Austin519

From Carfreak:
"Hi Austin,

I've been reading your threads and I see that you have a lot of knowledge on car audio. I'm interested in getting components for the front of my TLS and I was wondering what you would suggest.

Music I listen to:rap, techno, hip-hop, and alternative

Price range up to: $250

Also, what amp would you suggest? Would you still suggest the
Rockford Fosgate H800a4 800W 4 ch?

Would that amp be powerful enough to power my 10" alpine type S subwoofer too?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Ben-"

Carfreak:
Hey no problem at all, and I appreciate the compliment. Usually I check the forums more than my PMs so you got lucky I suggest you just post to the Audio & Elec. saying ATTN: Austin519 otherwise you may think I am ignoring you! That and I'm always so friggin long winded I take up more than the 1000 alloted characters in the PM (this one is 3500+)

As for components for the front of your TLS...well hmm. I'm pretty wary to give advice on good brands etc, because most of the high end brands can be had for relatively the same price, and all haev their +'s and -'s...it's what your ear hears that's important. I suggest you go to a car audio store (not circuit city or anything like that), and ask to listen to a lot of the high end ones. Make them think you're EXTREMELY interested, aka buy today, pay cash...and they'll be more than willing to help. Then leave, go online, and get them cheaper.

But I know that's not what you wanted to hear...so I can give you some general guidelines. First, you listen to music (sans alternative) with a solid bass beat, especially rap and hip hop...if you were a country/alternative/classic rock guy...I'd not worry about this...but you want to make sure you have good midbass up front, as I'm sure you turn the sub in the back all the way up. Since I'm assuming you want to hopefully drop as much as you can into factory locations, then you'll want 6.5" components. That should give you good midbass up front. Now you have to make a decision or two. Do you want to have to do almost no install work, a little install work, or heavy duty install work? For no install work, I would recommend the JL XR650CX coaxial set, which you'll purchase one set of. They can be had for about $150, at least that how much I purchased mine for, and should be able to fit into the factory locations with a spacer added (not very difficult at all, 10 mins). This is what I'm doing for my rear speakers. The next step up is the JL XR650CS 2 way component set, for about $175-$200. The woofer can be placed in the factory location with a spacer, however you will have to find another place for the tweeter. It can be inlaid or surface mounted, the latter of which means you'll just have to screw or stick it on and not drill large holes into your panels, and run the wires. You can place the tweeters in the doors, A pillars, or wherever, as long as they stay relatively close to the woofers, no more than about 18" or so. This should give you better high end response. Third and finally is what I am doing in the front, the JL XR653CS 3 way component set for $250-$275. For this you'll have the woofer, going in the factory location, a midrange, and a tweeter. The midrange and the tweeter may not be separated by more than 6" for good sound imaging, so they will have to be placed in a custom made kickpanel, installed in the door pods of the car. If you know how to do this, and/or you have money for someone else to, I'd go this route. Otherwise I'd get the coaxials.

Your sub, I'm assuming you have the SWS-1040D 10" Type-S Series Subwoofer (non DVC)...it has one 4 ohm voice coils and handles 200W RMS and 600W max I believe. Well, the Power 800a4 is normally rated at 1000W, which running at 75% is 750-800W, we'll say 800W for easy division. So, it's 100x4 @ 4 ohms and 400x2 @ 4 ohms. With that said, you are going to run a front speaker setup off of the front hookups, and bridge the rear hookup for a sub setup. That would give you 100x2 @ 4 ohms to the front, and 400x1 @ 4 ohms to the rear. So yes, the RF H800a4 would be a good solution, and one I would recommend. The only thing about this setup, is that the JL components can actually take up to 150W apiece, so you're not powering them at max, though you are powering them more than nominal. But there is no way around this unless you either overpower your sub, or you use two separate amps (what I did). Unless you are going to go compete, which with this system I don't think you will, then this will make for a good solution that you'll enjoy.

Good luck Ben, hope I helped,

Austin