# Old Sony XM-2020 for tweeter amp?



## ATB (Aug 30, 2005)

I have an old Sony XM-2020 sitting in my closet that I was considering using as a tweeter amp. I have no documentation, but it has specs of 20w/ch @0.5% THD written on it...its a bit larger than a deck of cards. I have never used it..my friend gave it to me when he pulled it out of his old car. It is from the era before sony went with all of the xplod crap, so I thought there was a chance it might be okay. I also have a 75w/ch Alpine v12 amp I could use, but it would be much more difficlut to fit and is way more power than I would need.


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## DS-21 (Apr 16, 2005)

I bet it will be fine.

And contrary to popular opinion, the Xplods actually aren't that bad. My Miata came with one installed, the 150x2 rated model, and it puts out tons and tons of clean voltage for the price. If your loads are easy to drive - like the typical active crossover DIY setup - then there are certainly better places to put one's money than an "upgrade" from one of those cheap amps.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

ATB said:


> I have an old Sony XM-2020 sitting in my closet that I was considering using as a tweeter amp. I have no documentation, but it has specs of 20w/ch @0.5% THD written on it...its a bit larger than a deck of cards. I have never used it..my friend gave it to me when he pulled it out of his old car. It is from the era before sony went with all of the xplod crap, so I thought there was a chance it might be okay. I also have a 75w/ch Alpine v12 amp I could use, but it would be much more difficlut to fit and is way more power than I would need.


Using the Alpine wouldn't be bad if you end up using 8 ohm tweeters. You'd still have plenty of headroom, where you'd quickly run out with the Sony.

Contrary to popular belief, although the power consumption of tweeters tends to be quite low, the transients can be pretty high. Especially if you cross over low (ie. <3kHz). A little bit more power goes a long way.


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## tdgesq (Apr 16, 2006)

I am running a harmon/kardon tweeter amp of about the same size rated at 3 1/2 watts per channel with two 8 ohm tweeters and it gets louder than I can stand.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

tdgesq said:


> I am running a harmon/kardon tweeter amp of about the same size rated at 3 1/2 watts per channel with two 8 ohm tweeters and it gets louder than I can stand.


...and must clip like a son of a gun. Throw a song you like into an audio analysis program, filter it to the frequency band you're interested in, and take a look at the transient levels. The average levels of most tweeters will often be well within single digits, but the transients -- add 6dB or more.


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