jackman51

hello. i know basically nothing about car audio. i know that my stereo stopped working and i thought it was a problem with the factory stereo. i then purchased an Alpine IDA-X305 to replace my factory stereo. then i was told the real problem is with the factory amp. it needs to be replaced. i still want to install my new alpine stereo, but obviously i need to figure out a way to replace the amp too. i was wondering what would be the best option for me, and how do i go about replacing/bypassing the factory amp with an after market one. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

draco

Jackman, hi and welcome. With the 3rd gen series you will need to bypass the amp entirely. Effectively connecting the Alpine deck to an aftermarket amp will do the trick. If you do a search on the forum you will find previous threads on successfully bypassing the amp.

jackman51

so.....remembering that i know nothing about car audio...it looks like i might be able to locate the factory amp for around a $100 via ebay. but if not...what type of amplifier do i get and where will it go? (i'm not putting in a sub, i just want power for the alpine stereo and the factory speakers). it looks like the factory amp is very small. every amp i've seen from places like best buy are quite a bit bigger and i assume are made to go in the trunk. am i supposed to get one of these bigger ones and then just re-route the wiring back to the trunk or where ever it goes? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

jackman51

actually i did a bit more reading. it looks as though the most simple thing to do would be to just bypass the factory amp and re-wire from the speakers to my new head unit. however, i have heard that the factory sub will not work using this method. i briefly talked to a service guy at bestbuy and he told me that it would work if i added some stuff, but didn't really understand the lingo and forgot what he told me. does anyone have any input on bypassing the amp and rewiring while making sure that it's done in a way where the factory sub still functions? i'd greatly appreciate it. thanks!