Got an open box unit from Best Buy a few months ago for $70. I run an Alpine ILX-W650- which is VERY underpowered on it's own. My Celica's factory speaker configuration is four tweeters, and 6 coaxials ranging in size from 4" to 8". Running tweeters off the head, and the 8's off another amp- the 4's and 6.5's represent the midrange very nicely now with this unit. Planning a single 10' sub to join those component 8's to really flesh out the low end. I think this amp is totally worth it if you can get one discounted and use it for beefing up the mid range.
That's when all the smart people bought one 😉 that was a great clearance deal. And i'd have different thoughts about it if it was normally sold for somewhere around that price.
I have one of these in my Mazda MX5 miata running 4 speakers and it is very underwhelming...clips too soon like you said...thanks for the honest video....im going to buy another amp that suits me.
Picked one up unused in the box at a pawn shop for 80.00. I couldn't pass it up. This will fit nicely in the dash of my 1st gen Tundra to replace the factory amp.
Had one installed professionally a year ago. 6 months in, it stopped working. I recently bought a new one and it worked for 2 weeks (I took it over to the alpine dealer that installed it to install this one and set the gains). Now, it produces practically no bass and is quieter.
Had mine for 4 years still sounding great, fused with 15 amp at the battery, its my 4 channel Alpine S-A32F amp that bit the dust lately. Just stopped working ?
The 10 amps fuse is not a amperage limiter because whatever is holding that fuse can run more amperage than what the fuse reads You can use a fuse taper and run a bigger fuce Actually I had an powerful stereo with 8 tda2003 and replaced the radio fuse from 3 amps to 15 amps and not problem. The fuse is designed to blow in a short circuit scenario but to blow at certainly power pull also. Not to limit the amperage. If your radio is using 3 amps and you tape this amp to that power line replace the fuse from 3 all the way to 15-20 amps.
does connecting to the radio ground introduce any weird hums? regardless that is probably not a great practice to use the radio power/ground as there has to be some distortion
@Cam'sCarAudioReviews- These compact Alpine KTP-445U class D 4-ch units, recommend that you install them with there own separate power wire, and fuse. Otherwise they can clip very easily, especially when running full range. Tapping into the head units power, and ground is a big no-no. The awg has to be big enough to allow proper current flow, both for the power, and the ground. A aftermarket "high" powered head unit, usually only makes around 14 watts R.M.S. per ch. X 4= a total of 56 watts, in no way is the stock wire, or fusing capable of supporting that KTP-445U= 45 watts x 4= a total of 180 watts. Even running this unit high passed @ 120Hz on both the front, and rear, would not be recommended to power off of a head unit. Im surprised that Alpine KTP 4ch. did not catch on fire!? All though there are many better 4ch. amps= more powerful options for the money. If installed, and set up properly, this Alpine unit will perform like it should, even ran full range.
Pulled directly from the manual: - Battery Lead (Yellow) There are two options: a. Connect battery lead to OEM radio fused circuit The OEM radio circuit has a fuse to protect your vehicle’s electrical system in case of a short circuit. Do not connect the battery lead to the OEM radio circuit if the fuse rating is less than 15A. b. Connect battery lead directly to BATT + Be sure to add a 15A fuse (sold separately) as close as possible to the battery’s (+) terminal. So, Alpine does recommend installation within the OEM radio circuit where applicable, as I stated in the video. I understand your point but i have a few things i'd like to mention. I install car audio equipment for a living and have been doing so for a little over a decade now. Your experience sounds about a decade dated. Yes, that used to be the case that 14 watts RMS was a big deal, but nowadays Pioneer and Dual are really the only companies running radios with that spec - Kenwoods put out 22W RMS, JVCs and Sonys put out 20W RMS into 4 channels. Stock car audio systems have also come a long way, you're seeing 9- and 10-speaker systems becoming more and more common. Your "premium" systems (and even a good portion of base systems) now are actually fairly decent and will put out a good amount of wattage, and even use things like polypropylene cones with post tweeters for the speakers with cloth or rubber surrounds, instead of a paper cone and whizzer cone and foam surround that rots. Couple that with the additional functions that your stock touchscreen radios support, such as satellite radio, HVAC controls, GPS, it makes the amperage for a stock system go up. It's not uncommon anymore to see a system fused at 20 amps, or even 25. There's no reason this would have caught fire if the amp is tuned to the clipping point save for a mediocre wiring job or an internal fault.
@@CamsCarAudioReviews- Even though Alpine made this amp to be able to run full range, we never recommend that, as per the 1k rated 45 x 4 power rating. So i think every unit we sold was ran high-passed, front and rear ch., plus we always ran a separate power wire, and would not sell these units, to have others install, we either set these up, and installed them, or we did not sell them. Probably why we never had a problem with these units!?
@@evilinside5984 thank you for proving my point on why I cannot outright recommend this amp. You *HAVE* to set the crossovers high to take full advantage of the amp, even though it's designed and marketed as a "full range" amp. Meaning that it really only works to drive mids and highs in a system with a dedicated sub. And thus, it makes more sense to tie it into a direct-to-batt source for power. Given that you do all those things, this is a nice, reliable amp still with some shortcomings. You're telling me that you have to control the process from start to finish with this amp in order for your clients to be satisfied, and that's not how an amp that's marketed as a user-friendly starter upgrade should be.
@@CamsCarAudioReviews- I didn't say this amp would not perform as advertised, we just installed this amp that way. It is a full range amp. As long as there is proper wiring, and ventilation, it should operate as it was designed. But this is Not a best option, it is an option. Some people wanted something small, and out of the way. I would explain that their are much better options, but still some were set on this unit, so that's what they got. No one should argue that this is a must buy, it is a consumer choice, and like most consumers, they usually want more/or expect more than they are willing to give up= weather that is space, or $.
@@CamsCarAudioReviews- clueless.....you're confusing amperage vs voltage. The amp will clip under load if it's not supplied enough amperage. Running power wire from the battery to the amp solves the problem.
These were $189 few years back this year they are $289 😂 for $300 not worth it at all! If you can score 1 for $100 yah it’s a good little amp. I notice lots of ppl have the issue though where it will hum at no/low volume and it’s not a gain issue it’s an amp issue if it happened the only way to fix is swap it for another Chalk it up to QC issues
@@markaguilar4103 no it’s not! Yes you’re correct it can come from that, however this isn’t the case with this one. It’s a quality control/cheap parts issue
