Car Audio Help Needed

[Sam1990]

I want to purchase 2 sub woofers, probably 10" or 12" which I'm undecided about yet. Also with this I want to purchase an amp. The problem I'm getting into is, choosing an amp. I can't decide on getting a 2- or 4-channel amp.

What I wanted to know is, how many speakers and/or sub woofers can a 2-channel amp power? How many speakers and/or sub woofers can a 4-channel amp power? How man speakers and/or sub woofers can a 5-channel amp power? Please give me several combinations you can make with it.

[Hellsent 2.0]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

ermm..this is a pc tech help forum...try car audio specialist forums...

[Eagle101]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

This is the first time i see car tech question in a PC forum lol.

[jake_]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

This is the first time i see car tech question in a PC forum lol.

Same here. I don't really know what to tell you. :p

[JunoPPCLI]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

two channel is fine, for two subs.
If you want to add in your car speakers as well, get a 4 channel.

Watts is important as well, a good 700 watt amp will do you fine with two 8" subs.

10's and 12's are just for saying you have them, a good set of 8" will hit just as hard and take up less space, and are way cheaper.

[=)BiT(= Evant3k]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

PC are electronics I have a good system plugged in as my computer speakers when I play music, I don't know why you guys find this post awkward. Anyway what he said, lol.

[Sam1990]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

Haha, I meant to post it in the "off-topic" forum, lol.

[Eagle101]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

Oh that makes a lot of sense lol :P

[=98=]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

http://www.carforum.net/

^ that place is very good. It's also run by the same people as overclock.net.

[sava700]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

If you want the best for a small amount of space..stick to Kicker's Solobarics..I've had two 15's in 1.5cubicFt of space each for the last 10years..they still work great with 3000watts running to them. Of course you want the best amp...which hands down is Rockford Fosgate!

But don't kill them with crappy wires...go with monster cable's and make sure you run the right gauge of cables to optimize the feeds. Might also look into adding a few Lightning caps to stiffin the power consumption to the amps when needed vs it trying to compete at times with other stuff on the battery draw.

You need to also wire everything for Safety FIRST!! never take shortcuts and take your time installing everything if your going to do it for yourself. I'm certified by Crutchfield for Car Stereo installation since the early 90's if you don't think I know what I'm talking about

Ask me any other questions or specifics of the install, vehicle, Deck your going to use etc..

[Sam1990]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

If you want the best for a small amount of space..stick to Kicker's Solobarics..I've had two 15's in 1.5cubicFt of space each for the last 10years..they still work great with 3000watts running to them. Of course you want the best amp...which hands down is Rockford Fosgate!

But don't kill them with crappy wires...go with monster cable's and make sure you run the right gauge of cables to optimize the feeds. Might also look into adding a few Lightning caps to stiffin the power consumption to the amps when needed vs it trying to compete at times with other stuff on the battery draw.

You need to also wire everything for Safety FIRST!! never take shortcuts and take your time installing everything if your going to do it for yourself. I'm certified by Crutchfield for Car Stereo installation since the early 90's if you don't think I know what I'm talking about

Ask me any other questions or specifics of the install, vehicle, Deck your going to use etc..

Thanks for the information. Since you're certified by Crutchfield I wanted to ask you something. I know that Rockford Fosgate is a great amp. I'm looking at this kit though: 2 x 10" subs, a box, wiring kit, and an amp. The company is Visonik and I wanted to know if you've heard of it and if it's any good? I also want to know if you heard of TIS.

Also wanted to ask, say I have 1600 watts for the subs. That would require a 1600 watt or higher amp, correct?

How many watts is decent power?

What do you think of brands like Pyle, Pyramid, or Legacy?

[sava700]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

Thanks for the information. Since you're certified by Crutchfield I wanted to ask you something. I know that Rockford Fosgate is a great amp. I'm looking at this kit though: 2 x 10" subs, a box, wiring kit, and an amp. The company is Visonik and I wanted to know if you've heard of it and if it's any good? I also want to know if you heard of TIS.

Also wanted to ask, say I have 1600 watts for the subs. That would require a 1600 watt or higher amp, correct?

How many watts is decent power?

What do you think of brands like Pyle, Pyramid, or Legacy?

If your from the states your familiar with the brands for example like Pioneer. If you purchase a deck for example from Crutchfield,BestBuy or some high end seller you get what you paid for vs Walmart's version. Watts can be manipulated by Ohms your going to drop the amp to with a parallel wiring setup etc.. The better brands likes Fosgate,Kicker and Alpine are all top of the line amps that provide not only high watt counts but clean sound. You also have to keep in mind where you mount them to provide them with good air flow..like not putting them under a seat. The amps will require a steady stream of volts from the battery so you need a good battery for starters and if your going to go high on the system watts then you need to add in a capacitor or two depending on the size. Usually 1 Farad caps do ok up till 1500 watts which at night will help the bass drops from dimming your headlights

If your going with only subs, ya just want to stick to a two channel Amp and running it in parallel with 4ohm speakers to double the watt output for less of a cost but you will produce more heat on the amp and pull more power from the car electrical system so keep all that in mind.

Just remember wire for safety first....take your time! Don't go cheap on the wires either as some low end cables will add noise to the system like that annoying humming sound or static from other things like when you turn off the car you hear a pop...ground looping is a major issue so make sure you ground everything right to the Frame!

[Xodus]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

I have a Jenson 7" flip out HU, a 600 Sony Xplod Amp, a 12" Powered Visonik Subwoofer, 5.25" dual speakers x2 up front.

I have to re-wire my Subwoofer though because somewhere I'm losing a bunch of voltage, I"m 12.8v at the battery, but only like 5 at the sub. I think the cable got got pinched up at the firewall. To run my wire, what I did was use electrical tape to tape on the end of the wire to a phillips screw driver, and then was able to just punch it through the firewall and pull it out the other side. Then cut the electrical tape off of the part that stuck through, and pull the screwdriver back. Also, remember to run the speaker / rca cables down the center of the car, and the Hot along the sides.

Edit: I'm going to be getting 2 more Dual 6x8's for my back sometime when I get more moneh

Edit: Picture of mah car In the main directory, if my original setup with my old Alpine HU, and then in the /new/ is the jensen that I got for free (that's why the screens so scratched up)

[sava700]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

I think the cable got got pinched up at the firewall.

That could cause a fire... suggest making a 1inch hole or larger and using a grommet and re run all the wires.

[Xodus]

Re: Car Audio Help Needed

That could cause a fire... suggest making a 1inch hole or larger and using a grommet and re run all the wires.

How could it cause a fire? Overheating? That's the only way I could think of... Where could I get a grommet? I only have 2 wires running, one for amp, and one for the sub amp.