though ill add it somewhere

If you need any help I live for car audio and I'd be glad to throw something together.

If you want to know how things work in general checkout
"The Car Stereo Cookbook"
really helped me when I was enterring the world of Car Audio.

-adam

Good read. ive read it and "how to build design and test your own speaker system". Those 2 sources and elitecaraudio.com are pretty much where i got most of my knowledge. IF you want to you can look over my post on the previous page and help me improve it or you can write something all your own.

WHy dont we put together a theft lock code index and find away to identify which it is on the radio

IMO Rockford is OK, depending on what your buying.. Sony, Pioneer, Audiovox, and Lightning audio all suck.. Pioneer and Kenwood are pretty good

Brands to buy: Boston Acoustics, MB Quart, Eclipse, Nakamichi
A little more money but MUCH WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!![/b]

Well i was thinking more along the lines of affordability also. Sure most of those brands arent as good as whats out there, but they are good setups for some people who dont want to spend as much money. Maybe ill revise the list or make one if i havent already

Shiva'* from adire are great subwoofers and relatively affordable as well. If you need cheap wiring www.knukonceptz.com and deadener www.secondskinaudio.com

Both these businesses have great owner'* and I'd rec. either one.

I purchased some damplifier from Second Skin before and had some problems with it... the owner sent me replacement mats of the better model.

One thing in car audio you have to think about as well is how the price will correlate with customer service... not just performance.

-adam

For the most part adire is an affordable brand and i think i reccomended them in the post. THanx for the link for the wiring accessories, ill need that soon, and i think ill try them. As far as sound deadening goes, i still have to add that section, but for the most part, i think its all about the same and all seperates brands is how well they stick. i cant say much for any brand, but i chose Edeadening because im going with mostly edesign stuff anyway. it works great at stoping rattles, but i havent had it long so im not sure how well it sticks

Knukonceptz has good quality wiring and RCA'* I've heard. The RCA'* I got look not so good though but I'm going to try them out.

As far as deadening goes I'm not a big mat fan. I'm going to apply Spectrum over everything for 3 layers than some mats. After my first car I'm sick of wrestling with mats.

Knukonceptz can be difficult to contact. If you call them keep trying... they will eventually answer.