I was wondering how many of you use amp racks, or if you simply mount the amp to the sub box or to your car. I ask because I have heard several pro's and con's for each. The sub box, I have heard said that the subwoofers would tear the amp apart inside by shaking the electronics apart. Mounting to the car is simple but is doesn't give a great cosmetic look. What are your opinion on this? Also, does anyone have any pics or design specs for amp racks? I'm considering my options at the moment. Thanks,
Sorry but my English is not that well, but do you talk about rack mounted amps (like audiobahn)? or just mounting the amp in an box compare to fix it to a subwoofer box?
From the point that car amps should be rugged enough for taking bumps an dips on the road, it should not harm them. From the cosmetic side. I agree, it doesnt look good.
In my opion i would always seperate them. This way the amps components are not overstressed. And you get away from the voice coil.
if the box is built well, the amp shouldn't resonate that much through the enclsoure, but mounting an amp by screwing it directly to the box can cause air to leak around the holes you put into the box's panels with the mounting screws. That can affect the speaker performance. I also tend to think just screwing an amp to a box looks a bit ghetto and makes an easy theft target in most cases. Mounting an amp right to the back of a car seat, or a floor works. like you said, not the prettiest, but it works.
doing custom installs with flush mounted amplifiers or amp racks will be different for every car so there's no pattern to it or for it. It's done for the purpose of looks, security, and sometimes, to make space for the amplifiers or other things like the spare tire.
Personally I use custom mounted amplifiers, but I have three amps that take a lot of realestate so I can't just "screw em down" and leave em that way even if I wanted to.
in the end it's really up to you how you choose to mount your amps.