My 1996 era Alpine head unit died recently. So I have bought a new Alpine 9857 (50W X 4 Channel) to replace it. That was easy enough, but now I have my doubts about the rest of the set-up. Specifically if the McIntosh amp I have is worth keeping.
I seem to be going around in circles, as I research head units, amps, etc. Mighty confusing! I'm new to this stuff and need some help from some knowledgable people!
The old head unit and amp were from about 1996 or 1997. So, the old head unit was hooked up to a McIntosh MC425 amp (50W X 2 Channel). The sound from my front speakers and tweeters was quite good.
But my new head unit has 50W X 4 Channels, so does that effectively make the McIntosh amp useless? With the McIntosh's very low outputs, I assume it is well and truly superseeded by now.
I am not looking to shatter windows with my system, but would like a nice sound with the ability to turn up music I like. Should I keep the McIntosh MC425 Amp and bridge it to power a small subwoofer and buy a separate 4 channel amp for the speakers. Or with it's small output, is it not worth keeping? I would appreciate any opinions. And sorry this thread post is so long!