Stock FR-S amp?
 

I don't really know much about car audio, but if I'm reading things right, the factory head unit in the FR-S is powered, then powered separately via the amp in the rear, right?

That being the case, can I remove the stock amp? I don't really know how ANYTHING is wired back there, but I can only imagine the amp weighs quite a bit.

The stock 'amp' is tiny. If you're that serious about weight savings you may as well remove the rear seat and passenger seat, no?

If that's tiny I need to re-evaluate my thought process XD It looked pretty big to me, certainly a bit weighty.

Incidentally, the back seats ARE going as well ;)

The amp, to my knowledge, is underneath the trunk carpet in the upper left driver's side. That amp is small and would likely weigh 5lbs max. Likely 2.5lbs.

Not sure what you are looking at that would be bigger. There may be some other electronic components elsewhere, but I would never recommend messing with anything electrical unless you know what it is first (and know what you are doing).

You may want to post a pic and get it identified before you take it out. You may be removing something other than the amp.

I was thinking about that ;)

But, I believe we are talking about the same thing, as it IS in the trunk, just behind the seats on the driver's side. For some reason, I thought it was MUCH bigger :/

Side note, if it DOES turn out to be the amp, is it safe to remove? I mean, the stock head WILL work without it, right? Just less power?

The stock head unit will work, just not the speakers in the doors.

if you wanna pull it out to save a few pounds, you might as well remove the spare tire and all the tools w/ it. that'll save you 20-25 lbs

Pulling the spare tire isn't in the same realm as pulling the amp. One doesn't affect me much, if at all, while pulling the spare can leave me on the side of the road.

Yes, it stands to be only a couple of pounds in removing the amp, but that's what weight savings tends to be. A lot of small steps in order to accomplish a more significant weight savings.

unfortunately, i disagree. but on a preference level. i love music and not having the amp would affect greatly. plus i have roadside assistance (i thought everyone who bought this car got it for 3 years, i may be wrong) so having a spare tire in there is just useless 25lbs paperweight.

but hey if youre into saving weight then remove both!

If you are looking to lose weight and considering removing the factory amp, I think you've gone off course. As others have noted, there are better targets for weight reduction than the little amp hidden in the trunk.

If you're removing the amp, you may as well remove the speakers they're powering and the wires, a few more pounds...

And since you removed the speakers, you probably dont need the plastic covers, or the interior door panel, or... yea why?

You may as well strip the entire interior.

I love how a simple question about removing one thing can get turned into something so freakin' ridiculous on this site >.<

He has a point. If you remove that little amp, those speakers and all the wire become completely dead weight. That's easily another 3-5 lbs.

Just incase ou miss understood;

I'm pretty sure you still want audio in your car.

Removing your amp, will END all audio capabilities of your car, the HU will power up, but thats it, you won't have any sound output whatsoever if you remove the amp. If you Don't care about sound, well like stated above, remove you speakers and wirin aswell and also remove the HU probably a total sAvings of 15lbs with the amp. Lol

And if he stopped there, I would have acknowledged that.

Sooooo.... who is right?

If I'm going to lose my door speakers, but still have those mounted on the dash and rear, I don't particularly care. If I'm going to lose everything, then yeah, won't happen.



Just to clarify for everyone, yes, I DO realize that by suggesting something like this, I am indeed grasping at straws. I'm not looking for some secret change-the-world weight savings by doing this. I'm just trying to do what I can, when I can to make it lighter. Weight doesn't come off in big junks when you're on a tight budget. You've got to take what you can get, or more precisely, lose what you won't miss in the first place.

If you remove the amp your radio will have no way of sending power to the speakers in the car. The hu sends signal to the amp then the amp sends signal to all speakers no amp no signal no sound easy peasy


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I drove my completely stripped minus the dash. Cagged, radio and speaker less, one fiberglass bucket civic for a daily. If you think you can tolerate it do it. I just rock headphones and pandora.

I guess the thick sarcasm in my post wasn't obvious to all.

I'm not sure what the audio setup is in the frs, if the amp powers ALL the speakers or just the components idk. Assuming it powers them all- if a 0.1% weight savings is worth more to you then music, bluetooth, etc- then it's really not that unreasonable to think that you value weight savings > comfort and amenities. If the car no longer has any functional speakers removing the head unit, and all the related wiring would probably get you another 0.1% weight savings. You could then definitely run a much smaller battery- which would be far more significant of a weight reduction.

If you want to know who is right then just disconnect the wires to the amp and see what happens. It is unlikely it is only powering a couple speakers, but is plausible.

The only reason I ask in the first place is I'd SWEAR I read that the stock head IS powered, and that the amp was just MORE power, or something along those lines.

Yeah but power routes THROUGH the amp to the speakers. Cut out the middle man and you've got no way to connect the two other than to splice them together.

Don't know if the speakers in the FRS are same as in the BRZ. But in the BRZ the amp only powers the 8" subs in the door. The HU powers the rest.

I'm fine with a little splice ;)

And if that IS the case, I'm good.

Same thing for the frs. Quite the surprised when i found out. :thumbdown:

This has been an informative thread actually, I had no idea there was an amp in the back of the FRS. Does this mean I can just plug a trunk sub into that and not have to run cables up to the head unit? Or can that amp be easily swapped out for another amp with additional ports if it's already maxed out? Pardon the lack of audio experience. :) I'm considering just adding a sub to add a little extra oomph but I'm not unhappy with the rest of the stock audio gear and I have a light budget.