Amp and speakers set up help!

[And_ROOS]

Back in the day i blew out an amp due to what i thought was an incorrect setting but which turned out to be a faulty amp. That said im still new to the whole speaker amp thing and someone on the forum said that when i have my speakers and amp to start a thread and people would suggest the best way to set it up.

So here goes.

The 2 speakers i have in the front are Alpine SPS600 80wrms 240 watts peak, the 2 in the rear are some rubbish Pioneer speakers which i think are rated around the 50-60wrms mark, although they aren't too important.

The amp is a Cadence Flash fxa4060
4 x 60 Watts @ 4 Ohm
4 x 100 Watts @ 2 Ohm
2 x 200 Watts @ 4 Ohm

Pic 1 is where all the speaker cables enter. Are Channel 1 and 2 fronts and 3 and 4 rears or are 1 and 2 left side and 3 and 4 right hand side?


Pic 2


Pic 3


Im running all these off a JVC headunit (4 x 50w i think, volume dial goes from 30 to 50 if you turn an inbuilt headunit "amp" on so i have.)
Running stinger RCAs from the headunit to the amp.

Can anyone help me with settings?

[2LOUD2OLD]

use channels 1+2 for front, 3+4 for rear, i will assume the speakers you have will have crossovers or some sort of capacitor to look after the high and low pass, so leave your amp on full range for both
leave your "bass eq" on both sides to flat and "amp mode" on 4 channel

now we need to set the gains
turn them both to minimum, disconect one set of speakers (easiest is just to disconnect the RCAs from the amp) and with music playing slowly turn the volume up on your headunit until you hear it distort. then turn it down a notch or 2. this is the max you should ever turn your headunit volume ever, after this the headunit is sending a clipped signal.
leave the volume at this level and slowly turn the gain on the connected speakers side up slowly again until you hear it distort, now lturn it back a notch.
disconnect these speakers and connect the other set
now repeat with the gains.
connect all your speakers and voila we are ready to rumble.
if you feel that one set is overpowering the other feel free to turn down the gains on those speakers, but do not turn up the gains on the quieter ones.

cheers

[HCVP]

Why does it say 4ohm, and 2ohm stereo, but 4 ohm mono when bridged?

[holdenboy]

Most amps are only stable at 4 ohm when bridged (this means each channel is running at 2 ohms anyway).
Running at 2 ohm bridged means each channel is seeing only 1 ohm.

Is that what you meant?

[HCVP]

I was going to suggest bridging the amp to this fronts, and having the rears powered of the H/U, because in 4 channel mode, he's under powering his fronts quite a bit, and he also said that his rears aren't of much importance....

[2LOUD2OLD]

somehow i dont think his fronts will enjoy 200W daily this is likely to do more damage than giving 20WRMS less than the power handling

[HCVP]

I don't see how it would do any damage if he sets his gains correctly. I'd say if anything his speakers would gain from it, and so would the amp...But i'm always one to over power everything.

[And_ROOS]

I dont have crossovers and capacitors, does that mean i should have it set to low pass?

[HCVP]

Where are your crossovers that came with your type S components? And no don't set it to low pass

[And_ROOS]

SPS600 are just the 2 speakers on their own, the SPS600c came with tweeters and crossovers. These are just the 2 speakers although unlike normal speakers these ones have a yellow cylinder thing on the back.

[Joe Bellissimo]

The same type of cylinder that you find on a coaxial speaker?

[VZ-Rob]

As I understand it the SPS600 is a 2way co-axial ?
you can disable the attached capacitor and then use these

MTX HTX-V2 Crossovers

[And_ROOS]

Well for the time being til next week im cross-over less, so while ill get them and tweeters next week i still need to finish the install today before i go on a long road trip. So do i leave it full range for these speakers as it is?

[HCVP]

[QUOTE=VZ-Rob;1452394]As I understand it the SPS600 is a 2way co-axial ?

I think i added a "c" at the end some how and came up with the Type S components when i searched.Searching again confirms they are the coaxial version.Must have been late for me lol.

In that case, my previous reccomendation for bridging the amp should be dissregarded.

OP, you have 2 options.Full pass, or High pass.Me personally i would go the high pass option, you will loose some of your low end response, but that shouldnt really be an issue.It depends on what you want,

Full range- speakers are being sent the entire sound frequecny spectrum.Meaning they will play more frequencies within their response.However, they will be limited to how loud they can play, because they are trying to reproduce low fq sounds (bass) which they are not designed for.

High Pass- Speakers will recieve the sound frequency spectrum above a certain frequency.It's up to you where you set the cut off.I'd start at around 60hz, and work my way up form there.Meaning that the speakers do not play any low fq sound, below the set point.Speakers can therefore play louder.

[VZ-Rob]

Say Roos
Response Tweeters
Ribbon tweeters with cross overs $45 / pair

just grabbed some they sound sweet

[2LOUD2OLD]

SPS600 are just the 2 speakers on their own, the SPS600c came with tweeters and crossovers. These are just the 2 speakers although unlike normal speakers these ones have a yellow cylinder thing on the back.

that yellow cylinder thing is a capacitor, so no problem there

[And_ROOS]

[QUOTE=HoldenCommodoreVP;1452567]

As I understand it the SPS600 is a 2way co-axial ?

I think i added a "c" at the end some how and came up with the Type S components when i searched.Searching again confirms they are the coaxial version.Must have been late for me lol.

In that case, my previous reccomendation for bridging the amp should be dissregarded.

OP, you have 2 options.Full pass, or High pass.Me personally i would go the high pass option, you will loose some of your low end response, but that shouldnt really be an issue.It depends on what you want,

Full range- speakers are being sent the entire sound frequecny spectrum.Meaning they will play more frequencies within their response.However, they will be limited to how loud they can play, because they are trying to reproduce low fq sounds (bass) which they are not designed for.

High Pass- Speakers will recieve the sound frequency spectrum above a certain frequency.It's up to you where you set the cut off.I'd start at around 60hz, and work my way up form there.Meaning that the speakers do not play any low fq sound, below the set point.Speakers can therefore play louder.

The ribbon tweeters are definitely an option and will get them before the sale ends. As for going high pass, i think ill do that but i remember hearing someone mention these speakers and 70hz so i might start from there. So once i get the tweeters the idea will be to go full range but for now high pass is the way.

By the way, i have a sub and amp already so bass isnt really a concern.

[HCVP]

Even if you use an external corossover, and a seperate tweeter, then full range dosen't bring any advantages.

If you have a sub, and you front your speakers on high pass, your still getting full range sound, because the frequencies that you cut out from your front/rear speakers, are being played by the sub.This is the way it is supposed to be. 6 inch coxials, split sytems whatever, are not designed to produce bass, (fq's under 100hz) they will do it, but you will limit their power handling capabilites, and they will begin to distort a lot earlier as a result.

You let you sub play bass, and your speakers to do the middbass, midrange, treble and high.What kind of sub/amp are you running.I'd be inclined to set the HPF on your 4 channel amp for your speakers to around 80-100hz, and have the sub's LPF set to around 80hz-100hz(depending in the type, size ect..)

But if your going to go to the trouble of disconecting the coaxial tweeters, and wiring up an external passive xover and a seperate tweeter,effectively creating a 2way split system, then again the idea of bridging the amp to run the fronts pop's back into my head.You lose a small amount of power with a passive setup, but considering the fact that you have a sub (didn't know this before) then running them at high pass @200rms per side, is no problem at all provided you set your gains right.Infact, i still think it's your best option.My 2 cents anyways.....

[And_ROOS]

Thanks a million you guys are great, especially for people like me who have limited knowledge in this field.
Ill try the 80hz-100hz for speakers and subs when i finish installing it all tomorrow. You have been a massive help.