Ok I have an Alpine-CDA7892 as my headunit. It says on it 50 Watt x 4 amplifier. The Alpine 6 1/2's and 6x9's that I have are 2-30watt RMS. I guess I didn't know what I was doing and thought I needed an amp so when the opportunity arose to get an amp I took it. I paid $100 for a used 200watt Xtant 4channel amp. The place where I had it installed told me that the amp might be a little too powerful for the speakers so they'd have to "tune" the amp down. My question is did I even need this amp at all. Would I have just been fine with the headunit amplifier. Did the place install it knowing I didn't need it? Should I get rid of it? I don't have a great knowledge of car stereos and just want my car stereo sound better. My interior speakers right now don't really have much bass at all. I've read reviews for my speakers and majority said that they don't provide much bass at all and have seen a few cardomain pages of people with the same exact speakers as mine and have said that there awesome. My bass setting (High Pass Filter) is set for 80Hz and there isn't really any bass without the subwoofer. But if I switch it to flat (off) there is more bass but you can't turn up the volume too loud or set the bass level past 0 (-7 to +7) otherwise it sounds like shit. What things should I try to get more power out of my speakers?
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Bagged 1995 Toyota Camry LE I4 92k
1999 Lexus SC400 153k
Amps are good. Hook a subwoofer up to the rear channels to handle the bass and you'll probably be thrilled. Until then, if the amp has a built in high pass crossover you can set the alpine to flat and set the crossover on the amp to something lower than 80hz (like 50hz) to let the speakers go a little lower, but not frequencies low enough to make them distort. By "tuning" the amp, the shop probably just turn the gain adjustment down on it. Play with the controls on the amp, learn what they do and adjust it yourself. Some shops don't like installing things purchased elswhere, so they'll make it sound like (or fry it) on purpose so they can talk you into buying from them. Good luck.
find a subwoofer in a little box for $100 maybe an etype alpine or whatever, then hook that to your sub, hook the speakers directly to the deck and you'll have yourself a nice little system.
Amps are good. Hook a subwoofer up to the rear channels to handle the bass and you'll probably be thrilled.
Thanks for the info. I'll play around with the amp when I get a chance. But about the sub to the rear channel hookup, shouldn't a subwoofer be hooked up to a mono amp (like I have it) instead of a stereo amp. Because won't it produce stereo waves instead of mono?
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Originally Posted by woody
find a subwoofer in a little box for $100 maybe an etype alpine or whatever, then hook that to your sub, hook the speakers directly to the deck and you'll have yourself a nice little system.
I already have 1 12" Type R (sorry didn't mention that). I like it but I also feel that could bump louder. It's a 300 RMS sub with a 1000watt peak hooked up with the approriate 500watt mono amp for the sub. I have an Optima Yellowtop and my headlights still dim when the bass hits hard.
I originally had my speakers wired straight to the deck but then bought the amp. How would I go about wiring straight to the deck again to see if it would sound better. I have never installed any of my stereo components. I always had them professionally installed because I don't know jack about wiring and running wires throughout the car.
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Bagged 1995 Toyota Camry LE I4 92k
1999 Lexus SC400 153k
If you already have a sub and sub amp hooked up, the other speakers will sound better with an amp than wired to the head unit because if properly adjusted, you'd be able to turn everything to full volume without distortion. Sounds like you just need everything tuned to your liking. There are places on the internet that you can find articles on adjusting everything (crutchfield, etc). You'll probably be able to overdrive the sub (turn the gain up farther than it should be) to get the level of bass that you want from it. You might also play with it's position in the trunk. In the corner or under the deck facing backwards is usually best. If it's facing the rear seats, simply turning it around will make a noticeable difference.
About the sub to the rear channel hookup, shouldn't a subwoofer be hooked up to a mono amp (like I have it) instead of a stereo amp. Because won't it produce stereo waves instead of mono?
It doesn't matter.
If your using a stereo amp (2 channel), you can bridge the amp to get more power. In most cases you use the left + (positive) and right - (negative) when you bridge an amp.
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I originally had my speakers wired straight to the deck but then bought the amp. How would I go about wiring straight to the deck again to see if it would sound better.
I would leave it as is. They'll sound better running off a amp.
The best thing you can do to make everything sound better is to upgrade those front speakers. I would get a good set of components that could handle 150-200 watts rms. Bridge that amp to send them the power. Then run the rear 6x9's off the headunit.
im gonna assume that your speakers arent blown. but if you think it sounds bad now hooked up to the amp, its only gonna get worse if you wire the speakers from the deck. sounds like you need to do some tweaking with your systems settings.
try getting yourself a cap for your subs amp, might help out a little with the headlight dimming. you didnt say if your subs amp was 500watts max or RMS. if thats the max output, then thats one of your problems right there.
you can try swapping the speakers for better models, but i think you need to learn to adjust the settings on both your deck and your amps. if something isnt set where it needs to be, swapping the speakers will only be a waste of time
remember, its always better to have too much power than too little. you can turn down the gain if you have too much power, but if you have too little, that causes distortion which damages speakers
remember, its always better to have too much power than too little. you can turn down the gain if you have too much power, but if you have too little, that causes distortion which damages speakers
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