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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 03:58 PM
  #1  
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From: Fleetwood, PA
Amplifier Questions

Alright I'm pretty new to all the car audio stuff so I have a couple questions that I was hoping some more knowledgable people could help me with.

First of all I want to replace the front 2 door speakers and I was gonna put in Kicker DS60's (Any opinions on these speakers are welcome) which are 6-50W RMS speakers and I will probably leave the rear 6x9 speakers stock for now. Now the real question is about what amp I should get to power those speakers. I was looking at the Profile AP740 60Wx4 amp but will this be too much power for the speakers and how much can the stock 6x9s handle. If it is too much power what would be a better amp (needs to be less than $150).

MY last question is how do you wire the speakers to the amp? Do you have to run seperate wires to each speaker or what? This is probably the most important question since i'm completely clueless on this one.

Thanks for any help in advance and all the products I listed can be found on Crutchfields website and I can post links if needed.
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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 08:47 PM
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pass on the Profile amp. way too much distortion coming out of that one.

the stock 6x9s are 8ohms so they're gonna have less power going to them than your fronts.

and wiring to the speakers. you just run your speaker wire from the amps to the back of the radio, all the wires are there
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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 09:09 PM
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From: Fleetwood, PA
Originally Posted by sunrise_mj
pass on the Profile amp. way too much distortion coming out of that one.

the stock 6x9s are 8ohms so they're gonna have less power going to them than your fronts.

and wiring to the speakers. you just run your speaker wire from the amps to the back of the radio, all the wires are there

Thanks for the quick response. So can you recomend a different amp and is 60Wx4 to much power or will that be okay?
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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 09:47 PM
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Id replace all your speakers before you add an amp, theres plenty of good amps for under 150, one in particular is

http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=3885
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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 10:05 PM
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From: Fleetwood, PA
Originally Posted by Xavipheus
Id replace all your speakers before you add an amp, theres plenty of good amps for under 150, one in particular is

http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=3885
Thanks for the site that amp does look pretty good. Can you recommend any good speakers that are moderatly priced cause I don't want to spend a ton but I want something that will sound good and not get distorted.
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Old Nov 12, 2006 | 10:38 PM
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Check out my sig for speakers and search for them at that site, I got alot of my system from there and there good
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Old Nov 13, 2006 | 04:41 AM
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hey bro i got a pair of 6.5s that i dont need if you want to get them... rockford power coax. Hit me up with a pm if your interested
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Old Nov 13, 2006 | 07:46 AM
  #8  
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hey dude, i have the kicker DS60s, ill sale them for $35. i used them for a week and got a new set of components. let me know.



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Old Nov 13, 2006 | 08:33 PM
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Thanks every one for the answers but I got another question now. Basically I did a lot of searching on the techronics.com site that Xavipheus recomended and I changed my mind a lot on what I want to buy.

This is basically what I plan on getting now:
6.5" Door Speakers- Infinity Reference 6012i- http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=2729
6x9 Read Deck Speakers- Infinity Reference 9612i- http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=2727
4 Channel Amp for above speakers- JBL CS60.4- http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=3948
2 10" Subs- Infinity Reference 1050W- http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6kpOQzY...520&I=1081050W
2 Channel Amp for subs- Boss Audio RT-645- http://www.techronics.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=3177

Alright so thats what I want to get and I just want to know what everyone thinks of this setup. I know everything is good quality but I never really heard of the manufacturer of the 2 channel amp so does anybody know anything about it?
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Old Nov 13, 2006 | 08:47 PM
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I HATE BOSS..Garbage!!!! and for subs if you want really good sound get a class D amp
Love JBL amps..good stuff Use to run a JBL BP1200.1 Class D amp on 2 audiobahn subs

but now take that info on what you want and search ebay and get it cheaper..remember make sure to check their feedback before you order it on ebay
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Old Nov 13, 2006 | 10:33 PM
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Originally Posted by JRANGER
I HATE BOSS..Garbage!!!! and for subs if you want really good sound get a class D amp
Love JBL amps..good stuff Use to run a JBL BP1200.1 Class D amp on 2 audiobahn subs

but now take that info on what you want and search ebay and get it cheaper..remember make sure to check their feedback before you order it on ebay
Whether an amp is Class D or not does not make a difference in sound quality. Class D amps are more efficient, and they are also smaller for the same power output. Class D amps are often 80-90% or more efficient, while similar class A/B/AB amps are less then 50% efficient.

The main advantage of Class D amps is that they're smaller and tax the car's electrical system less than conventional amps.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and a lot of the hype about amps is BS, especially for sub amps. A cheaper name brand will sound ok, especially for subs. However, they are often way overrated (and they might not hold up as good over time). A 400 watt rms boss amp might only put out 300 watts rms, while a comparable alpine might put out more then advertised. I've been running the 12" in my old Saturn with a cheapo Pyle amp for 6 years now, and it still sounds great and hits 128 dB with regular music(small sealed box). If you want to do a system on the cheap, I wouldn't have any reservations about using a cheaper amp, just realize that you're not going to get the power advertised and the cheaper amps are usually going to be bigger in physical size.
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Old Nov 16, 2006 | 09:53 PM
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From: Fleetwood, PA
Originally Posted by Bandit2941
Whether an amp is Class D or not does not make a difference in sound quality. Class D amps are more efficient, and they are also smaller for the same power output. Class D amps are often 80-90% or more efficient, while similar class A/B/AB amps are less then 50% efficient.

The main advantage of Class D amps is that they're smaller and tax the car's electrical system less than conventional amps.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and a lot of the hype about amps is BS, especially for sub amps. A cheaper name brand will sound ok, especially for subs. However, they are often way overrated (and they might not hold up as good over time). A 400 watt rms boss amp might only put out 300 watts rms, while a comparable alpine might put out more then advertised. I've been running the 12" in my old Saturn with a cheapo Pyle amp for 6 years now, and it still sounds great and hits 128 dB with regular music(small sealed box). If you want to do a system on the cheap, I wouldn't have any reservations about using a cheaper amp, just realize that you're not going to get the power advertised and the cheaper amps are usually going to be bigger in physical size.
Yeah thats what I thought. So do you think the Boss amp would be a good one or do you think this one would be better: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YM7VhCt...20&I=489AP1200

Also how much of a difference does having an amp for the 6.5s and 6x9s make cause I don't know if I'm gonna have enough money to buy the 4 ch amp right away
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Old Nov 17, 2006 | 12:00 AM
  #13  
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Originally Posted by BlackLS
Yeah thats what I thought. So do you think the Boss amp would be a good one or do you think this one would be better: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YM7VhCt...20&I=489AP1200

Also how much of a difference does having an amp for the 6.5s and 6x9s make cause I don't know if I'm gonna have enough money to buy the 4 ch amp right away
As far as the amps - you'll have to do research and read reviews of each to see which you like better. I can tell you that I personally like the set screw terminals on the Profile though (not sure if the Boss has them or not). A lot of amps have terminals that take a spade lug, and most people don't properly connect their spade lugs to a piece of 4 or 8ga wire. Crimping just doesn't cut it when the wire is that big. Also take into account the overall size of the amps and how the dimensions differ.

A cheaper company I really like is US Acoustics. Not sure if they're even still making stuff but their stuff was always rated fairly at 12 volts (instead of 14.4 like everything else) and was priced comparably to the profile stuff you're looking at.

As far as the 4ch. Yes it will make a difference, and you'll probably eventually want one. If you can spring the cash, it'd be easiest to get it now and install it all at once, that way you don't have to rip the dash back apart to run more RCAs and such. If you don't have the cash at the moment, just set up what you can and do it later. If you do it that way though, I would run RCAs for the 4 channel as well as speaker wires for the front speakers while you're running the sub amp RCAs and remote wire........
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Old Nov 18, 2006 | 01:07 AM
  #14  
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Im running all my speakers off my deck right now and they distort really bad at high volumes, is this the fault of the deck? Im afraid to install a dedicated speaker amp if they cant handel that kind of power
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Old Nov 18, 2006 | 03:34 AM
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xav its your deck... your probably only getting 10-15w of power off the deck but you want it louder so you distort the **** out of it... do the speakers distort at low volumes? No that means the speakers should be fine. buy and amp and see the difference
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