Ok, so based on that, I've decided i do not need the center channel. Done.

In your previous post, you said swap the polk's from the front to rear since i dont need tweeters back there. The Polk's have tweeters on them though...

This part is confusing me a little--> So you're saying all I need to do is find the right front channel wires,(which will start as one, and split into two), "tap" into them (am i tapping into them when they are joined as 1? or when they are split?) with an LOC (dont know what that is, but i can look it up), and then send that to ONE channel on the aftermarket amp? and do the same for the left? so only two channels are used, total. So, i leave them connected to the stock amp even after they're connected to the aftermarket amp? Is this just so i can continue controlling them from the headunit? and how do i make sure the aftermarket amp is the one powering them since they will be connected to both amps?

Is there anything special i need to do for the rears??

and i'm not sure what to do with the crossover. Where do i put it? what do i hook it up to?

So when you go before the stock amp, you no longer need the stock amp, correct? I just wanna make sure I'm understanding this. So before, means theres nothing in between the stock headunit and the aftermarket amp. After, means you go from the stock headunit, to the stock amp, to the aftermarket amp. right?

Based on the fact that it's easier, and you said you did it that way for years, (and I'm definitely not looking to compete) I will go after the stock amp.

Why do i need a 5 channel amp? Wouldn't it be better to get a 4 channel for the fronts and rears, and then a mono amp for the aftermarket sub?

So, is everything up front? Like do i need to wire anything back through the car? I know i have to for the aftermarket sub, but for like the rear speakers? don't their wires come right up into the stock amp, so i can just use an LOC and then send them to the aftermarket amp. Because I'm planning on putting the aftermarket amp right in the same place where the stock amp is. Is there enough room in there?

And i read somewhere that you need to replace ALL the wiring to get really good sound? Is this true? It sounds like a ton of work and if it's not that much of an improvement, i really dont wanna mess with it.

If i dont need the rears then i wouldn't even need a 4 channel amp, right? I could use a 2 channel for the 2 front mids, and 2 tweeters. But i think i Kinda want the rears. I might buy a front component set like you said, and put my Polks back there. I'm also surprised that having the rears will make it sound WORSE. That is very surprising. I want it to be loud, and the more speakers, the louder it is right? Don't get me wrong, i want great sound quality as well. So I'm sure there's a happy medium. The 4 channel amp i was looking at for the Polks: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KAC8...r_Level_Inputs

Now, that was the one i was looking at BEFORE i knew that the tweeters ran off the same channel as the mids. So the Polk's are 55 watts RMS, and that amp is 60 watts x 4 RMS. But I'd actually need more than 60 watts on at least 2 of the 4 channels, right? since the tweeters are also on that channel? Are there any amps you'd recommend for what I'm doing?

 

Budget?

 

wow. sub'd

IHC. are you still happy with them? This thread is 5 years old...

 

Lol. His setup is a little different than the Infinity's now

 

Around $600. Maybe that's more than I even need to spend.

 

From what I've gathered, you want:

1. To keep rears in the equation..just in case.
2. Add a little more bass
3. More volume

Here's what I'd do on that budget...

Move the Polk DB651's to the rear or leave the Sony's back there and sell the Polk's. You can either leave these on stock power or amp them...we'll get to that later.

Purchase a nice set of components speakers, which are where it's a midbass/midrange speaker + a tweeter + a crossover. You're running a coaxial and a extremely inefficient tweeter right now so even a $100 component set will be leaps and bounds above what you have now in terms of volume and most likely SQ.

Purchase a sub that requires a small box and not crazy high power requirements.


OK..so here's the amp situation. You can either:

5-channel Amp
2 channels on front components
2 channels on rears
1 sub channel on sub

5-channel Amp
4 channels (bridged) on front components
1 sub channel on sub

4-channel Amp
2 channels on front components
2 channels bridged on sub

3-channel amp (there's a few out there)
2 channels on front components
1 sub channel on sub


You can easily purchase a set of components, amp and small sub/box for $600. Install shouldn't be too difficult, but if you wanted a shop to run all the wires or something to take out the hardest part then it'll cut in to the budget a bit. There's TOOONS of write-up's here and people to help. Crazy good forum we have here. It's also incredible the deals you can find if you're patient, know what you want to do and purchase used. Knowledge is the key here. Research and learn...find what you want and what you need and go after it!

 

Ok, i definitely CANNOT leave the Sony's in the rear, one of them is blown, and they sound like poop anyways. So i will move the Polk's to the rear, and buy a component set for the front.

The only one of those four options that included a way to power the rears was the first, so i think that one would be my best bet, since i want to keep power on the rears.

So based on that option... You're saying to have my sub powered off the same amp thats powering my speakers. Isnt the sub going to require a lot more watts than the speaker? Wouldn't it be better to buy a 4 channel for the front components, and the rears, and then a mono amp for the sub?

How large of a sub should i get, and should i get 1 or 2? Again, im not trying to compete, but i like a lot of bass. (i listen to hardcore, not rap or anything like that). And how many watts should the sub have? If the sub has like 400 watts RMS, and I'm running it off the same amp that is powering my rears, (which only need 55 watts), isn't that a waste?? And dangerous? Because i'd have to buy a huge amp to power the sub, and it might be too much power for the speakers. (i just noticed you said the sub will be on a sub channel, maybe that will answer my question. not sure what a sub channel is)

 

The amp channels are all separate. A typical 5 channel like mine has 100wx4 and 500w for the sub. They're all adjustable separately.

When choosing a sub, the enclosure will have the biggest influence of how it sounds. A larger enclosure will be better in nearly every way. Better SQ, less power required, flatter response, and it will dig deeper.

Same with sub size. No matter if you want sound quality, SPL, or both, larger and/or multiple subs is better. The less it has to move (excursion) the less distortion it's going to have. The more cone area you have, the less power is required for the same SPL. Larger usually has a lower Fs and will play flatter and lower with less power. Basically bigger is better. The only negative is the space they take up. 500w on a 15 in a large enclosure can get a lot louder than 500w on a 10 in a small enclosure.

Some people think it's weird that I have a pair of 15s when I consider mine a sound quality setup but you can barely see them move even with it pretty loud. They always stay in a very linear range with very low distortion. Since they're infinite baffle (using the whole trunk as the box), they require very little power. 250w each is all they need to flex the roof and drown out the front stage.

 

I dont want my sub to completely drown out the rest of my music. I want it to have powerful bass and compliment the rest of the music though. And i do want trunk space. This is the whole reason i was looking at self powered subs. Maybe that is all i need.

 

How many watts should each channel have for this component set? It says 10-100 watts RMS, so i don't know how many watts i should have on each channel. http://http://www.crutchfield.com/p_...f2#details-tab

 

You can adjust the sub using the gain control on the amp. Even with the pair of 15s, mine is very balanced, you can't tell where the subs leave off and where the fronts pick up. If I want, I can crank the gain to bass out once in a while but I can also turn the subs down or even off.

 

Ok, well I'm not gonna waste the money on something like that since i don't compete or anything. So i think I might just get one sub. Like a 12". I still might get the Infinity Basslink. It's simple, got great reviews, and it might be all I need. Plus it's like 200 bucks. Cant beat that!

But how many watts per channel for that component set do you think i need?

 

50w will get plenty loud. A more powerful amp even if you don't listen to it real loud will give better dynamics meaning better overall sq.

You can usually get a larger version of a sub in the same family for a few bucks more.

Many people I've seen are not happy with the Basslink. Maybe you will be but don't expect anything special. You'll get more bass than stock but not a whole lot.

 

Ok, good. I'm glad I don't HAVE to get a 100watt x 4 amp to power that component system. I'll probably go 60-75 watt x 4. I just got off the phone with Horizon Audio (my local audio shop), and I've now decided to get one 12" sub in a sealed box. I'm gonna get a 4 channel amp for the component system and rears, and a mono amp for the sub. He told me that this would be best for my situation.

I think I've almost got it all figured out (as in, what i want for my audio upgrade). I just need to know whether i should get a 2 ohm sub and a 2ohm mono amp, or a 4 ohm sub and a 4 ohm mono amp...

 

A 5 channel should be cheaper. When the install is factored in it will be cheaper. You're essentially getting two amps in one case with the 5 channel. Make sure the 12 is put in the correct sized box.

 

Ok, I'll have to look. He said $185 for the component system, both amps, and sub to be installed. That sounds like a pretty good price. But what do you think?

And what kind of sub should i get? I just want one 12" Sub in a sealed box. Should i get 4 ohm or 2 ohm? Are there pros and cons to both??

 

5 channel makes MUCH more sense for a low-powered, space acing setup. Should be cheaper also, like IHC said. You can pick up the Kenwood XR-5s on EBay for $280 shipped as a refurb. EASILY the best amp in that range for you.

What sub you want depends on the space you want to take up and power. So take $600 - $185 install = $415. That's how much for a sub, box, amp & components. That's not much at all. Either install it yourself or piece together as you go.

 

So which is which? Is 2 ohm the bigger one that has more power, and the 4 ohm the weaker and smaller one? Or vice versa? Also, if i get a 5 channel amp then to power the components, rears, and sub, then i will need to get a 4 ohm sub since the amp has to be 4 ohm because all the speakers are 4 ohm. I wouldn't be good to pair a 2 ohm sub with a 4 ohm amp would it? Too much power possibly. I dont wanna have to worry about blowing anything. I want to be able to put it as loud as i want with no worries.

 

Ohm load can differ on channels. Check out a few links and read up on this stuff

 

Agreed. There are four threads that have been dug up with the same questions. I don't mind helping but at some point you have to help yourself. I read for months getting a base and then started asking questions about the stuff I couldn't figure out from the research. Things like impedance can be researched in seconds rather than waiting for people to write what's been written a thousand times.

 

Reading up on this stuff is what saved me install costs, product costs buying new, etc. I fully deadened/sealed my doors and deadened other parts of my trunk/car, installed everything and I've never done anything like that before. Lots of good info on here and it can save you hundreds!! Put that money towards your setup

 

If you have navigation you'll need that center channel. You can leave it powered by the stock amp.

 

I have done lots of reading myself about impedance, resistance, ohms, power, current, etc. but I too have a question regarding the front component speakers. What is our amp seeing as the total resistance if the woofer is 2 ohm, the tweeter is 4 ohm and they are wired together in series? 6 ohm? 3 ohm?

 

I looked it up again and I get 6 ohm loads for our front Left and Right channels... That is a bit high don't you think? Perhaps that explains why some people claim to have higher SPL when using 4 ohm component sets like Polks (If I recall reading correctly).

Please correct me if I am wrong about the nominal impedance of our stock components.

Really makes me want to just put some nice aftermarkets in there and see how the stock amp does.

 

It's weird and it's right on the edge of my audio knowledge level. The amp still sees a 2 ohm load because of inductance and the fact that the tweeter and mid play entirely different frequency ranges.

If you had two 2 ohm mids wired as the factory setup is wired it would give a 1 ohm load. A speaker's impedance changes with frequency. Due to this, each speaker is treated separately in it's respective frequency range and you end up with 2ohms in the lower frequency and 4ohms (if the stock tweeters are 4ohms) in the upper frequencies.

If you add a comp set with a crossover, impedance remains about the same throughout the range from what little I know.

 

Sounds about right!

You're correct also...stock tweeters are 4ohm with 3.3uF Cap. That's near 10,000hz for the x-over point!

 

Thanks, that makes sense from what i've read. Hadn't considered that the tweeter only dealt with the high frequencies. so everything above 10k is around 4ohms nominal and below that should be 2 ohm. I am guessing then a 2-3db cut to highs is required for aftermarket component sets?

 

I understand. I really appreciate your guys' advice, but I'll search around if I need anything else. Thanks again!

 

No problem. Sometimes it's better to just take it in on your own time. Being bombarded with info is just confusing lol. You can PM me if you have any questions...don't mind at all