Does anyone know what the rms of the stock amp is? 3xx watts total power means nothing to me (divided by eight, peak watts) - wondering if trying to replace the amp would be worth it or not.

 

I don't know the RMS specs, but they can't be that good. A real amplifier is a great improvement over a single chip amplifier anyday, and even better if you replace all of the speakers.

 

The amp is pretty small. It fits directly under the CD tray in the console. With an eyeball measurement it is probably 5x6x1.25". The claim is that it puts out 360 watts. I replaced it with an amp measuring 11x10x2 weighing about five times as much that claims to put out 260 watts. I'm inclined to believe the latter.

In the stock system's defense, I think the headunit is pretty clean and sends a good quality signal to whatever you have driving the speakers. In the system I am slowly installing, I use the stock HU to drive just the fronts on the stock amp. The front outs on that amp go into a line output converter and then into a little preamp/EQ which is installed in the CD holder. That drives a four-channel component amp for the front components and the rear doors fills. The EQ also controls a separate sub assembly.

The reason I did it this way is there ins't any sub control on the stock HU. In most cars that sould be the first thing to replace then you could use the new HU as the master. In this car there isn't an available replacement so you have to build around it. Another way I could have done it would be to put in a line driver for the amp outs sending RCAs to the component amp. My amp has a line-out next to the inputs which you can run to a sub amp. The sub amp will probably have a plug-in control that could be wired into the dash. The spare knock-outs next to the VSA control would be a good location.

Take your time and have fun. Skip

 

I just noticed something on the 6X9's - they have "nom 20W max 40W" stamped onto them - so the amp is theoretically 20 watts rms, 45 peak X 8 channels=360 watts total.