substitute to factory amp

[Mullethead19]

new head unit with factory amp/fun with PA

I have the factory stereo in my Explorer and want to replace it with a MD unit. My brother has the same year explorer as me, but when he replaced his stereo he just used the preamp out to use the factory amp with the new unit instead of bypassing the factory amp. It sounds pretty good, but the only problem is it makes a thump noise when you change tracks, radio stations, etc. I was wondering if I replace my head unit, will it sound better if I use the new unit's onboard amp (probably 50x4) or will it sound almost the same as the current factory system? The factory system I have is the "premium" system, which actually sounds pretty good for a factory system. Any help is appreciated. BTW, I wonder if anyone here has done the same as me and put a PA system in their car, just for kicks. I found out after I installed my cb that it had a PA output, so I hooked up a 7 inch PA speaker under the hood. It's good for observational humor, and if anyone has ever seen the movie Better off Dead, you know it's good for challenging people to races.

 

[JTang]

That'd depend on the head unit purchased, and how much power it puts out. The problem that you noticed about the thumping might be because of the head unit itself rather than splicing from the RCAs to the amp. Hard to tell.

 

[Mullethead19]

The head unit I was looking at is 22x4 RMS with 45x4 peak. My brother's head unit was a JVC, it's a mid level deck (about $150). The way he spliced the rca's was using two Y adaptors, there was only one set of preamps on the unit.

 

[leenjen]

22X4 rms will be better than running off the factory amp.
it will sound much better if you bypass it. the factory amp will have distortion at higher volumes. if you bypass it, you will be able to play it louder with no distortion.