Which amp to buy?

[eyebrowski]

I want to power my 2 front speakers and my 2 rear speakers with an amp. Should I get a 4 channel amp and run the 4 ohm speakers as is or should I get a 2 channel and run the 4ohm speakers in parallel and run the amp at 2 ohms. I would like to run a 2 channel amp in parallel at 2 ohms since this seems like I will be able to get the most power out of the amp. Are there any downfalls to this setup?

 

[super97gst]

2 ohm stereo and 4 ohm mono are the same power wise. since u wont be running mono on mids u could run everything parallel like u said and run 2 ohm stereo. u will get the full power of the amp running this way. the only downfall is u will have no fader and u cant put more power to say the fronts and less to the rears as u would be able to do with a 4 channel amp. the 4 channel will just give u more flexibility. hope that helps.

 

[eyebrowski]

What if I were to run the rears on the right channel and the fronts on the left channel so I could still fade front to rear. Does different sound come from the rights and lefts? If so that probably wouldn't sound good.

 

[Attack Eagle]

a 4 ohm load generally has 10x less distortion than a 2 ohm load...

just run a 4 channel of adequate size.

 

[super97gst]

that is right, the distortion will be much enhanced in a 2 ohm load, but when u go to 4 ohm u will only have half the power. just go with a 4 channel thats has as much power from each channel as u want on each mid.

 

[eyebrowski]

What is an exceptable level of distortion?

 

[super97gst]

for me .3-.4 %thd

 

[eyebrowski]

It looks like running an amp bridged will bring the distortion level to the same as running it on 2 ohm, is this correct?

The Alpine and Rockford amps that I have been looking at have .3% distortion when run on 2 ohms. That doesnt sound bad.

Will it sound funny if I run the fronts on the right channel and the backs on the left channel?

 

[frigginlazer]

yes it will. for example, Motely Crue Girls Girls Girls, the opening is a harley coming form the side and traveling to the other side of the sound stage. Numerous groups use a side to side balance for things as opposing cymbals, drums, guitar rifs, ect... If you are tryig to keep the pri9ce down, get a decent 2 ch amp and run just the fronts off it. Run you rears off the deck. I am running like this and since I keep most of the bias to the front that is where I need most of my power. I only use a little rear fill to pull the sound off my dash and to settle it right on top of me. I know a lot of pepole that dont even use rears at all. Think of a Concert stadium. all the sound is in front of you. You might get a little fill from speakers behind you, but all the sound is centered in front of you. (unless you are cheap like me and get the box seats right below the mid level speakers. then it sounds like the band is sitting on top of you....)

 

[eyebrowski]

Well I got a nice pair of Boston Acoustic NX97 6X9s so if any speakers are going to get the power they are the rears. I have a secent set of Infinities in front. Maybe I will just go for the 4 channel.


Would it be a bad idea to go with a cheaper high power 4 channel instead of a lower power 2 channel alpine or rockford unit? There will not be any subs in the car.

 

[frigginlazer]

My rears are Alpine Type R 6 X 9 and me fronts are Type R 6.5 components.

as to the amps... How much distortion and lack of sound quality are you willing to deal with? I have a 75w rms 2 channel that I run my fronts off. I believe it cosst me about 200. Not a bad deal, and sounds great.

 

[lilbayz311]

is this amp any good if I just want to power two 1100 watt 12 inch speakers?

http://www.cardiscountstereos.com/catalog page.asp?Product+#=A2150HCQ

does the 2 channel mean it has the capability of pushing 1200 watts into each speaker?

 

[SoilentGreen98]

is this amp any good if I just want to power two 1100 watt 12 inch speakers?

http://www.cardiscountstereos.com/catalog page.asp?Product+#=A2150HCQ

does the 2 channel mean it has the capability of pushing 1200 watts into each speaker?

it says its 1200 watts in mono in 1 ohm, it will not push that amount of wattage to 2 subs

 

[eyebrowski]

is this amp any good if I just want to power two 1100 watt 12 inch speakers?

http://www.cardiscountstereos.com/catalog page.asp?Product+#=A2150HCQ

does the 2 channel mean it has the capability of pushing 1200 watts into each speaker?

More like 150w per sub assuming a 4 ohm sub.

 

[frigginlazer]

Is that amp even stable at 4ohms?

 

[eyebrowski]

Is this ok to do with any amp?

http://www.dsmloggers.com/stuff/wiring.jpg

 

[1fastalon]

It all depends on how serious about your sound you are. It doesnt matter if you have 1000 dollar speakers in the back, if your serious about sound amp the front speakers and use the rear speakers for rear fill, or dont use rear at all. If you dont have a sub then use rear and front, but most of the sound should be coming from the front. I wouldnt recommend running a 2 channel amp at 2 ohms for distortion reasons and overheating. You wont be able to fade front to rear iether. As for running the rears on the left and the front to right thing, dont do it. Lots of music have instruments and sound effects that only are recorded to be heard on one side of the car and by running the rears off the left etc... you wont be able ot get that cool effect AND it just wont sound correct. Always do things right the first time... it saves a LOT of headaches.

 

[eyebrowski]

I have already purchased a 4 X 100w RMS @ 4 OHM amp. I was going to run a channel to each of the fronts then do the wiring shown in the image above on the second 2 channels that will be run to the rears. Or what if I were to wire each of the front speakers to their own channel, run the 3rd channel to the rears wired in parallel, and run the 4th channel to a 8" JL sub. Which one would be better?

 

[2_blue]

I would also suggest going with a 4 channel amp. I prefer Alpine. I have Infinity Reference components in the front, Polk Audio Components in the read hooked up to an Alpine 9833 head unit and an alpine amp ... the bass comes from a JL Audio 12W6v2 sub powered by a JL 500/1 amp ... the system just rocks!

 

[super97gst]

I have already purchased a 4 X 100w RMS @ 4 OHM amp. I was going to run a channel to each of the fronts then do the wiring shown in the image above on the second 2 channels that will be run to the rears. Or what if I were to wire each of the front speakers to their own channel, run the 3rd channel to the rears wired in parallel, and run the 4th channel to a 8" JL sub. Which one would be better?

front channel to fronts is fine, rear channel to rears is fine. do not run left or right side of rear channel to 2 speakers which in parallel would be 2 ohm on that channel, and a sub on the other side. effects would be tragic. such as amp and carpet melted together