I recently purchased an Alpine CDA-9815 but have not gotten around to installing it. I currently have Alpine 4x6" SPS-460A installed in the dash and Alpine 6x9" SPR-694A installed in the rear. I also have an Alpine MVR-F340 Amp 55Wx4 connected to my speakers and still have the stock stereo in. My question is will it be worth it to connect my current amp to my new stereo or should I just connect the speakers directly to my new stereo and leave the amp out?? A friend of mine says that there won't be that much of a difference between the stereo's amp and the amp I have. He is no expert this is just his oppinion. How much of a difference will there be between my new stereo's amp and the external amp I have??

 

The amplifier should be considerably more powerful than the head unit. Head unit amplifiers are incredibly over-rated. Just look at the size... your amp is bigger than the whole head unit. The amp inside that head unit is about 1/3 the size of a Hershey bar.

 

I have a decent pioneer head unit and a us acoustics 4 channel amp (not a very good one) and with the amp hooked up it sounds 100% better even tho the head unit is decent and the amp is low end, keep the amp. Oh yea the head unit and the amp are both 50 watts per channel.

 

ok that's what I figured. Ok so now another question. I will have to purchase RCA cables to hook it up to my new stereo that means I will need 2 pair right, for a 4 channel amp?? And can anyone give me an idea of what size I should get to run it from the amp in the cargo area to the head unit??

 

i would say get it as long as u can but 17 feet or so should do u thats what i got in mine and it went in with alittle slack to spare so that would be my sugestion..... happy installing

 

stinger and moster cable make a 4 channel rca unit so that you dont have to run 2 sets of cables, and i would try hooking up the speakers to the head unit first and listen to it, and then hook it up to the amp and see waht you like better, see which one has better sound quality. Personally i think that amped speakers sound 110 times better than speakers running off of a deck, but it also depends how good your deck is and how good the amp is for example i had the same set of 61/2 speakers in my truck and my cutlass when i had it and i had a pioneer premier 840 deck in the cutty and a regular pioneer 2300 in my truck and the cutlass sounded 75% better because it was a good head unit, then when i amped the truck speakers they sounded better than the cutlass speakers. It all depends on the equiptment used, but i would say amp them, chances are you will have a better sound

 

The basic head unit only puts out about 15 watts per channel even if it says 45 x 4. Adding an amp will always clean up the sound. Dont be afraid to spend money for a good mids and highs amp. Running a 4 channel amp is always better than running a 2 channel to four speakers. Be sure to set your crossover settings to get the optimal performance. The Gain does NOT need to be all the way up.

 

Check my first posting it lists everything I currently have. The reason I was asking is because my new reciever is suppose to have a pretty powerful amp inside it. The owners manual recommends hooking it up directly to the cars battery because it draws so much current.

 

I have that same headunit and, granted, it does sound alot better than most headunits internal amplifiers, there is no substitute for an external amplifier. There is a 200% difference between the headunit amp and an external amp. I ran Boston 6x9's off the headunit for a while, then got an external clarion 400x4 amp. Amazing difference. My 6x9's alone can shake my mirrors with a good hitting song, and actually added 1.2 dB to my dB reading , so yes, get an external amp. Oh, and 17 ft RCA's is PLENTY to go from the headunit to the back of the car.

 

One other question I have the amp hooked up to my stock stereo right now, how much of a difference in sound quality will it make when I hook it up to my new reciever?? Will my new receiver allow me to push my speakers harder, or about the same as it is with it hooked up to my stock stereo??

 

You will be able to push it MUCH farther, especially if its a 3rdgen stock head unit! As far as your RCA cables, I saw someone mention Monster Cable... Use it! Monster makes the best cables on the market...Even at the same guage of wire, it's a noticable difference...

Bruce (90RS305)