While an amplifier is designed to make the music signals of your car, radio, cassette or CD louder, its equally important job is to insure that the fidelity of the original recording or broadcast is accurately reproduced. The hallmark of a great mobile sound system is a great car audio amplifier. Make sure that your car electronics are backed up by the right amplifier! Whether you choose a simple two channel amp, or a sophisticated multi-channel model will depend on the power requirements of your speakers, and the acoustics of your car.

How can my stereo benefit from the addition of an amplifier?
    Most people tend to blame the lack of clarity or that fuzzy distroted sound on their speakers. More often than not, that unpleasant sound is due to a lack of power. An amplifier adds power and performance to your car audio system and helps your speakers perform to the best of their ability. Amps can also allow you to play music at most any volume level without audible distortion.

What types of amplifiers are available today?
    There are two basic types of amps, two channel and multi-channel amps. Generally speaking a two channel amp will power one pair of speakers and a multi-channel amp can power multiple pairs of speakers. The most flexible amplifiers are often bridgeable, which means for example the 40 watt per channel stereo amp that powers two speakers can become an 80 watt mono amp that powers onely one speaker, such as a subwoofer.

Does a higher watt rating make an amplifier better?
    Power ratings can be misleading. The wattage figure for an amp tells you how much it can produce at a given frequency with (or without) distortion. Before you can evaluate an amplifier's performance, you must find out its top power output before the music signal starts distorting. Consider an averager 50 watt amplifier versus a premium 25 watt unit - which one will perform better? In most cases, the premium model will produce clearer, musically accurate sound at higher volumes than the average unit, even though it is rated lower.

Which amplifier is right for you?
    First evaluate your speaker system: If you have two or four speakers in your car, one 4-channel amp might be appropriate to power all of your speakers. If you have separates in both the front and back and a pair of subwoofers, you might want one amp for the front set of speakers, one for the rear, and one just for the subwoofers. Match your amp and speakers according to your musical taste, the acoustics of your car and your pocketbook!
    Second, evaluate your performance goals; a basic system that consists of two or four speakers and a moderate cassette or CD deck certainly doesn't need a 500 watt "mega amp." On the other hand, if you have more performance in mind, you're going to want to have higher elvels of amplification. Note: As a rule of thumb, if a compact disc player is part of your system, you'll need 50% more power to accurately reproduce the wider dynamic range of digital material.

What is an equalizer and what does it do?
    An equalizer is designed to compensate for acoustical flaws in your automobile. Equalizers allow you to isolate just about any area of the musical spectrum and make specific tonal adjustments. Better than basic bass and treble controls, an EQ allows you to isolate a particular music frequency ( say a harsh sounding cymbal, or a muddy vocal track) and selectively improve its sound without altering the other music frequencies.