Questions For Audio Setup!

[mattchew13]

Dear JC, <3

I need to call upon its members great skill and knowledge to help me through my difficult time of need

I currently have a stock vx equipe, and am wanting to upgrade the sound system.

I currently have two Pioneer's TS-W302R subwoofers (12 inch, 50-150 watts RMS (800 watts peak power) and two of the custom molded fiber glass boxes for them to go in. I also would like to run 6x9's in the rear parcel shelf. I am not wanting to run wire and amp galore, if possible would it possible to have a amp to power both sub's and the pioneer 6x9's. the 6x9's are 300w.

I would also like to upgrade the front speakers and put in a new headunit. the front speakers are Pioneer 6" 220w. I have not decided what headunit to put in, but i would like to spend a maximum off $200 on it to make this whole system work (pioneer if possible ).

Also is it worth me upgrading the back door speakers or just disconnecting them?

Regards,
All help is muchly appreciated!

[StoneX]

Don't have time to reply properly, but no 6x9's and subs. Stick to 6" for rears or nothing.

[sweefu]

Hey mate,
i'm not the best with model numbers but i'll give you a start off bit of advice.
As stonex said, no 6x9 with subs as it sounds crappy, 6/6.5inch or nothing will sound much better. so you would be better to upgrade the rear door speakers.

If you only want one amp, but want to give your subs around 300wrms together, then i would suggest going with a 5 channel amp.. not sure if the others will agree with this but i think it would work well in your situation.
Precision Response 5 Channel Full Range Car Amplifier - Jaycar Electronics
This amp will power your subs well, and also give your front and rear speakers good power. OR alternatively, you could spend all your speaker budget on the front speakers, get a decent pair of splits and feed them the full 180wrms or close to it, which would sound a million times better than anything else..

Goodluck with it mate.

[mattchew13]

some more advice would be awesome!

[spxdsn]

Spend as much money as possible on good component speakers for the front. Forget about rear speakers for the moment, and dont bother with 6x9's.

What gear have you already got? Obviously the 2xPioneer subs, what amp is currently running them or do you need to buy that? are you talking $200 for head unit and front speakers? or are the 6" Pioneers the "upgrade"?

With a limited budget and wanting to limit the amount of gear to be installed, optimally you'd want; HU, components in the front, sub, then a 4 channel amp running both the front speaker and sub. You could also have; HU, components, 2/4channel running fronts and a mono for your sub/subs.

We really need to know what youve already got, what you need to buy, and a total budget to work with.

[mattchew13]

Spend as much money as possible on good component speakers for the front. Forget about rear speakers for the moment, and dont bother with 6x9's.

What gear have you already got? Obviously the 2xPioneer subs, what amp is currently running them or do you need to buy that? are you talking $200 for head unit and front speakers? or are the 6" Pioneers the "upgrade"?

With a limited budget and wanting to limit the amount of gear to be installed, optimally you'd want; HU, components in the front, sub, then a 4 channel amp running both the front speaker and sub. You could also have; HU, components, 2/4channel running fronts and a mono for your sub/subs.

We really need to know what youve already got, what you need to buy, and a total budget to work with.

The Only Gear i have got so far, are the 2xPioneer Subs and the boxes, thats it! no amp is running them i havnt bought anything yet. im talking $200 just for the headunit, my whole setup is stock still, ive got about a $1000 to play with, for headunit, front speakers, amp to run it all and rear speakers

[spxdsn]

With the limited budget i probably would forget the idea of rear speakers and dedicate as much $$$ as possible to the fronts.

Something like this;
Ryda Car Audio - JL Audio TR650CSI 6" Component Speakers ($295.00)
Cadence - XA400.1 1 CHANNEL HIGH POWER AMPLIFIER | Car Sound, Car Amps : JB HI-FI
Cadence - XA125.2 2 CHANNEL HIGH POWER STEREO AMPLIFIER | Car Sound, Car Amps : JB HI-FI

Would be a start, leaving just under $400 for head unit and wiring.
(Only linked JB because they have 30% atm).

You said you wanted to limit wiring so alternatively you could spend a little more on a 5 channel amp as sweefu said, bridge for the fronts and have enough power for the 2 subs.

[mattchew13]

Today, i purchased a set of pioneer TS-A1702C component speakers for $170 from $288 at jb hifi, I'm also for now just planning to run one of the 12" subwoofers if that make things simpler, So thats Subwoofer and front speakers off the list, what im left with is rear speakers headunit and amp. Headunit is easy i will pick one i like and rear speakers ill just get some 6" 2 or 3 way pioneer speakers again easy. The big question is, what amp do i get to run all this? Because i have the better speakers upfront, do they need to be run off a amp aswell? or just the sub? All in all im looking for a amp to get the best out of my speakers and subwoofer without them being underpowered and the amp not costing to much $$$!

[GenReaper]

I bought an Alpine PDX-5 off ebay for $500 bucks, works a treat, its what i would suggest.

[spxdsn]

Simplifies things a little.. run your rears off of the new head unit. Get a decent 4 channel amp, run your fronts off 2 and bridge the other 2 for your sub. Something like this is perfect Pioneer - GM6400F 4-Channel Bridgeable Amplifier | Car Sound, Car Amps : JB HI-FI

[boby]

I don't think you'll get the most out of the two woofers with the GM6400f amp, if you run the woofers in series the total impedance will be 8 ohms when you bridge the amp the amp will see 4 ohms. The amp will give 150watts which is 75watts each woofer. And if you run the woofers parallel the total impedance is 2ohms and bridging the channels the amp will see 1ohm and the amp isn’t stable at one ohm so won’t work very well.
Id go for something like this:

Ryda Car Audio -Soundstream LW4.620 Lil Wonder - 4 Ch Amp($428.85)

it’ll still leave you with about ~390 for head unit and rear coaxial. Two channels bridged will give you 310watts to your woofers so about 150watts each woofer which is ideal. and you still have the other two channels 80watts x 2 for your front splits.
pioneers higher output 4ch get expensive.

[spxdsn]

It only needs to run 1 woofer, no longer 2.