amp for small car with powerful speakers

Hello all,

I'm in process of re-vamping my car audio system, and having never done so before, I'd greatly appreciate you advise. I'll gladly post pictures or whatever when its done, just so you know that I'm really listening.

The car: 2002 Toyota Prius (hybrid gas-electric car, and no, I never have to plug it in). Pretty small car, but very geek-friendly. The kind people at Toyota have thus far *refused* to tell me what's presently in it, so I'm left to assume the worst. The head unit is fully integrated on the dash, meaning that its got separate buttons for the thing all over the place, and its controls are primarily on a touch screen in the center. I don't know what kind of power it puts out. I also a) know that amps have been successfully installed in the car, but b) do not know if those installers had to put any extra special attention installing the amp.

The music: I listen to all sorts of music, from rap to classical to punk rock to Yugoslavian brass bands.

Speakers: I've read on Prius owner web sites that the speakers are indeed the worst part of the audio system. All I know is that they sound like crap and that the holes for them will fit 6.5 inch speakers. They can't be more that 10-15 watts each. And I wouldn't guess about ohms.

SO: I've recently purchased new speakers from ebay.
- For the back: Infinity Kappa 62.5i 2-ways 75 Watt RMS with 225 peak and 4 ohm
- For the front: Infinity Kappa 63.5i 3-ways 75 Watt RMS with 225 peak and 4 ohm

Now my two questions:
1) Am I likely to damage anything, including the new speakers, by simply installing them in the car with no additional attention?

2) I know the head unit will never put out enough juice to take advantage of these speakers, so, now that I'm broke from these speaker, what kind of amp would you recommend? Based on what I've read so far, I'm pretty sure I want a 4-Channel with at least 75 RMS… right? I have very little knowledge of the industry, and don't want to trust Mr. Best Buy Highschool Saleboy's judgment alone. What features should I be looking for, and what brands are most respected?

The brand that I am most famliar with is kicker products. Also, you seem to have purchased some pretty high end speakers, and much like a subwoofer, if you underpower speakers for too long they will crap out on you. The kicker KX120.4 would always be a good choice. (Heck, the new shop that I work at doesn't even have kicker and i'm still in love with it) The 120.4 is very affordable and would give you just about everything that you need. The DISADVANTAGE to having the 120.4 is that it doesn't have an active x-over on it. But you already have x-overs in your speakers so it should be ok. Other than that....good 4 channels also include alpine, JL audio and surprisngly Ultimate. Ultimates are also really well priced. And they also come with a 2year over the counter warranty. Hope that helps man.

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Andrew Weitzel

MECP First Class Installer

I'd say my budget is less than $150, but I've been trolling eBay for amps, and they've got some for around there that have MSRP's of $400+, so I'd prefer advice based more on quality than cost, but I'm not about to shell out more than $150-$200.
thanks,
dan

An amp that I can think of off hand that would be a good fit would be the Rockford Fosgate Punch 501X on Ikesound.com for 179.00. It will put out 65 watts RMS x 4.

I have used a Profile amp before.  They are very inexpensive and they do their job.  I have never purchased one for full range speaker before, but the one I had powered a JL audio 12" sub very well.

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1 plus 1 equals 2

   The US Acoustics 4065  would be a good choice, I have one pushing Kappas, 4x6 and 6.5 triway. Sounds good and clean and fairly loud. I know nothing about that brand of car you have or the stereo installed in it , You may need some kind of special wire harness or stock amp bypass harness or maybe special interconnects. Does the head unit have RCA outputs. If you have to bypass the amp that came stock in the car that may be a problem. Try to find out as much as you can about this prius stereo system, and aquire the parts you may need before you start dissassembeling things. GOOD LUCK CC

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Cosmic Charlie

Thaks for all of your help. I now have some new information to add:

I've learned that the factory head puts out 30w x 4.

and to the question: "Do you suspect I would damage 75 watt speakers by only powering them with 30 watts each?"

an electrical engineer on the Prius ownners' listserv answers:

"Absolutly not, power is a function of voltage * current...If your speaker can sink 75 watts then it can take the 30 watts that the Prius audio system can put out without difficulty."

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely disagree and 10 being completely agree, how would you audio experts relate to this engineers answer? Why?

thanks again,
Dan Lesh, who really doesn't want to break his new car or his new speakers.

So the factory head unit puts out 30 watts.  Is this the RMS power or the peak power?  There is a difference.  If it is putting out 30 watts peak, then it is only giving you a constant power(RMS) of maybe 13-16 watts.  I would check to make sure of this figure before you do anything.

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1 plus 1 equals 2