At what knowledge level do I have to be at to build a good car audio amp?

[moh.vze.com]

At what knowledge level do I have to be at to build a good car audio amp? When people build amplifiers for car audio, do they come up with their own circuit schematics or is there a standard for each type of powered amplifier? I'm trying to do some side projects that will get me motivated to go back to school to get my BS in electrical/computer engineering. What does it take to build a nice amp like those sundown ones? =] How much does it cost for these types of projects?

[Boon]

Eeep... I reckon I could build a simple amp. Especially a Class A or Class A/B, they're not exactly complex.

If you just copy the way everyone else does it (PWM power supply voltage step-up, rectification and filtering, output stage of your choice) then it's pretty simple.

But at the same time, it's hella complex. There's a reason so many companies just have their amps built by the same 3 factories. Developing something like a full range class D modulation system is not easy work and the designs are usually pretty well protected.

Start off by learning to fix car amps and build yourself a couple of small headphone or home speaker amps. This will give you the beginnings of circuit design and construction. The repairing will teach you about what signals need to be where in an amp and what they do, along with the purpose of various components.

As for cost... stupidly expensive. Some of the parts are cheaper than you would expect but some are crazy expensive, especially when you're buying, say 20 of them compared to a factory buying 20,000 - they get them for maybe 1/5th or less than what you pay.