I want to add a single subwoofer to my car. I am going after sound quality, not just boom or noise. I am not looking to rattle other people's mirrors or to make an early warning system to notify others of my presence.
I am looking for either a single 10 or 12 in a sealed enclosure and about 300W RMS.
What difference will having a 4 Ohm vs 2 Ohm subwoofer make? I noticed that at 2 Ohms, the amps will put out more power. But does that mean a 2 Ohm or dual 4 Ohm sub (DVC) will not sound as good as a sub that is 4 Ohm SVC?
My sound setup currently is a Kenwood MP3 CD player with 22W RMS 50W peak, 6.75" components with 1" tweeters in front and 6x9 3 ways in back all powered by the Kenwood player. These speakers can all handle up to 100W RMS and 300W peak.
The subwoofer setup I am considering is a Polk db series or Momo series DVC 10" or 12" and an Infinity 310a single channel amp in a custom built sealed box. The voice coils will be wired in parallel so that the sub will be 2 Ohm and the amp will output 300W RMS.
Any comments or suggestion?
Last edited by touringcamry; 05-17-2005 at 12:13 AM.
the different ohm ratings is mainly for ease of wiring. DVC gives more freedom as to how you want to wire the sub.
try and figure out what amp you can afford first and then build on that. for SQ, i recommend elevation audio comps. ~250WRMS in a sealed box will serve you well :-)
Check out the Image Dynamics ID12V3 and the IDQ12. They are known as some of the best SQ subs out there. Do a search on them on any Car Audio forum and you'll see reviews.
Another option is the Ascendant Audio Atlas, which I rec. because it's a really good time to buy one right now. They are on sale for 105 bucks for the 12"
You might also want to consider the JBL GTO755.6 6 channel amp. You can bridge the front 4 channels for the front components, and bridge the rear two channels for the subs.
Resistance of the sub is not a big factor, it really depends on the amp you buy. Most class AB amps do 4 ohm bridged, which I recommend. Class AB amp are far better than Class D, but are less effecient. You are only going to run about 300-400 watts so the strain on your system will not be that much. So say you buy an amp that does abut 350 watts bridged rms, you will need a sub that is either a 4 ohm single voice coil or a 2 ohm dual voice coil to give you the correct resistance for you amp. Look at ED (like cam mentioned) JBL, PG tantrum, and if you want to step up to the next level, DLS or Tru.
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i think if you're looking for sound quality and not window-rattling power, that infinity amp would be a good choice. I havent heard the Polk Momo subs, but i've heard the DB subs...they are good subs but i dont believe they are the best choice for you if you are looking for sound quality. But i do think you will still be satisfied with one
If I get the 6 Ch JBL amp, what happens to the two 6x9s on the back deck? If I am reading this correctly, it looks like it can be brdged to three channels, instead of 6.
Also, when the two front channels, they will output 160W RMS but my speakers only handle 100W RMS, what will happen with that?
Well you can either use two of the 4 front channels for the 6x9's if you prefer. Either way will be ok, you'd just have to turn the gain down a bit if you are going to bridge the front channels.
Ok, the way that I was reading the specs made it sound like I could only make the amp 3 ch or 6 ch. My deck has only 2 sets of preouts for front and rear, I take it that the crossovers in the amp will be able to drive all the speakers properly, and then the fader control will still work.
That's an awesome amp. I did not know that amps came with that many channels. I was debating wheither or not to get a seperate amp for the fronts and rears in addition to the one for the sub.
I was looking at the box recomendations for the Atlas 12. What is the different qts for?
Will 8 Ga power suffice for this amp and 12 Ga speaker wire sufficient for the front speakers that will be running 60W RMS from the amp?
Will this 8 Ga kit work?
Or should I get this 4 Ga kit?
Is 20 ft of speaker wire enough wire the two forward speakers? I plan to run the wires for both speakers on the passenger side of the car near the bottom. So the left side front speaker will have a wire run from right side of the car to the left side at the front.
Can I keep the 18 Ga wires that runs from the crossovers to the drivers in the front doors or is it better to replace those with 12 Ga wire also? I don't quite remember, but I think the tweeters have the wires soldered on to the driver.
The RCA pre-out signal cables will be running on the passenger side along with the speaker cables. The power and remote cables will be running along to the driver side of the car to keep them from interfering with the signal cables.
Are there any other components that I will need other than that install kit to install the amp? I think I need a battery terminal also.
Reason being is that sub will sound better with the class A/B power as opposed to the class d power. And since it bridges to a 3 channel amp anyways, you are better off using the cleaner unbridged front 2 channels of the 4 channel amp for the speakers and the rear two channels bridged to get 358 watts rms as opposed to 300 watts rms . It's a better option all around.
I want to mount the amp in the trunk, probably on the back of the fold down seat if it fits there. I'm not sure where else to put it. I have a 2000 Camry 4 cylinder.
I was planning to use the JBL 6 ch JBL as 5 ch to power the 4 corners @ 60W and the sub at 300W.
BTW, do I need to worry about dimming head lights and that sort of thing with the ammount of power I drawing for the amp?
I was looking up the different classes of amps and class D amps what I found makes it sound like class d can only be on or off. Does that sound right? If I put something like a sine wave or saw tooth wave into it, I would get a square wave as output? So meaning the sub is either on full power or off? Does this adversely affect the sound quality?
I was looking around some other things and found that many stereos lack rear speakers because the front speakers "fill" the interior and the subs help with the bass. So when I get the sub, I won't really need the two 6x9s? Right now, I really cannot hear the 6x9s really except that they produce more bass than the 6.75 in the front doors. Other than that, the fronts more or less cover up the sound from the 6x9s. If I get that 4 ch amp, does it matter or not if I have the 6x9s powered by the amp on the head unit or not?
Since my components are only supposed to handle 100W RMS, I can just turn the volume down and I should not have a problem with blowing them? I just have it low enough that there is no distortion?
I have not bought the amp yet...still waiting for a price match response from cardomain.com
I was looking up the different classes of amps and class D amps what I found makes it sound like class d can only be on or off. Does that sound right? If I put something like a sine wave or saw tooth wave into it, I would get a square wave as output? So meaning the sub is either on full power or off? Does this adversely affect the sound quality?
I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say here, but class a/b amps typically give you better sound quality, Class D amps are more efficient, meaning they typically draw less of the electrical systems reserve power
I was looking around some other things and found that many stereos lack rear speakers because the front speakers "fill" the interior and the subs help with the bass. So when I get the sub, I won't really need the two 6x9s? Right now, I really cannot hear the 6x9s really except that they produce more bass than the 6.75 in the front doors. Other than that, the fronts more or less cover up the sound from the 6x9s. If I get that 4 ch amp, does it matter or not if I have the 6x9s powered by the amp on the head unit or not?
If you still want to keep the 6x9's after you get the external amp I would just run them off the headunit's rear channels, I prefer no rear speakers in Audio only setups. Also when you take those rear speakers out you will notice that you hear more output from the subs. If you have a good strong front component speaker system, and a decent subs setup IMO there is no need for rearfill(unless you are trying to do a surround sound setup for watching movies)
Since my components are only supposed to handle 100W RMS, I can just turn the volume down and I should not have a problem with blowing them? I just have it low enough that there is no distortion?
You will just have to turn the gain down on the amp if the front speakers cannot handle the extra power. In most cases they can handle more power than they are rated for.
I have not bought the amp yet...still waiting for a price match response from cardomain.com
I think that amp will work nicely for your setup. They should price match it, they've price matched the other 6 channel amp before, I know that.
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