Car Audio

Off Topic
1

Any car audio gurus here? I am looking to install the components i have myself, as installation professionally will cost me a few hundred dollars. Ok so heres the deal. I have a 94 ford ranger extended cap, so im looking to put all of this stuff in the extended cab portion of the truck. The equipment is as follows:

AMPS:

1000w 4 channel
760 amp 2 channel
222 1 channel

Speakers:

4 6x8 mb quartz speakers
4 8" galaxy subs

Misc.

Amp installation kit and various fuses/wiring.

Now my first question being, is 4 subs overkill for this truck? And my second question, will the 1000watt amp blow my 6x8 speakers? I was told by a guy at the car audio shop that you can never blow speakers with too much power, just too little. And my third question, is the 770 amp enough power to run my subs.

2

[quote]Split wrote:
Any car audio gurus here? I am looking to install the components i have myself, as installation professionally will cost me a few hundred dollars. Ok so heres the deal. I have a 94 ford ranger extended cap, so im looking to put all of this stuff in the extended cab portion of the truck. The equipment is as follows:

AMPS:

1000w 4 channel
720 amp 2 channel
222 1 channel

Speakers:

4 6x8 mb quartz speakers
4 8" galaxy subs

Misc.

Amp installation kit and various fuses/wiring.

Now my first question being, is 4 subs overkill for this truck? And my second question, will the 1000watt amp blow my 6x8 speakers? I was told by a guy at the car audio shop that you can never blow speakers with too much power, just too little. And my third question, is the 770 amp enough power to run my subs. [/quote]

ok…where to start?

are 4 subs overkill? that depends on your definition of overkill, and most importantly the type of subs you will be using.

will the 1k blow your 6x8’s? again that depends on the quality and ond wattage rating of the speakers. not to mention the ohm’s of both the speakers and amp need to match.

SINCE WHEN DOES TOO LITTLE POWER BLOW ANYTHING??? poke him in the eye for lying to you. also the brands he is showing you are crapola. if you don’t know what your buying, stick to the name brand goodies. at least they have a big company backing them, and are probably pretty safe.

as for the subs, again the wattage rating for or rms is the most important factor.

NEVER GO BY THE MAXIMUM WATTAGE RATING!!! that only tells you what the maximum short term capacity is. the rms refers to the constant power handling capabilities.

STEREO SHOPS ARE NOTORIOUS FOR BEING RIP OFFS. i have dealt with soo many shops over the years that i have developed a deep hatred for them. they are all the same for the most part. and are usually owned by the same couple of middle eastern guys. what the ones that i have worked with do is rotate lying cheater salesmen throughout their chain so that when you come back with a problem, the original salesmen is gone. now the bullshit begins.

i have had stereo’s in all of my cars ever. i had a cadillac with 3 15" audiobahn subs, 1 2500 watt amp, 1 1200 watt amp, two batteries in the trunk, three capacitators, 14 audiobahn speakers inside, 2 12" flip down monitors in the headliner, a clarion touch screen 7" lcd head unit with dolby digital 5.0 surround, and all the premium wiring.

it took over a month for the bastards to finally finish, then i had to take it all apart and insulate the rca’s and seperate them from any possible road noise source. all in all it cost me about 7k.stay away from the shitty brands, they only burn out. watch out for refurbished trash at new prices.

and finally the installers, these guys can do serious damage to the interior of your vehicle, i have never walked away without a scratch. they are bound to breal a couple of panel clips, and leave a few scratches here and there. good luck getting them to admit to it too.

good luck with your system, if i can be of any further help don’t hesitate to ask.

3

the subs are galaxy, and the speakers (MB QUARTZ) are pretty top of the line, ill try to find the specs.

4

Don’t be the douche in the neighborhood who thinks everyone gives a shit about his music. Nobody wants to hear it.

5

How many watts per sub?

My suggestion bridge the 1000w amp into a 2 channel, and power 2 of your subs on that - this depends on watts per sub as well.

The 760 amp 2 channel can power 2 of your 6x8’s, the other 2 can run off your radio.

Sell the other subs and amp, buy and install some tweaters for the front, run them off your radio too, and you’ll have a nice balanced system.

This type setup will give you nice overall sound, without going overboard.

2 8" subs won’t exactly blow anyone away and you won’t look like an idiot with an ott sound system.

6

[quote]Split wrote:
the subs are galaxy, and the speakers (MB QUARTZ) are pretty top of the line, ill try to find the specs.[/quote]

ahh yes, mb quartz are very close to top o’ the line.the price certainly says top o’ the line. also, just to note, most companies sell a shitty version of their product so that it seems you are getting the same high quality product, but it’s really no better than the majority of the competitors. WATCH OUT FOR FAKE PRODUCTS. the shops are notorious for selling “knock-off” speakers. there are tell tale signs of fakes, you just have to get to know the originals.

i don’t know much about “galaxy” but i have been out of the stereo scene since about 03’ so i could be getting a little rusty.

as far as the “douche bag” of the neighborhood goes, i was the douche bag of the entire city. there were only two other cars that i was aware of in my city that could compete. i forgot to mention the ps2 and x box i had in there(that was when ps2 was the hot shit). the amps and subs were the flame series audiobahn. the subs had an rms in the ballpark of 2k watts each. i ran them in 2 ohm stable. thats allot of power.

7

[quote]rsg wrote:
How many watts per amp?

My suggestion bridge the 1000w amp into a 2 channel, and power 2 of your subs on that - this depends on watts per sub as well.

The 760 amp 2 channel can power 2 of your 6x8’s, the other 2 can run off your radio.

Sell the other subs and amp, buy and install some tweaters for the front, run them off your radio too, and you’ll have a nice balanced system.

This type setup will give you nice overall sound, without going overboard.

2 8" subs won’t exactly blow anyone away and you won’t look like an idiot with an ott sound system.[/quote]

run your 4 8’s with the 1k amp, run them parrallel. of course your amp will have to be able to handle 1 ohm stable if you do.if not it will eventually blow.the box/manual will tell you it’s capabilities.

forget the 760 2 channel, get a 4 channel and be done with it. in addition to the 6x8’s ADD some tweeter to your a pillar near the visor. you can run your tweeters off of your head unit.

in the event you notice too much power draw from your amp during extended bass drops, you will need to add a capacitator to help pool your power for when it’s needed.it would be unlikely given your small draw, but you could have a shitty alternator(i had to replace mine about 5 times, usually in the parking lot of a kragen)i got pretty good at that, it would only take me about twenty minutes to change it out.

8

i was thinkin 1000w to the 4 speakers, and only using 2 8’s powered by the 760. Im trying not to spend any money and using what i got.

9

Each to his own but I don’t see the point of running 4 subs unless you’re thinking about competitions.

Music sounds shit when it’s not balanced and has too much bass/mid/treble. You got to decide exactly what you want it for and then follow that path accordingly.

10

[quote]rsg wrote:
Each to his own but I don’t see the point of running 4 subs unless you’re thinking about competitions.

Music sounds shit when it’s not balanced and has too much bass/mid/treble. You got to decide exactly what you want it for and then follow that path accordingly.

[/quote]

my philosophy is add more. too much bass? add more treble and mids. go big or go home. my sytem was as clear as crystal, you just have to filter the bass from the highs and mids. thats getting into tuning, which is a creature all in it’s own.

the bass i had was phenomoinal, have you ever had your rear view mirror vibrate off? try looking at a light when the bass hits, my car would make your eyes vibrate. you could bounce a qurter on the trunk lid. the chicks loved to sit in the back seat, i would drop some bass and they would just giggle away. those were the good old days. fuck it brotha, drop bass till they shit their pants.

11

[quote]Split wrote:
i was thinkin 100w to the 4 speakers, and only using 2 8’s powered by the 760. Im trying not to spend any money and using what i got.[/quote]

in the stereo game, you get what you pay for. when you piece it together people can hear it. anything worth doing, is worth doing right.

12

The # 1 cause of speaker damage to mids and highs is over-driven under powered amps. Drivers don’t like square waves. I’ve exlpained this hundreds of times to guys that I would sell gear to. It’s about matching the amp to the speaker, more power is always better, cuz you can deliver a nice clean signal at max level. I’ve seen very few 100 watt speakers blow by 200 watt amps, but I’ve plenty of 100 watters blown by over-driven 50 watt amps.

13

[quote]mazilla wrote:
rsg wrote:
Each to his own but I don’t see the point of running 4 subs unless you’re thinking about competitions.

Music sounds shit when it’s not balanced and has too much bass/mid/treble. You got to decide exactly what you want it for and then follow that path accordingly.

my philosophy is add more. too much bass? add more treble and mids. go big or go home. my sytem was as clear as crystal, you just have to filter the bass from the highs and mids. thats getting into tuning, which is a creature all in it’s own.

the bass i had was phenomoinal, have you ever had your rear view mirror vibrate off? try looking at a light when the bass hits, my car would make your eyes vibrate. you could bounce a qurter on the trunk lid. the chicks loved to sit in the back seat, i would drop some bass and they would just giggle away. those were the good old days. fuck it brotha, drop bass till they shit their pants.[/quote]

I know where you’re coming from :). A friend of mine has 2 12" subs, each powered by a 3000w monoblock. Also crystal clear, but for everyday listening there is a limit in my opinion.

I have one Kenwood 12" 1200w, powered by a 1500w blaster amp, 2 Kenwood 6x9’s, 2 mids and 2 tweeters.

Even with such a moderate setup, it’s still enough to blur my mirrors, but even on high volumes it doesn’t bother anyone around me.

14

[quote]pbody03 wrote:
The # 1 cause of speaker damage to mids and highs is over-driven under powered amps. Drivers do like square waves. I’ve exlpained this hundreds of times to guys that I would sell gear to. It’s about matching the amp to the speaker, more power is always better, cuz you can deliver a nice clean signal at max level. I’ve seen very few 100 watt speakers blow by 200 watt amps, but I’ve plenty of 100 watters blown by over-driven 50 watt amps.[/quote]

just check the rms and ohms of both. the high quality companies tend to be spot on, while the low quality companies are full of shit. don’t mis-match ohms and rms and you will be fine.

15

[quote]mazilla wrote:
pbody03 wrote:
The # 1 cause of speaker damage to mids and highs is over-driven under powered amps. Drivers do like square waves. I’ve exlpained this hundreds of times to guys that I would sell gear to. It’s about matching the amp to the speaker, more power is always better, cuz you can deliver a nice clean signal at max level. I’ve seen very few 100 watt speakers blow by 200 watt amps, but I’ve plenty of 100 watters blown by over-driven 50 watt amps.

just check the rms and ohms of both. the high quality companies tend to be spot on, while the low quality companies are full of shit. don’t mis-match ohms and rms and you will be fine.[/quote]

Well those are two different measurements. Ohms being the resistance of the driver, RMS is the power delivery in Watts. The Impedance (resistance) of the driver determines the output current of the the amp, the lower the Impedance the more power the amp will deliver until it becomes unstable and blows an output driver or hopefully a fuse.

Most car speakers are 4 ohms and most car amps are designed to drive that load. This all come backs to matching the ouput of the amp with the power handling of the driver. This can and will change if more than one driver is driven per channel and whether they are hooked up in a series or parallel config. Again better to have more power than less.

If you want serious power get a top notch battery or two(with an isolator), alternator, use heavy guage cable and proper grounding. Have fun.

16

yea i forgot to mention i have a “top notch” single cell battery. Optima.

17

[quote]pbody03 wrote:
mazilla wrote:
pbody03 wrote:
Well those are two different measurements. Ohms being the resistance of the driver, RMS is the power delivery in Watts. [/quote]

exactly, if the ohms are compatible and the rms is not in excess, then he will have no problems(at least in that department).

18

[quote]Split wrote:
yea i forgot to mention i have a “top notch” single cell battery. Optima.[/quote]

Yeah Optima’s are top shelf.

19

[quote]mazilla wrote:
pbody03 wrote:
mazilla wrote:
pbody03 wrote:
Well those are two different measurements. Ohms being the resistance of the driver, RMS is the power delivery in Watts.

exactly, if the ohms are compatible and the rms is not in excess, then he will have no problems(at least in that department). [/quote]

Yup, pretty much. You sound like you have a good handle on things. I spent my Post Secondary in Electronics, so I can get a little carried away with Ohm’s Law and the like, haha.

When I worked in retail I’d do some “experimenting” with driver limits. This meant hooking up a low wattage woofer/sub to a high output amp, putting a drum track on pause, opening the voulme full and hiding behind something while hitting play on the remote. Good time, good times.

20

also my speakers are already installed, just need to wire the amps and such as well as install the subs, and this here is where the real difficulty lies.