Wouldn’t it be nice to have a really small car audio amplifier that would make lots of power and fit in the palm of your hand? Based on experience, we’ve come to expect that consumer electronics increase in power and capability while shrinking in size as new generations are released every year or so. For computers, Moore’s law has held true with a doubling of transistors in a computer processor every two years. That same philosophy doesn’t work for amplifiers. Here are a few things to think about before you rush out to buy a really small amp for your car or truck.

Car Audio Amplifier Efficiency

Mobile audio amplifiers need to have a heat sink because they are not 100% efficient. This lack of perfect efficiency means some of the power that goes into the amp is converted (or wasted) as heat rather than being output to your speakers. For a Class-AB amp, efficiency at 1/3-rated power might be around 35% and a Class-D amp would be up around 70%. Even at 70%, if the amp is producing 100 watts of power, it’s still turning 43 watts into heat.

This heat, if not controlled, will damage the components in the amp. To prevent this, amplifier designers attach heat-generating devices to a heat sink. Most modern amplifiers use aluminum extrusions to wick heat away from the transistors and MOSFETS that handle large amounts of current. The heat sink needs to transfer this heat into the air around the amp and as such, it needs to be a specific size for a given amount of energy transfer.

What Happens When an Amplifier Heat Sink Is Too Small?

Sadly, there are lots of amplifiers on the market that don’t have large enough heat sinks. What happens when these amplifiers get hot? Depending on how the amp was designed, it may simply turn itself off at a certain temperature. Some amps include circuits that reduce the voltage of the power supply in hopes of reducing the amount of power being wasted.

If you live somewhere that experiences high temperatures, or you listen to your music at high volume levels, have your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer help you choose an amplifier with a large enough heat sink that it functions reliably.

What Else Limits the Size of a Car Audio Amplifier?

Aside from needing enough space to physically house the power supply, signal processing and output devices, another factor that puts a limit on the size of an amplifier is having enough room for the various connections and controls required to make the amp work. Once a designer has found room for the power, signal and speaker connections, he or she needs to find room for sensitivity and crossover adjustments, as well as switches for crossover functions. Subwoofer amps often need a jack for a remote level control, and that space is part of the chassis design. If the amp needs bandpass crossovers, an infrasonic filter and signal routing switches, the end panels of the amp can very quickly run out of space.

Is a Small Car Audio Amplifier Better?

As we mentioned in our article about compact amplifiers, cramming a lot of circuitry in a very small space has some drawbacks. In almost every example we’ve seen, really small car audio amplifiers have worse signal-to-noise performance specifications than their larger counterparts. The last thing you want after having your mobile audio system upgraded is to hear hiss between songs.

Choose Reliability of Size

Unless you are trying to fit an amp into a very small location like the fairing of a motorcycle, you are always better off choosing a solution with a relatively large heat sink and, most importantly, great specifications. Drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today to audition the different amplifiers available to suit your car audio system upgrade.

Many new cars and trucks don’t come with a CD player. Music stored on our smartphones and the multitude of streaming audio services has, sadly, made compact disc technology almost obsolete. If you still have an extensive collection of discs, your local specialty mobile electronics retailer has a variety of add-on solutions to make it easy for you to enjoy your favorite music.

What Happened to the Compact Disc?

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, sales of compact discs peaked at just under 1 billion units in both 2000 and 2001. One of the key factors in the subsequent decrease in CD sales was the advent of peer-to-peer file sharing through programs like Napster. At the same time, the Apple iPod launched in 2001 and by 2005, iTunes song sales exceeded CD sales in Tower Records and Borders. The next hit was the advent of music streaming services like Pandora (based on the Music Genome Project) and Spotify. CD sales have now dropped to a level similar to that of 1986, and it’s reported that the sales of vinyl records have exceeded that of the compact disc.

Seeing this trend, vehicle manufacturers like Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, Mazda, Subaru, Honda, Kia and Jeep have omitted a compact disc mechanism in their new vehicles. This omission not only reduces the cost of the infotainment system, but it also opens up valuable space in the center stack (the portion of the car dash that extends down to the center console) for larger displays.

Can You Add a CD Player?

Several companies have created add-on CD player solutions that connect to your factory radio using the USB port. These devices are special and uniquely distinct from a computer USB drive like an Apple SuperDrive or something from Asus or LG. The primary difference is that the software in the vehicle-specific drives is programmed to make the car radio think it’s connected to a media player. The audio tracks on your compact disc are presented to the radio in the same format as you’d find MP3 files on a USB memory stick.

Secondly, automotive compact disc mechanisms include suspensions that help reduce the chances of skipping and drop-outs as the vehicle goes over bumps.

Once the device is installed, you can slide a disc into the player and select the USB media source option on your factory radio. The tracks on the CD will show up the same way as if they were stored on a memory stick. It’s worth noting that you are unlikely to see the album, artist and song name on the screen.

Upgrade Your Car Stereo System Today

Whether you want to add a CD player or SiriusXM satellite radio, your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer will probably have a solution for your needs. Drop by and let them know what’s missing. They’ll do their best to help you out!

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.