Don't know much about amps but I need someone to help me out. I have a Harley with a sony radio and polk audio 5 1/4" speakers. I would like to add a amp to get a little more noise. The size of amp will need to be small to fit. The question I have is does the amp wattage have to be bigger than the radio wattage to be effective? When I turn up the radio just a little over half way the speakers start to restort. Do I need a amp or better speakers? Any info would be helpful.
put bass-blockers on the speakers (high pass filters set to about 150Hz) see if that helps first. then consider going to an amp rated for about 50 watts per channel. remember the head unit really only puts out about 15 watts per channel RMS, or continuous. thos "50w x 4" ratings are BS
the amplifier in the headunit clips, producing distortion in the speakers. pretty much every head unit reaches distortion around 2/3 to 3/4 of full volume usually around "21" if the volume goes to "35" or so