1) I'm in the process of selecting equipment for a stereo upgrade. Before I buy anything I thought I'd run it past the experts here for comment. Basically the plan is to run a set of 5 1/2" component speakers in the front (biggest that will fit in my car), use the head unit for rear fill, and a single 10" subwoofer.
- Kenwood KDC-X889 head unit: This seems to provide a nice selection for crossover slopes, equalization, and other imaging support.
- Polk db5250 component speakers (100W RMS, 89dB sensitivity)
- Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1 subwoofer (350W, 18-200Hz, 4-ohm SVC (or maybe DVC), 94dB sensitivity). The bass should be nice and tight, not shake the block. I prefer accuracy.
2) I'm currently looking for an amp. I'm only planning to run the front speakers and a sub, and I'd like to run them off a single amp if possible, to save space and money. I was thinking I would run a 4 channel amp and bridge just 2 of the channels to run the sub, but can you even do that or do you have to bridge all channels? I've also seen some amps that claim to be "tri-way" capable with a special crossover. They say you could then use a two channel amp to power the two fronts and a sub. Anyone have any comments on this?
3) I haven't yet picked out the rear speakers. The factory ones are damaged and will need to be replaced. Any suggestions? I'm thinking something cheap and coaxial, for fill only.
4) Also, how can I tell whether I need to upgrade my alternator, other than waiting until I install everything and watch the headlights dim? This doesn't seem to be a super-high power system so I'm guessing I'll be ok.
Nice choice of equipment. You may be disappointed in the Polk components though, they are a little too pricey for what you get. I'd go with some CDT components.
A note on the headunit: the Kenwood is a little pricey. You can get a sweet Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP brand new for $310 on eBay. It has the same functionality as the Kenwood, and has a 2 year warranty.
Amp for components: You can get a 'Profile AP600' amplifier to run the component set. It goes for $76 on millionbuy.com and will do 100watts x2 channels RMS at 4ohm.
Amp for sub: The 'Profile AP1000M' monoblock amplifier runs $100 on millionbuy.com. It will do a steady 300watts RMS to power that Perfect10.1.
Notes on rear fill: Just leave in your oem speakers for the rear fill and power it off the headunit.
Notes on Profile amps: I use the Profile AP1000M for my sub and it is awesome. I was very pleased.
Nice choice of equipment. You may be disappointed in the Polk components though, they are a little too pricey for what you get. I'd go with some CDT components.
Not a fan of the Polks? I haven't heard them but the specs are close to what I was looking for. I'll take a look at your suggestion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by userlain
A note on the headunit: the Kenwood is a little pricey. You can get a sweet Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP brand new for $310 on eBay. It has the same functionality as the Kenwood, and has a 2 year warranty.
Actually I saw the Kenwood on eBay for $270 including shipping. But I will check out the Pioneer as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by userlain
Amp for components: You can get a 'Profile AP600' amplifier to run the component set. It goes for $76 on millionbuy.com and will do 100watts x2 channels RMS at 4ohm.
Amp for sub: The 'Profile AP1000M' monoblock amplifier runs $100 on millionbuy.com. It will do a steady 300watts RMS to power that Perfect10.1.
Thanks, but I'm looking for a way to run the sub and two fronts off the same amp if possible. I'm short on space.
Quote:
Originally Posted by userlain
Notes on rear fill: Just leave in your oem speakers for the rear fill and power it off the headunit.
They're blown, otherwise I would! I'll get some cheap coaxials for the rear.
Can't beat it for the money. Perfect for running an active 2 way front setup and a sub, 24 bit burr brown DAC, 13 band eq.
The Arc 10D4 sub is very close to the same thing as an Image Dynamics IDQ which is one of the best SQ subs. The Arc XXX 5 channel will send 45 watts rms(actually closer to 55-65 watts rms) to each twweter and mid, the rear channel will send 210+ watts rms to the Arc 10D4
That should leave you with about 50-100 bucks for a box. You'll also need wiring, which can cost up to 100 bucks. And I'd defintiely rec. getting some deadener such as edead or raammat60, for at least the front doors and reardecklid/trunklid.
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Last edited by cam2Xrunner; 06-06-2005 at 02:08 AM.
What kind of eqiupment(if any) do you already have?
What kind of car was this going in?
Equipment is all factory and the rear coaxial speakers are blown, so essentially I have nothing I'd like to keep.
This is actually for my wife's car, which is a Taurus Wagon. Yeah, I know it's not a Toyota but I'm planning to upgrade my 97 Camry LE after this is done, and use some of the lessons learned to do that project.
I can't really think of a better SQ system for the price for what I had listed. I'd just take out the rear speakers completely, you won't need them after the stuff I listed.
But before buying anything, check out the mounting depth requirements of the front speakers.
The best deals on highend equipment are going to be at the for sale section on ECA, as well as the for sale section on some other high end orientated forums.
Good luck, do some researching on the stuff I had posted, and see what the opinions are.
Thanks, I haven't heard of much of this stuff so I will do some reasarch. I was thinking in a wagon the rear speakers may be beneficial since it's such a long car. I guess it's easy enough to try your suggestion and just leave them out. I can always add them later.
What do you suggest for crossovers, and why do you suggest running them active? A lot of head units I see these days can apply the crossover to the preamp signals. And, do I need a tri-way crossover to run the sub and components off the same amp?
The Pioneer DEH-P860MP has all the crossovers you need.
Ok, cool. Do you also run the crossovers on the amp in conjunction with the ones in the head unit, or just turn them off?
Also I'm a little confused -- you imply the 5 channel amp will run two tweeters, two mids, and the sub. I thought the mids and tweeters were usually run off the same channel, with an inline crossoever to separate the signal? In that case you would need 3 channels.
I'm sure you know what you're doing but I'm just trying to understand how this will be set up.
Thanks again!
Last edited by Astrodonkey; 06-06-2005 at 02:49 PM.
Yeah what he said, basically you are going to use two of the channels of the amp for tweeters(one channel to each tweeter) Two channels to the mids(one to each mid)
The headunit will do the crossing over of the frequencies so you would just set the crossovers on the amp to full range.
I see. I am starting to see the wisdom of your ways, great master.
I looked over the documentation for that amp -- it looks like it will do what I need. It's more than I was hoping to spend on an amp, but still less expensive than other 5 channel amps I've seen.
I understand what you're suggesting to run tweeters and mid on their own channel, but what benefit do you gain by doing this as opposed to using a crossover and running mids/tweets on a single channel?
One other question -- I see the amp you suggested can draw up to 80 amps. Am I going to need to upgrade my alternator?
Last edited by Astrodonkey; 06-06-2005 at 05:21 PM.
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