Max power in a HU

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Feb 21, 2005 | 06:10 PM

t_dickie

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From: Brandon Mb

Max power in a HU

A friend of mine tried to tell me convince me you can buy HU's that put out 300w max. But the highest I've ever seen is 208w from Alpine. So who is right, me or him??

Trevor

Feb 21, 2005 | 07:06 PM

kontai69

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From: Highland, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by t_dickie

A friend of mine tried to tell me convince me you can buy HU's that put out 300w max. But the highest I've ever seen is 208w from Alpine. So who is right, me or him??
Trevor

To my knowledge, the Alpine 9833/9835 headunits have the most powerful built-in amps. Their V-Drive amps are rated at 60W max x 4 channels (240W total). Alpine's ratings are CEA-2006 compliant, which means they are "real." However, Panasonic makes a headunit in which the internal amp is rated at 70W max x 4 (280W total), but the ratings are not CEA-2006 compliant and therefore is questionable. I would also question your friend's "300W max" headunit in a similar light.

As you probably know, MAX power ratings are practically meaningless when it comes to amps, whether built into headunits or stand alone. It's the amp's RMS power rating that is important. RMS is an acronym for root mean square and refers to the amplifier's average power output. RMS power is much lower than MAX power. With the headunits mentioned above, the RMS power of the Alpine is only 26Wrms x 4 (104W total) and the Panasonic is only 30Wrms x 4 (120W total).

Here is a good article explaining the real scoop with regards to headunit amp power...
http://www.installer.com/tech/headpower.html
More about amp power ratings...
http://www.caraudiohelp.com/newslett...ifications.htm
http://www.caraudiohelp.com/newslett...er_ratings.htm

Last edited by kontai69; Feb 21, 2005 at 07:39 PM.

Feb 22, 2005 | 02:33 AM

RomerB2

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From: Bixby, OK

I have never heard of a head unit that puts out that much power, although Panasonic has out a headunit that puts out a whopping 60 watts RMS with 70 watt peak.. it has an internal amp, and requires an amp wiring kit, just to have it run. It's a pretty good headunit as long as you don't listen to FM stations lol. 13.2 dBf sensitivity.. I like to run around 10 or so, but it's CD stn ratio is like 106 dB.. nice lol. Anyways, I dont think there is an even 300 watt HU though.

Feb 22, 2005 | 05:41 PM

Muffinman

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From: Dallas, Texas

I have a V-Drive and still wonder how they come up with those numbers. If yu take the Rated RMS @14.4 it comes out to 26Wrms, But if you take into account the 17.0volt it comes out to 38Wrms.

Now how they get those 17.0volts I have no idea. The specs say nothing of Booster coil or Converter inside the HU. Anyone know the answer?

Feb 22, 2005 | 11:01 PM

RomerB2

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From: Bixby, OK

Who's V-Drive by? Isn't it /////Alpine? lol sorry, just had to add the //////

Feb 22, 2005 | 11:20 PM

Muffinman

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From: Dallas, Texas

Yes it's a Alpine 9835. I even asked a Alpine rep and he had no idea how they rated it at 17.0 Volts when the Alt can only reach a Max of 14.4 regulated.

It would have to boost the voltage too 17.0 internal to get a extra 2.5 Volts. So what are they using to do that?

I know it gets damn hot tell I switch to external Amps and shut off the Internal one.