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I came across the Sony XM SD 12 at what I thought was a reasonable £99.
DETAIL
This is really the Sony entry line model offering a total output of 200 Watts of power. For me that's more than enough bearing in mind that I already had 8 existing speakers which must be letting out a lot ... Read review
Car Radio - Panel Release, Panel/Quick Release - with CD Player, With CD-Player - without CD-Changer, With changer control - with MP3 Playback, With MP3 Player - 208 Watt
Advantages: Price, build and sound quality, finish Disadvantages: 2 channels may not be enough
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I came across the Sony XM SD 12 at what I thought was a reasonable £99.
DETAIL
This is really the Sony entry line model offering a total output of 200 Watts of power. For me that's more than enough bearing in mind that I already had 8 existing speakers which must be letting out a lot as it is.
The SD12 is a twin channel amp. For those who want to know what that is, you need 1 channel per standard additional ... ...the feel of the usual Sony quality. It is strong and well made with a durable silver / titanium finish all around.
I have done a few things around audio before wasn't to worried about the task. First thing to do is to read the instructions for wiring end to end. If you stuff this up it is all to easy to burn out your new equipment and then you would be properly upset. The Sony instructions were not to long yet clear an concise as to ... more
When I bought my VW Bora about a year and a half ago now I wasn't overly impressed with the amount of base and sound quality I could get from the stereo. So the idea was to look for a well priced amplifier that wasn't to complicated but would provide the low end base that I was looking for without blowing out the back window in the process.
Don't get me wrong here, I am not one of those people who drives about with their windows down pumping out rubbish to all who care (not many).
Anyways, I made a trip up to Halfords for one of those serial buying events that my wife hates. I was looking for a car stereo to replace the factory one and a basic, cheap car amp to fit in the boot.
I came across the Sony XM SD 12 at what I thought was a reasonable £99.
DETAIL This is really the Sony entry line model offering a total output of 200 Watts of power. For me that's more than enough bearing in mind that I already had 8 existing speakers which must be letting out a lot as it is.
The SD12 is a twin channel amp. For those who want to know what that is, you need 1 channel per standard additional speaker. For example if you were to do the good old 80's thing and stick a couple of ugly speaker on your rear parcel shelf the you would need two channels.
I guess a lot of the audio freaks out there would say 2 channels isn't enough, but for my purpose it was plenty.
The SD12 also offers the ability to cross the 2 channels thus making it a single 200 watt output for a single speaker. That's generally useful if you have one of those big sub woofer speakers, but again I wasn't after that, have not had one of those since I ran a 12" subwoofer from the boot of my C Reg Talbot Samba when I was 17……yes it is embarrassing……
With my amp chosen I purchased a quality pair of 6*9 speakers and all I needed to make myself a removable base box for the boot of my car. That would mean I would run them at 100 watts each maximum. Your only check to make here is that your speakers can take more than 10 watts each else you risk blowing the speakers.
SETUP If you have never played with car electrics before then sometimes it is better to get the likes of Halfords to fit it.
When you take the amp out of the box you get the feel of the usual Sony quality. It is strong and well made with a durable silver / titanium finish all around.
I have done a few things around audio before wasn't to worried about the task. First thing to do is to read the instructions for wiring end to end. If you stuff this up it is all to easy to burn out your new equipment and then you would be properly upset. The Sony instructions were not to long yet clear an concise as to what needed to be connected and to where.
As per my instructions I laid down the power cables which for me is the hardest part of all. You have to get a positive lead stretched through the length of the car from the battery all the way to the boot. Remember a safety point here, never put in the fuse if you connect the lead to the battery, last thing you want is a live unit with no earth, some chock potential here if you do.It was easy enough in the engine bay but as with all modern cars a pain and a half trying to get the end through the firewall (back of the engine bay to under the dashboard. After spending what seemed like days find a hole through I fed the cable through and also attached the audio cables to the back of the new hifi head unit.
With the cables ready to run to the boot off I went prising up the plastics and feeding the cables back for the best route. This can take a little time to get right so that you don't see the wires. This done I then connected up the negative / earth to the car chasis / body.
Now like any good amateur I forgot the signal connection for the Sony amplifier. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh That's a single piece of wire you connect from the Sony amp to the car stereo. This allows the stereo to control the amplifier. When you turn on the stereo it provides power down the signal cable and the amp knows it needs to be on. With that in place I moved on to mounting the Sony amp.
The Sony amp comes with strong open end screw mounts on each corner of the unit. This makes it very easy to mark up your drill wholes and have a little space for errors. I made up a quick template and marked out then drilled the wholes in the place I was mounting my amplifier. I then mounted it with four bolts to the area. That was a little annoying though as Sony only provide you with four basic self tapping screws, seeing as the amp was a little heavy I didn't trust them to much to hold it up. In addition I was mounting the amp behind a plastic door in the boot and if I had used the screws I would have had four razor sharp screws poking out in to the boot…not good.
With the amp mounted I moved on to connecting the cables. This is truly easy, the amp is well marked with easy to access power terminals so it is near impossible to get the connections wrong. All you need is a flat head screwdriver. I wanted shorter cables without loads of spare cable lying around so I also used a knife and some special electrical connectors to get my preferred connections. You need to make sure your power is well connected as otherwise you can risk sparking on the terminals which isn't good for the amp or yourself. (Sorry for going on, was an electrical engineer).
I then connected up my speakers which is also very easy. I was connecting up two speakers so that meant four connections. Again these were well marked for the positive and negative and it didn't give me any trouble.
Last thing to do was to put check over everything one last time the make the final power connection. I connected the positive lead up to the battery and added the fuses. One for the lead from the battery and the other in the amplifier.
So with the hard work done it was time for a test.
SOUND The SD12 has a fantastic output. When you first connect your amp you adjust the gain to get the best output. I turned on the Stereo and set the volume to just above halfway. Then using a small flat head screw driver I adjusted it on the Sony amp to suit my tatse. The gain control on the amp is also well marked and it also shows which is up and down. Increasing the gain in short increases the power output to the speakers thus giving you better quality and volume. Make sure you don't over increase it though other wise you can start to distort the sounds which makes the whole lot sound rubbish. I also spent a little time playing with the bass and treble on the stereo to try and get the best all round quality. Lastly I turned the stereo up to near full volume to ensure there were no issues and that the sound was still perfect but loud.
SUMMARY I really think the Sony Amp XM-SD12 is a good all round option if you want to add some extra power to your car. Adding 200 watts to any car can vastly increase the sound without being to expensive. I am sure a lot will still say "only 200 watts". However, you still have to drive the car which means it may as well be sensible, when ever are you going to need an additional 800 and drive the car safely without annoying people around you. I am like that sometimes, thinking that oh wouldn't it be good to have some more loudness, but at the end of the day, where would I use it without blowing my ears off.
The amp doesnt have a huge range of features but for the basics of providing some extra depth and volume there are plenty
