Anyone have a personal before &amp; after using an amp? What's the difference in sound between a stock head unit and a good amp?
1281923
Sound will project more with better base. Add an amp and see for yourself. Why els would you buy speakers that your deck unit would underpower...
2182609
Good head unit for the money unless ur going for bass still a good buy either way
1635166
They seem to work fine with the stock. It sounds great! I have to mess with the equalizer on my head unit on some songs, but that's normal.
959806
Its sounds great. But it's always better better with 1000watts or more. Mines is only 800watts. The dash radio plays an important role aswell as the amplifier. My amp is 3000watt and i have all 4 car speakers 250w each and 2 subs at 800w each all connected on my 5 channel amp.
403208
Dear Tracy, This will be a good addition to your system. I have been and audiophile for 30 years, and started back in vinyl, and this little amp is great for the price. Be sure to hook the RCA cable input to you AUX, not Phono input. Hope this has been helpful. Good listening. Bill
2217261
Fellow aftermarket Pioneer stereo user here, they work fine just plugging straight into it. Havent had to bust out a spare amp yet.
886340
You dont, but definitely sounds better with a clean 50 watt or high per channel amp.I have them in 2 cars one right off the head unit and the other off an alpine 4 X 50 watt amp.
801095
A lot of mosfet head unit amps are cleaner than your factory car amp (depending mostly on how old your car/truck is) and you will want to bypass the factory amp. In some cases, factory amps are nice but most (toyota..) are junk.
1480745
I've had mine almost a year and once it was broken in it sounded incredible. Find a good quality amp and you'll be a happy camper.
1915162
This replaced my stock amp in my 2000 Ford Explorer Sport quite well. Just added an external fan for heat the amp was putting out, seemed to work well without fan but I didn't want to take the chance anyway. It's been doing better than the stock one though and I've actually a Nexus 7 doing all my stereo needs along with "Nice Extra Capabilities" now without issues. Hope this helps.
2189648
It depends of your entire equipment, but yes, the ZxR sounds better than the HD. I did that upgrade.
1572097
I have this because my car does not have a head unit. I can say you are better off getting a dedicated head unit and using it instead. This amp should work with any application - it has preamp inputs and speaker-level inputs. This means you can have an input from RCA (like from an aftermarket headunit) or from your factory headunit (splice into the wires going TO the speakers).
520886
Better audio quality and durability. Good radio for the money, get a aftermarket antenna, stock is not so good.
168328
There's really no need to use the clean sweep with an aftermarket head unit. The clean sweep literally "cleans up" the signal from stock units - this is necessary because the stock unit generally has a weird EQ curve. The clean sweep takes the weird signal and makes it nice and flat, which is what an amplifier likes to see. On the aftermarket head unit you can adjust the EQ of the unit more than a stock one. So, technically, yes it would work. But it won't accomplish anything that a good head unit would do.
1620026
Are you talking to install it with a stock head unit? You do not need a converter box. This amplifier has a line/speaker level input that allows you to connect the speakers wires from your rear component speakers directly to the amplifier (you do not need RCA cables), you can splice into the rear speaker line on your stock system so you can keep the stock rear speakers and add the subs. You can then adjust the frequency filter on the amplifier for low frequency output to the subwoofer. Let me know if you have any more questions about this as this is exactly how I have this hooked up with my stock head unit running a Kicker L7 15" Solo Baric subwoofer, it pounds pretty good! Are you talking to install it with a stock head unit? You do not need a converter box. This amplifier has a line/speaker level input that allows you to connect the speakers wires from your rear component speakers directly to the amplifier (you do not need RCA cables), you can splice into the rear speaker line on your stock system so you can keep the stock rear speakers and add the subs. You can then adjust the frequency filter on the amplifier for low frequency output to the subwoofer. Let me know if you have any more questions about this as this is exactly how I have this hooked up with my... » Read More Are you talking to install it with a stock head unit? You do not need a converter box. This amplifier has a line/speaker level input that allows you to connect the speakers wires from your rear component speakers directly to the amplifier (you do not need RCA cables), you can splice into the rear speaker line on your stock system so you can keep the stock rear speakers and add the subs. You can then adjust the frequency filter on the amplifier for low frequency output to the subwoofer. Let me know if you have any more questions about this as this is exactly how I have this hooked up with my stock head unit running a Kicker L7 15" Solo Baric subwoofer, it pounds pretty good! « Show Less
1147564
I have a stock radio and with the 2 Ohm ( using JBL True 4 ohm technology) My system is louder and clearer. I had an amp in line next but saving my money, not needed
250810
Good idea, always better to hear from everyday user's as opposed to someone that works for the company. There may other amps the knob works for that they might not know of, long shot but it may be true lol. I have a kenwood pushing my 2 12's but I forgot which amp I have cause my cars been in the shop for a while. And I did have to purchase the knob separate though. Probably doesn't help any but I would wait and see what others reply, good luck bro ! Oh and by the way check ebay u might get it cheaper there, I only paid about 25$ for mine !