Advice needed for Upgraded Sound System in a VT Senator.

[lil_oneblue]

Ok so im upgrading my stock sound.

HSV so from factory it comes with 2 x 8" subs in rear shelf. 6" splits in front and 6" speakers in rear doors. 10 stack CD. 2 factory amps.

At this stage i am going to keep using my deck until i have the coin to upgrade. I might never upgrade my deck. Not sure.

Im not after doof doof sound. But i do like it to be clear.

So far i have.

1st issue:
mounted 2 x Pioneer 8" shallow mount subs in rear shelf TS-SW841D. 500W max, 120W nom.
What sized amp do i need to run the subs? currently the factory amp is a 2 x 75W. the factory subs are connected inline. so one sub was connected to the amp. the next sub was connected to the other sub. Can i connect the two new subs the same way? or will the want to draw too much power? Because its a 2 way amp should i just connect them seperate? But will 75W be enough? Will it damage the amp? or subs? Or just not preform as good as it could. (will upgrade later if thats the case.)

2nd issue:
Im fitting
rear doors: Pioneer TS-A1683S 6.5" 4 way Speakers - 280w
front doors: Pioneer TS-A1702C 6.5" Component - 230w
The current amp that is running the old speakers that are in the front and rear doors is a 4x50W. Is this amp going to be powerful enough to power these 4 speakers(+2 tweeters)?

Im thinking that i will defently have to replace my amps. But. Is it 100% needed? what damaged will i do if i just run them for now until i save some more coin to get some bigger amps?

Cheers!
Jason

[lil_oneblue]

I am thinking of using a amp i already have. Its old but works. Its a Pioneer GM-X624. 4 x 50W. But its bridgabale to 2x120W. would 120W each be perfect for the subs? Only issue i have using this amp. is that it has two sets of RCA imputs. And i only can put the one input into it because my deck is all used up. Can i just get a "t" joiner and use the one RCD lead and T it into both inputs?

cheers
jason

[TMM]

120W per sub and 50W per door speaker will be fine . You'll only reach the limit of the amps if you're cranking it quite loud. Using T joiners is fine too.

[lil_oneblue]

Im also looking at now maybe going with this amp to run the subs.

PIONEER GM-3300T 2 CHANNEL AMPLIFIER 300W

Its a 2 channel and bridgable to 300W. or can just have as 2 x 120W. Am i better off having each of the two subs connected sepratly? so each having 120W. or am i better off conecting the subs inline? and having 300W bridged. which would give each sub 150W correct?

Cheers
Jason

[holdenboy]

Its not as easy as that unfortunately, when you connect the subs "inline" you basically halve the impedance, some amps are fine to run at lower impedances, some are not and may have problems.

Also, most amps are stable at 4 and 2 ohm in stereo (not bridged), but when you bridge the channels its only 4 ohm stable. Say those subs are 4 ohm each, wiring them, together and powering them off the bridged output of that amp will see a 2 ohm load in bridged load, which equals not good. If they are 8 ohm subs then it would equal 4 ohm and that would be fine.

I imagine they are 4 ohm each, so your only option with most 2 channel amplifiers is to run each sub off each channel. If you were to buy a small monoblock (250-350wrms @ 2 ohm is ideal) then you could connect the subs together and run them off the monoblock.


Hope this dosent confuse you further

[lil_oneblue]

yes mate you have confused me some but helped me heaps. the subs are 4ohm yes. So the best bet for me is to use a 2 channel amp? the one i have in there is only 2 x 75w. so the PIONEER GM-3300T 2 CHANNEL amp would give me better sound as its 2 x 120w. is that correct? if its not going to make much diferance there realy is no point me even changing my amp.

[holdenboy]

It wont make a huge amount of difference, you wanna atleast double the power going to them. Look around for "monoblock" amplifiers that produce ~300wrms at 2 ohm, that way you'll be doubling the power going to the subs and should hear a noticeable difference.
You also need to realise that Pioneer amp puts out a maximum of 120wrms per channel, it actually puts out 60wrms per channel at 4 ohm.

[lil_oneblue]

Ok no prob...

when you say i should get a 300wrms at 2 ohm. is that for a single channel mono amp? for what i have read it sound like i can run monoblocks inline? so power the two subs?

or do i need a 300w 2 ohm mono block thats a 2 channel?

cheers
jason

[holdenboy]

A monoblock is a one channel amplifier, designed to power subwoofers. Typically they make more power at lower impedances (like 1 or 2 ohm), so running 2 subwoofers off these amps is not uncommon.