One amp or Two for new install

[Wojzilla]

Right, decided to beef up the audio a bit in the trusty steed
Getting an Alpine X100

MB Quarts for the front, the invoice states FSS216 but the closest i can find are the FSA216, not sure if it's the same.

Kicker 07VC123 Sub 150w rms and a
Kicker 08ZX350.4 POWER AMP

What I plan to do is drive the front splits and sub from the amp keeping the stock rear VZ speakers for fill as I never have passengers in the back.
Being lazy i'm having it all installed.. the sub and amp install is costing me $200. What I want to know is am I shooting myself in the foot by not getting a seperate amp for the sub and having that installed as well, and plugging the stock rears into the Kicker 08ZX350 amp.

I just don't want to have to fork out another $200 for more installs in 6 months when I decide to upgrade the rear speakers, i suspect since he has the car apart running another amp now won't be more than $50 plus the cost of cables/amp.

[Luke0011]

THe alpine x100 is an ipod unit and tuner without a cd player. Im assuming you already knew that. ANd your not shooting yourself in the foot by not adding a second amp just for the sub. A lot of people get a 4ch and upgrade to a mono later on, finances permitting. But if you have the cash now then get the mono and use the 4ch for your mb's and your stocky rears. you can add rear 6x9's later or 6 inches. the stock speakers will actually take away the sound quality from your nice mb quarts, so you can fade the stereo to the front and see if you notice a difference. Try and get the same mb quartz for the back or the equivalent co axial version to maximise your sound quality.

[Wojzilla]

So you think the sound difference will be noticable with the stocks in the back?
I guess it's gonna cost me another $400 to get a 2nd set of MBs in the back and another 2 Channel Kicker amp for the sub.

The budget has been stretched a bit from the $1200 i was keen to spend to $1800ish while I can find another $400 I really don't want to spend it :my: nor am i looking forward getting it past the minister of war and finance (the missus)

I assumed the fronts would overpower the rears and I won't notice them... I might just pre-empt this upgrade and get him to run a 2nd set of cables just in case.

[Luke0011]

yes get him to run the extra rca wires and use 4 gauage power cable. saying the front will overpower the rears is not the correct way to say it. The front speakers are better sounding than the rear stock speakers. So the two pairs of speakers have different acoustic parameters. This will cause the sound to quality to be acoustically out of phase. The rears speakers will reduce the sound quality or take away the sound quality of the front speakers. When its hooked up listen to it with the fronts and rears playing and then play the same song but fade it so only the fronts are playing. YOu will notice a big difference to the sound. But get hm to run the extra cable, and upgrade later.

[2LOUD2OLD]

if going for a seperate amp for your sub, dont get a 2 channel, get a mono instead as they are better suited to driving subs

who is doing the install?

[Wojzilla]

Ok getting the extra wiring run for a 2nd amp
I did consider a monoblock instead but its an extra $100 premium over a 2 channel
I can get a 2 channel, pair of JL Audio speakers in the rear for about $300 + install, the only MBs i can get my hands on are the same as the splits in the front, not sure if I should keep the fronts and rears the same or mix and match.

The install is being done by JB in West Lakes, a mate works there and he says the guy is decent.

I must say car audio is a new kettle of fish compared to home audio...

[holdenboy]

I must say car audio is a new kettle of fish compared to home audio...

Haha, yeah its VERY different.

You have two options for your rear speakers:

1. Go with what Luke0011 said, buy a pair of MB Quart or similar (JL would do the job) and maximise your SQ. This is the most ideal way to go, but as always is the most expensive.

2. Leave the rears as stock, and fade the h/u mostly to the front, just slowly fade it untill you cant hear the rears at a moderate volume. This way rear seat passengers still have something to listen to but dosent interfere with the front stage.

[Wojzilla]

Haha, yeah its VERY different.

You have two options for your rear speakers:

1. Go with what Luke0011 said, buy a pair of MB Quart or similar (JL would do the job) and maximise your SQ. This is the most ideal way to go, but as always is the most expensive.

2. Leave the rears as stock, and fade the h/u mostly to the front, just slowly fade it untill you cant hear the rears at a moderate volume. This way rear seat passengers still have something to listen to but dosent interfere with the front stage.

The only rear passanger is our Labrador and not all that often as we usually take him in the wagon

Thanks for all the suggestions, gonna run an extra set of cables for a 2nd amp just in case, but i'll stick to the setup I have, will mess around with fading front/rear, if I still don't like it then i'll get another pair of MBs and amp.

The only other thing I was thinking of is ditching the sub completely and just getting something decent in the rear shelf.
It's basically for listening to tunes driving to and from work, i don't go 'cruising' or ever plan to

[2LOUD2OLD]

you'll appreciate a sub so much more than rear speakers, so forget that

for the wires, have you purchased any wiring yet? if not just run one run of 0awg from the battery to the boot then you can use a distro block to split the power into whatever you need for your amps. that way you wont need to worry about power again.