Factory Amp Specs and Replacement
 

Does anyone know the specs of the factory amp? such as wattage
I doubt that I have the 6 channel as I don't have the rear speakers.

Also, I have another 4 channel amp that I could possibly swap. Has anyone done this? If I do decide to do I would like to be able to simply splice into the factory wiring.

Let me know please. I want to get something started this weekend.

Depends on what sound system option you have (M490, M680 or none).

Have read my response to your post from yesterday about pretty much the same thing? :rolleyes:

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=227149#post227149

that is a good article, but it says nothing about the amp.

I have the 4 channel. 2 dash, 2 door.

first paragraph ;)
"...with the M490 sound option, which means the addition of a 40 x 6 amp in the front boot"

The M490/M680 options prior to '03 only included a 4 channel amp. Since you have a '98 w/ door speakers, yours has the M490 option w/ a 4x40 amp - 40W output for each of 4 channels. OEM amp has a built in cross over for the doors (and is line level fed by combining signal from front and rear channels of head unit). If/when you unscrew it from the firewall, you'll also see a big white sticker on the front of it which tells you how many channels and what wattage per channel.

In a nutshell, the amp is ok but the drivers in the car are crap. You can change the amp or not but regardless you'll want to change the drivers. Especially the doors if you want any kind of lows. Oh yeah, and the dash ones too if you want any kind of decent mids and highs. :D

Start w/ the speakers but leave room in them for an upgraded amp if so desired.

You're welcome :rolleyes:

Don't count the speaker in the car.. just look the specs on the amp in your front trunk..

in some setup there is two door speaker hoocked up on the same channel (2x 2ohm to give 4ohm), in other setup they use the 4 output from the Radio to feed rear speaker.. so you really need to take a look on the amp itself..

For switching your amp, it depend if you have DSP (m680) or not..

If you don't have DSP, you can easily buy some rewiring on ebay to plug an aftermarket amp without slicing your connector, but as they said, don't just change the amp.. change the speaker too.. :) If you Have the DSP you can still change the amp but those little DSP button on your dash won't be usable. But don't spend to much money, I heard manys tories of peoples wasting bunch of money ending up with a crappy result because the car inside shape is just badly build for sound listning..


The amp itself is 40W, the Radio itself is 18W..

Good luck in your project..

I have already replaced the headunit. The dash and door speakers are on the way. I also added speaker to the rear storage.

I just want to replace the factory amp with a higher powered one that I already have. You mention a rewiring adapter on ebay. I can't seem to find one. the ones I see are the same as the one I used for the headunit install.

Aww.. I guess your right.. Wiring connectors are available for Radio, not really for the Amp.. if you REALLY don't want to touch the original wires of your car you can still buy a cheap AMP and take the connector out of it and work this out, other case I guess you'll be stock cutting out the connectors.. if you do so keep the connector with enough wiring lenght to restore your system back if you ever need to (or next owner)