amps/subs question
 

All the stereo talk recently has gotten me thinking about my own system. I don't want a $2000 stereo system but I am looking to seriously upgrade mine. I am definitely ditching the Custom Autosound pods and shallow Pioneers and I will be making my own pods with a pair of Infinity 6.5s (like the ones Chevydude has, they sound like a good speaker overall). Eventually, I would like to boost it some more with an amp and a couple subwoofers. What would be a good sub and amp to put in the truck to make it thump? It just kind of rattles now. My Pioneer headunit already has the amp hookups, I would just need to route all the cables. I don't have a ton of room under the seat, I was thinking I could get a couple of 8" or 10" subs and put one under each seat and the amp in the middle. I would like good clear sound and definitely kickin bass.. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
John

there`s not much you can do to these trucks without removing the gas tank. i used to do car stereo and i`ve looked mine over good and it`s a challenge for sure. it depends on the style seat you have in yours too. i like 10" subs the best for sound, they hit hard and crisp, and can still pick up low notes good too. you might have a problem fitting them vs. 8" though. as far as price it`s like anything else you buy.

After running 2 10" subs in my dodge and then switching to 2 12" subs, I will never go back to 10's unless I have actually heard a better sounding 10"... The 12's go much deeper and can still thump in the right enclosure, though they may not actually "hit" as hard... I don't like the way some "hits" sound...

I would reccomend 1 Alpine MRP-350, and 2 12" RE subs.... If you don't have room for 2 12"'s go with one...

If you know what you are doing you can get a set of 8" subs to fit under the seat. This is what I have-if done properly you can blow people away with the sound and still keep the gas tank. If you want more info you can send me a pm, and I will help as much as I can.

i have two 10's under my seat, you will not fit 2 12's unles they are really shallow

well what I actually ended up doing is building two enclosures on each side of the truck under the seat for two AVI 6.5 subs (yes they make them) they are very small ported enclosures that fit nicely under the seat without having to put spacers in, they dont pound hard, but they are very impressive with thier output, and just add to what is missing in the system, and dont take up much space

I think the guys who told you to put 12's and 10's under your seats must be 5'2" or shorter because i cant imagine either of them fitting under a seat with any cushion that wasnt on a 4" spacer unless your running a really tiny box and a very shallow sub which = no good sound. I would dare to say that a high quality 8" sub MIGHT fit under your seat in the right enclosure and if anyone has heard the JL Audio w6 8's they know that they thump plenty. I had originally planned to do this too but i went with 02 trailblazer buckets and so i have NO room for any subs under the seats and would be very suprised if i could even fit a quality 10" behind the seat where the tank was. The tank isnt very deep at all and half the reason i removed it was to gain an extra few inches of leg room but even if i built a box the same size as the tank its pretty shallow and would NO WAY fit a decent 12" sub imo.

My system...gas tank has been removed and no room under the Leather 04' Yukon Denali buckets. The amp I choose due to space and I only wanted one amp, was a 5 channel Phoenix Gold where the gas tank was behing the Passenger seat, Sub: 10" Phoenix Gold ZR Octane 4 ohm fit where the gas tank was in the middle of the buckets facing forward. Front: Infinity Kappa 6.5" Perfect 6.1 components..custom kick panel housings in the works , Rear: Infinity Kappa 6x9's, fit in the corners behind each seat.

A 4-channel amp can run front and rear speakers and a pair of subs, right? What is the difference between 2 and 4 channel amps? (I hate to show my ignorance, but I had to know) I think I might have room under the seat for smaller subwoofers, I have changed to an aftermarket seat, and while the frame of the seat hangs lower than the stock bench, I think the boxes would be able to fit inside the rails.
Thanks for the responses,
John

No a four chanel amp wont run 4 speakers and subs unless you put all 4 front speakers on 2 channels in which case you have no front to rear. I would not wire it that way (though it is possible) if you want good sound. If your only wanting to use one amp then youll need a 6 channel amp. 1 chanel for each speaker. Most 4 channel amps arent even set up to run subs. The amps have the crossovers on them that will be needed for the subs. Most components come with crossovers and so i would not use the amps built in crossovers except on the subs. 6 channel amps are usually pretty big so it might be better to go with 1 four channel and 1 two channel. I would also double check your measurements under the seats and really see if its possible to fit a quality sub under there. You also need to factor in a place to mount the amp or amps and i think youll find that theres just not room for all that under your seats.

One other option ( and ive never checked into these) would be to buy one of those "bass engines". What these things do is create vibrations that simulate bass. I remember when they first came out years ago i went to a demo where the Alpine rep had two if these little boogers under the seats and then 2 sets of 6.5 components and the system rocked. You couldnt tell that it was fake bass because the components did a good job of letting you hear the low tones and the bass engines made you feel them. It was a pretty cool setup and the bass engines had their own power supply and were very small. If these things are still being made they might be something to consider vs actual subs.

Personally i say ditch the tank and do it right if sound is really important to you. I think in the long run youll be glad you did it.

This stuff is more confusing than I thought. Thanks GHS for that awesome explanation.

you can run all 4 speakers on 2 chanels, just ohm them down. if you want good sound, you don`t want mid and highs behind you anyway so run 2 sets per side in front of you and it should have enough high end to shreak your ear drums out. as far as subs, i would do the jl-w6`s as mentioned above, but if you are on a budget they definetally won`t work. they are a little costly but are a pretty bad ass sub and have been around for a long time. we used to joke around at our shop and plug them into the wall so we could fry em and get new ones under warranty and the jl`s will withstand a ton of abuse.

I was just over on Crutchfield, they have a lot of component speakers, are the Infinitys the best? The Alpines looked pretty cool too.

nah its really pretty simple once you get it. An amp is a very simple device, it takes and input signal, boosts the power to it and then sends it out to the speakers. Its basically a power booster. If you look a a two channel amp it has 2 inputs, one left and one right, now its pretty easy to understand that it will have two outputs as well, a left and a right. The same rule aplies to 4 channels amps except you have a left front, right front, left rear and right rear. 6 channel amps have the before mentioned 4 channels and then another 2 channels for the subs. Some of the newer recievers are dolby digital incoded and can seperate it in 5 to 1 like most home stereos for dvd's and if you really want to go nuts you can get 6.1 and even 7.2 (if you can find anything recorded this way). The first # in front of the period is the numder of independant channels the second number after the period is the number of subs.

Its been several years since ive had anything to do with car audio but im sure the fundamentals are still the same. When you buy an amp the most important thing is quality. Im sure youve seen 1000watt amps for $99 and then 100Watt amps for $500 and wondered what the deal was. Unfortuately a watt isnt a watt. CLEAN power is important for clarity so go with a good name brand because you wont need as much power. Other than quaility most amps have features such as built in crossovers and while i wouldnt use a built in crossover on components i would use them for your subs. Otherwise you have to put an inline crossover after the amp and in my experience these dont work as well and are more prone to problems. Just remember that in car audio you really get what you pay for so buying quality name brands is VERY IMPORTANT. A 15" megabass wont sound as good as a 8" JL W6 and the same is true about amps. A 100watt precision power amp is going to sound better than a 500watt discount amp.

Also, matching your components to one another is also important. I know youve heard some songs on one stereo and then heard that same song on another and thought ..... i never noticed that sound before? If you dont match your components well youll leave out certain frequencies which causes your syetem to miss sounds and be of poor quality.

DO NOT buy out of crutchfield. they are like %100 mark up.

I'm not buying from Crutchfield, I would find a place locally, just curious if the JBLs and Alpines were any good compared to Infinity.

Two RE 8s would do you well they are about 50 a piece then power them with one of hifonics smaller amps your amp doesnt matter much now adays as long as you get a decent one The biggest change in the las t 10 years is the fact Digital amps are pretty much the only thing on the market they arent as finicky and such as the old ones some of the old amps are great though most of the Good amps were way underrated

another thing to think about with subs is the fact they dont work like other speakers with a subwoofer they just move air and the more sone area you have the better 1 15 has more cone area then 2 10s the 15 will have those low notes that really carry and will bring everyone over to your car where as the 10s wont but they will sound good with almost any kind of music the 15 isnt going to sound all that great playing metal or rock its only meant to be super low

I am bought two sets of the Alpine type R 5 1/4 componets for my truck. I went with the 5 1/4 because of the kickpanel clearance issues and i am installing the other set in the box behind the cab. I think the Alpine Type R's sound good enough for what im doing. Years back my preference was MB Quarts for components and JL Audio for subs and Precision Power for amps but now that my friend is an Alpine dealer its all Alpine and should sound fine. Im not looking to win any competitions and to 99% of the public my system will rock harder then they would ever want to. I would set a price range and then peice your system together based on that. I would check ebay for deals too. Your amp is probably going to be your biggest investment. One thing i was shocked to hear is that on two different occasions Alpine reps have told me NOT to amp my components but to use the deck power instead. This seems liek crazy talk to me because years back NO ONE used deck power because of the low quality of it but both Alpine reps i spoke to advised me to give it a try before i bought a amp for them so im going to. I wouldnt recomend trying this with just any deck and even then ill have to hear it to believe it but if its true then your saving yourself alot of $ right there. As far as subs go ..... you gotta hear those JL Audio w6 8's .... they are rockin little subs.

GHSteve, that is absolutely the best way. i done a buddies that way a few months ago and was skeptical at first too. haven`t been into it since the mid 90`s. it sounded very good running the mids/highs on the deck but make sure you have a sub-out just for sub amp and you won`t have to cross it over. i`m glad you brought that up, it will save him a ton of $$$.

greyhoundsteve, the two tens fit under my seat with no spacer, you can barely feel the box under you, and sound really good in their boxes so it does work and sound good

http://www.blaupunktusa.com/Blaupunk...rive/Subwoofer

if you guys want to get bigger subs under the seat, try these. i was gonna get some til i choked on the price. these are no 2 for $200 subs. but they are the ticket for small spaces. i believe pioneer just came out with some as well.

I don't have this in my 72. This system is in my F-250 4 door. It is just right for me. It is an Alpine head unit. With JL audio speakers in front doors. two JL audio 10" subs in box behind seat. two fultron 5x7 in back corner of cab. one Kenwood 350 watt amp pushing the four speakers and one 150 watt Kenwood pushing the subs. It jams. If you want me to I can get you the model number on my Alpine for you. When I move my gas tank on my 72. I am planning on putting this system in my 72 and doing an upgrade on my other truck.
Sam

One other thing. When chooseing your amp. Look at what the distortion ratio is on the amp you are going to buy. Try to get the lowest distortion ratio you can afford. Also if you can swing it, go with a head unit that has no watts comming out of it. This way the distortion comming out the speakers will be way low for a really clean sound.
Sam

I think CarDomain.com has a pretty good site for comparing componets. Can't speak to the prices.