GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I was wondering if anyone has replaced the stock amp that came with the M&T package and if I should be worried about anything. 200W Peak isn't going to do it for me and was looking at getting something that was about 50W x 4 RMS for the interior speakers. Let me know as I did a search first (FOR ONCE) and nothing came up about an amp. btw: The driver seat already has an amp underneath it.

Hi,One thing to remeber is that peak power means nothing when matching and amplifier with speakers.Only pay attention to the RMS, that is what will decide of you will harm your speakers or your amp. 50x4 is a good choice for cab speakers!http://www.crutchfield.com

I haven't heard about anyone here who change the M&T amp for an aftermarket one...But by what I've heard about the 200w amp, it seems to work like any other regular amp. Pre-amp input (2-4v), +12, ground, remote and output wire.My only concern will be with the 12v wire. If you hook a 200w RMS on this wire, it could not be able to handle all this power and melt.

That makes sense. The wires seem small, not even 10 gauge. Of course if I took that amp away I'd probably get a new amp kit to go with it. I wish it didn't have that hump on the right side though, it seriously negates me selecting an amp.Desi

Ok....if an Amp is under powered to power the speakers, the speakerws won't blow right??!?!? You need too much power to blow the speaks...they'll just sound crappy and low right? Just wondering because I might give the factory amp a test drive to see....<-----Desi's being cheap.

actually, i believe that underpowered speakers could be more likely to blow. distortion can cause them to blow and underpowered speaks will distort

Drunk is right, underpowering speakers can kill 'em quicker than over powering. I have nixed the stock moon and tunes in favor of aftermarket amps. BTW the moon and tunes amplifier is under the PASSENGER seat, the 12V to 110 converter is located under the driver's seat. Well, at least on the Vibe. I would most definately run at least a 10g power and ground wire if you are planning on running a 4x50 aftermarket. The stock speakers will handle it and will sound better with more power but, I would only do this if you are adding a sub to the set up and the stock speakers suck in the low range reguardless. I have head of folks that have just upgraded the factory speakers and kept the stock amp and they claim it has made all the differance, which I do not doubt one bit as factory speaker notoriously suck.

Ok...If I replace the stock head unit with one that puts out 50w x 4 rms and use the stock amp will that be enough to satisfy my power or when you use an amp it automatically overrides the head unit's power.....which is it?

In this case it might get a little better, mainly because you are running the head units speaker leads as the input to the stock amp! Granted the signal level will be greater from the aftermrket HU and thus the sound through the stock amp will improve somewhat. Try it and see if that is all you need, then go for aftermarket speakers, and if that still isn't good enough add the aftermarket amp. It all depends on what kinda sound quality you are looking for. If you want more low end (bass) I would consider a new head unit, sub and external amplifier.

I'm not sure, but is the M&T Amp connected through RCA, or is it Hi-level (speaker inputs)?Also, if you're going to do a 50x4 cabin amp, then you'll need like, an 8 ga power kit to do that. 850 or up, you'd want a 4 ga. kit. If you're happy with the headunit, best path is new amp, but with that new amp, you'll probably want to get new speakers. I have the NAV system, which I think has the same speakers as the M&T, without the amp, and they were 22watt RMS.. When you look at a 50x4 amp, that's 50 watts RMS! It'll work, but you need to gain down the amplifier.I have a JL 300/4 that fits nicely under the driver seat.. i'd put it under the passenger, but I have the 6 disc changer, too..