Powersports Amplifier Upgrades For Fun and Function

UTVs and side-by-sides from companies like Polaris, Yamaha, Honda and Can-Am can provide hours of fun on the trails or sand dunes. While some of these vehicles come with basic audio systems, none has the power to drown out wind and exhaust noise entirely when the pedal is to the floor. Adding a powersports-specific amplifier to the audio system is the best way to ensure that your music will sound great. Let’s look at a few amplifier options and explain what to look for when shopping.

What Does a Powersports Amplifier Do?

The job of an amplifier is to take the signal from the radio – be it factory-installed or an aftermarket solution – and increase the signal to a level that can drive the speakers. The amplifier needs a robust power supply so that it can also provide adequate current to those speakers.

Powersports Amplifiers — Extreme Audio near Richmond installed a pair of JL Audio water-resistant amplifiers in this RZR 1000.

What to Look for in a Side-by-Side Amplifier

Many companies produce great amplifiers for powersports applications. The amps fall into three classes. The best choices for those who are the most adventurous with their vehicles (i.e., elbow deep in water) is a water-resistant amplifier. These amplifiers can get wet or muddy without any fear of the internal components becoming damaged. Most of the manufacturers who produce water-resistant amps ask that you don’t submerge them, especially for long periods.

The second and most popular group of amplifiers falls into the marine-grade category. These amplifiers are designed with a corrosion-resistant chassis and hardware, and typically have a coating on the circuit boards to prevent moisture from damaging components. These amps aren’t designed to get wet or really dirty but should be able to shrug off a splash or two.

Finally, we have regular car audio amplifiers. For a dusty, dirty and often wet environment like a side-by-side, these aren’t a great long-term solution. Debris can get into the amp and block cooling vents and fans. Without proper airflow, the amps can overheat and will stop working. If you are using your side-by-side in an application more like a heavy-duty golf cart and it’s going to stay dry, you might be able to get away with this for a while. We recommend staying with marine-grade or water-resistant amplifiers for powersports applications.

Whether you choose a water-resistant or a marine amplifier, you are going to need to decide how many channels the amp needs to have. The product specialist at the store can help you figure this out. If you didn’t bring the vehicle with you, having a set of pictures on your phone is a good idea. If you’ve already made upgrades, be sure to tell them. If you plan on adding more updates in the future, let them know that information as well.

Suitable amplifiers are available in configurations from single-channel, high-power monoblock solutions for subwoofers to four-channel full-range solutions to power your speakers. There are even compact marine amplifiers with as many as eight channels for complex systems. In short, you want an amplifier channel for each speaker on the vehicle and enough power to ensure that any subwoofers will play loudly without the amp distorting.

Amplifier Installation Is Crucial to Longevity

Once you’ve decided on the right amp or amplifiers for your vehicle, the next step is to ensure that they are correctly installed. Powersports amplifiers can draw a lot of current from the electrical system when the volume is cranked. So that they function as designed, they need to be connected to the battery with large-gauge, high-quality wiring. Wiring, connectors and protection devices (fuses and circuit breakers) are not items to skimp on. You wouldn’t buy a Porsche as a track-day vehicle, then outfit it with off-brand all-season tires to save a few bucks, right?

Amplifiers need to be mounted securely. Stable mounting not only prevents the amp from moving around as you bounce off rocks and logs, but it makes sure that the electrical connections won’t be unduly stressed from vibration and motion. Mounting locations and methods vary from vehicle to vehicle and may include composite panels or metal brackets. You don’t want wood in your powersports vehicle – it’s going to get wet, swell and potentially become moldy.

The last step in installing the amplifier is its proper configuration. Crossover and input sensitivity settings need to be configured correctly so that you get the most performance for your investment. Many shops use oscilloscopes and test equipment to optimize the installations they do. Hearing mention of this equipment is a sign that you’re dealing with a reputable facility.

Enjoy Your Day on the Trails

Upgrading your side-by-side, ATV or even a snowmobile or personal watercraft with a high-quality sound system is a great way to make your fun-time even more enjoyable. Visit your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today and talk with them about the amplifier options for your powersports vehicle.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Product Spotlight: Rockford Fosgate M5-1500X Marine/Powersports Amp

Whether you have a Jeep that gets muddy, a side-by-side that thinks it’s a part-time submarine, or a boat that’s always getting swamped, Rockford Fosgate’s M5-1500X5 powersports amplifier can be the heart of an impressive audio system upgrade. This five-channel amplifier can deliver the power your speakers need to reproduce audio with amazing clarity while driving a subwoofer or two to give your music impact and warmth – all from a single chassis. If you agree that this sounds like the perfect upgrade for your mobile sound system, read on to learn more about this fantastic amplifier.

Rockford Fosgate M5-1500X5 Specifications

The M5-1500X5 amplifier is rated to produce 100 watts per channel from the four main channels and an impressive 600 watts from the subwoofer channel. The front channels can drive 2- or 4-ohm loads while the subwoofer channel is optimized to produce that power into a 2- or 1-ohm load. The sub channel makes 400 watts into a 4-ohm load. If you have an application where you need huge power for a set of tower speakers, the front and rear channel pairs can be bridged to drive a pair of 4-ohm loads with 200 watts to each speaker. Of course, all of the specifications for the amp are compliant with the CTA-2006 standard, so you know you can trust the ratings. Based on our experience with the M5-1000X1, the numbers are likely conservative.

The front, rear and subwoofer channels each have a dedicated sensitivity control, Punch EQ control and a crossover that’s adjustable between 50 and 250 Hz. The Punch EQ allows up to 18 dB of boost at 45 hertz on the subwoofer channel and combines that bass attenuation with treble boost centered at 12.5 kHz on the front channels. The crossover on the front channels can be run in high- or low-pass modes or defeated completely. The adjustable subwoofer channel crossover is always on and limits high-frequency information. Your installer can connect an RCA cable directly to the RCA input for the sub channel, or set the Sub Input Switch off and let the amp combine the signals from the front and rear channel inputs. The subwoofer channel has a fixed -12 dB/octave infrasonic filter that’s set to 30 hertz to protect your subwoofers and optimize their output. There’s also a two- or four-channel switch on the end of the amp by the input connections. Setting this to two-channel mode copies the signal from the front channel inputs to the rear channels.

Rockford Fosgate includes their C.L.E.A.N. input and output monitoring circuit, making it easy for your installer to maximize the signals going into the amp and set the output level controls to deliver maximum performance. They’ve also included a PRESET switch for level and crossover settings for use with their vehicle-specific Motorsports stage kits. These settings can be invoked by activating the PRESET switch on each channel.

Rockford Fosgate M5-1500X5 — Your installer has easy access to settings and adjustments for each pair of channels right from the top of the M5-1500X5 amplifier.

The amplifier makes use of several technologies found on other premium Rockford Fosgate amplifiers. The NOMAD protection circuitry guards against short circuits on the speaker connections. The Class-AD and Class-BD designs help to ensure good efficiency to maximize the capabilities of the magneto or alternator and battery on your boat or side-by-side. Likewise, the lightly regulated P.O.W.E.R. technology for the power supply design allows the amplifier to maximize output power when it’s fed with more voltage. Finally, the Maximum Efficiency Heat Sink Application (MEHSA) heat sink design helps to ensure that the amp keeps running when pushed hard by spreading thermal energy throughout the chassis.

Five-Channel Powersports Amplifier Layout

The M5-1500X5 is based on a 4.25- by 1.7-inch extruded aluminum chassis that’s 12.3 inches long, including the cast aluminum end-caps. The connections for input signals, along with speaker and power output, are made via pigtail harnesses that attach to each end of the amplifier. The harnesses are held in place with screws and feature gaskets to ensure that everything is watertight.

The controls are on the top of the amp on the left side and are protected by a removable cover once set. As you’d expect, the cover includes a rubber gasket to keep water, dust and debris out of the amp. The combination of these waterproofing features gives the amp an IPX6 water and dust intrusion rating. Rockford Fosgate calls this their Element Ready design, and it includes testing for prolonged UV exposure as well as corrosion resistance.

Upgrade Your Adventure with Rockford Fosgate

Your local authorized Rockford Fosgate dealer would be happy to design an audio system upgrade for your boat, side-by-side, off-roader or Jeep using the M5-1500X5. You can find a dealer near you by using the Dealer Locator on their website. To keep up with the latest new product release, cool events and amazing vehicle features from Rockford Fosgate, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and their YouTube channel.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Why Does My Sub Amp Have Two Sets of Terminals?

If you’re shopping for a subwoofer amplifier for your car stereo system, you may have noticed that some have two sets of speaker terminals. In most cases, it’s reasonable to assume that an amp with two positive and two negative speaker connections would be a stereo amp. As you’ll soon see, this isn’t always the case.

Sub Amp Design Process

When an engineer is designing a car audio amplifier, there are lots of criteria to keep in mind. First and foremost is the amount of power the amp will need to produce. Power production has the most significant impact on the cost of an amp, since it determines the size of the heat sink and the power supply, and the number of power supply and output switching devices.

Next, the features to be included in the amp have to be taken into account. All subwoofer amps have a sensitivity control and most have an adjustable low-pass crossover. Some will add an infrasonic filter, a remote level control knob and perhaps a bass boost circuit. The cost of the parts (switches, potentiometers, op-amps, capacitors and resistors) adds to the cost of the amplifier, but also its flexibility and value.

Use What You Have in Stock

It should come as no surprise that a mono sub amp needs only a single positive and negative speaker terminal. If the company designing the sub amp already has a four-position terminal block in its inventory, then they can use that to eliminate the cost of adding another component they need to stock.

Inside the amp, the two positive terminals are connected together, as are the two negative terminals. The extra connections are added for convenience to make wiring multiple subwoofers easier. If you have a vehicle like a Jeep Wrangler that is commonly upgraded with two separate subwoofer enclosures, being able to connect two sets of wires is easier. Is there a performance benefit? Not really. If you need to run two sets of speaker wires, the extra connections make that easier, but that’s about it.

Upgrade Your Car Stereo with a Subwoofer

If you want to dramatically improve the performance of your car stereo system, drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today and ask about adding a subwoofer system. They’ll be happy to demonstrate different sub, amp and enclosure options for your vehicle.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Upgrade Your Car with Style and Accent Lights

Custom lights and LED strips have been a staple for car upgrades since the Fast & Furious days. Whether it’s a strip of blue, green or red lights in the footwells or a complete custom amp rack or center console, lighting can add personality, style and flair to your vehicle. Let’s look at some options for adding lights to your car, truck or motorcycle.

A Subtle Approach to Lighting

Sometimes all it takes is a small strip of lighting behind a switch panel or around an amplifier to make a relatively simple upgrade look fantastic. Integrating lighting into your vehicle isn’t as simple as running some wires. The locations for the lights and how their output will be diffused to provide a smooth look is part of the design and construction process. The end results are typically worth the effort.

Car Lights — The team at Avant Garde Design in Palm City, Florida, built a custom center console for a 1969 Camaro. The team engraved the name of the shop that built the car into the acrylic plastic.

Lighting in Audio System Components

The most common place where lighting is added to cars and trucks is when a custom amp rack or subwoofer enclosure is being built. Highlighting the equipment or adding a little style to the install with RGB LED lighting is a great way to make the vehicle stand out.

Exterior and Under-Vehicle Lighting

Thankfully, the days of real high-voltage neon tubes under cars and trucks are long behind us. Compact LED light pods and RGB strip lighting can be fit into tight spaces, and their compact size helps to protect them from damage. In terms of durability, LED lighting is solid-state. There are no glass bulbs or lenses to worry about. LED lighting also runs cool, so there’s no risk of heat damage.

Shopping for Lighting Upgrades

It should come as no surprise that lighting upgrades vary in cost by the complexity of the project. A strip of solid-color lighting under a dash or seat is a lot less work than cutting acrylic with a laser and integrating a housing for a light strip in a custom console. If these amazing photos have motivated you to add lighting to your vehicle, drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer and ask them about your project.

Thanks to Adam Coffman from Tampa Autobody and Audio in Tampa, Florida, for the photo of the custom Slingshot we used as the header image.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Four Key Factors to Consider in Motorcycle Audio Upgrades

More and more companies are offering motorcycle audio system upgrade solutions. Bikes like Harley-Davidson Road Glide and Street Glide can sound so much better with proper speakers and a high-power amplifier. In this article, we’ll cover four things you need to keep in mind when shopping for new tunes for your touring bike.

1. Installation Is Crucial to Performance and Reliability

How the new speakers, amplifier and perhaps a new radio are mounted, wired and configured plays a considerable role in the performance and reliability of your motorcycle audio system. New speakers are often much more substantial than the factory-installed products they replace. The speakers need to be mounted securely with corrosion-resistant fasteners. Of course, the speakers need to fit perfectly and seal tightly against the faring face for optimum performance.

Amplifiers can draw a lot of current from the battery and charging system when the volume is cranked. High-quality, appropriately sized wiring with solid electrical connections is mandatory to get the most efficient delivery.

Motorcycle Audio — Once upgraded, the wiring around your amplifier, speakers and battery should be neat and tidy. Ask to see the work before the bike is put back together.

2. Buy from a Brick-and-Mortar Retailer

If you’re going to have work done to your motorcycle, make sure that it’s by someone who will be available to support the products and services they sell you. Many bike enthusiasts buy audio upgrades at shows and rallies. If you have problems or need adjustments weeks or months after the purchase, you’ll need to find someone else to help and you’ll have to pay them for their time. Dealing with a local shop that specializes in motorcycle audio can save you a lot of headaches. A deal at a show isn’t a deal if you have to invest more money down the road.

3. Choose Premium Products

Face it: Your motorcycle is likely worth a lot of money. Inexpensive speakers and amplifiers aren’t apt to perform well or last as long as products from reputable companies. A motorcycle presents a challenging environment for audio equipment. Vibration is a huge factor, and when poorly designed audio components are used, they often fail in a few months.

Amplifiers need to be designed so that they are efficient and reliable — the fragile components inside need to be secured so that nothing will break. Speakers need to be weather-resistant in case you get caught in the rain. You also want a solution that is designed to handle prolonged UV exposure without drying out, chalking, cracking or fading. Woofer cones that fade or change color after prolonged exposure to the sun may become more brittle and eventually crack and fail. Regular car audio speakers simply aren’t a reliable option.

If you’re upgrading the radio on your bike, be sure to choose something that is weather resistant. You want a bright screen that’s easy to see in direct sunlight. You will also want something that can integrate with the handlebar stereo controls, if your bike has them.

4. Audio System Upgrades Need Tuning for Accurate Sound

We may have beat this topic to death, but it’s worth stating at least one more time. The factory-installed radios in 2014 and newer Harley-Davidson touring bikes have a slew of signal processing built into them. If you don’t address this tuning when upgrading the bike with a new amp and speakers, the system likely won’t sound right, and you could damage the new components. A reputable mobile enhancement retailer should have the tools to check the output of the radio on a Honda, Yamaha or BMW bike before they dive into an upgrade.

Your best bet is to purchase a digital signal processor (DSP) from the shop installing your equipment. They can use their audio test equipment to smooth the EQ curve in the radio and fine-tune the system to sound the way you want. Having the radio flashed to reduce the equalization settings is another option, but this process could be undone if you take your bike in for service. Likewise, there may be concerns about your warranty when you make alterations to the software.

Upgrade the Audio System on Your Motorcycle Today!

If you can’t crank the stereo on your motorcycle to the point that it gives you goosebumps, drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today and find out about the upgrades that are available. Don’t be afraid to research the suitability and reliability of their suggestions before you make a purchase. In the end, a little planning will keep your investment sounding great and last for years.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Powersports Amplifier Upgrades For Fun and Function

What Does a Powersports Amplifier Do?

What to Look for in a Side-by-Side Amplifier

Amplifier Installation Is Crucial to Longevity

Enjoy Your Day on the Trails

Product Spotlight: Rockford Fosgate M5-1500X Marine/Powersports Amp

Rockford Fosgate M5-1500X5 Specifications

Five-Channel Powersports Amplifier Layout

Upgrade Your Adventure with Rockford Fosgate

Why Does My Sub Amp Have Two Sets of Terminals?

Sub Amp Design Process

Use What You Have in Stock

Upgrade Your Car Stereo with a Subwoofer

Upgrade Your Car with Style and Accent Lights

A Subtle Approach to Lighting

Lighting in Audio System Components

Exterior and Under-Vehicle Lighting

Shopping for Lighting Upgrades

Four Key Factors to Consider in Motorcycle Audio Upgrades

1. Installation Is Crucial to Performance and Reliability

2. Buy from a Brick-and-Mortar Retailer

3. Choose Premium Products

4. Audio System Upgrades Need Tuning for Accurate Sound

Upgrade the Audio System on Your Motorcycle Today!

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