QuestionI need help designing a component car stereo system. Main question is the amp # of channels, power rating/chan and how that relates to the mids and tweeters. I'm not looking for a huge system, just something economical that will produce a full bass and full sound at moderate volume levels. The vehicle is a Suburban-- 2 in dash (4x6), 2 side door (6.5), back seat, 2 in rear cargo area (4x10).
My thought is to put mid ranges in the front dash and rear/side doors, then put tweeters in the driver and passenger doors, and tweeters in the rear doors. Not sure where to put the sub(s), and how to choose the amp-- # channels, power rating, etc. Any help would be appreciated
Answergreat! you've got a lot of work ahead of you! here's some basic tips to get started
1st thing to do is change the cd player if you havent already. if you're going to put good components in the car, especially 3 ways, you'll need an amp to run them, the amp in the cd players are poor and you'll need the RCA jacks that only come with aftermarket units.
2nd thing Id say is stay away from oval speakers. if your car has 4x6 speakers up front, get a plate that allows 4" speakers instead. If you buy your speakers at crutchfield, they'll give you the plates for free.
3rd thing is that if all there is is 4x10s in the rear, again either put 4" on plates, or just skip them all together. you want to concentrate the majority of your sound up front to get a good sound stage and good stereo imaging.
3 way speaker are generally MUCH more expensive than 2 way so based on what you're telling me, you might want to just put 2 sets of 6.5" components with tweeters all around, just disconnect those 4/10s and the 4x6 up in the dash. if you start with a good set of 6.5"s and you are unhappy with the imaging and midrange responce, you can always add some good 4" mids, some small amps and crossover to do 3 way active components up front and use the speakers you already have.
This alows you to get much better sound now and if you want to do even more later, none of the parts are wasted, you just add on top.
I highly recomend these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ryMbGJT50Ke/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?wm=fp&I=107DB6500&...
as for the amplifier to run them, I've had great success with power acoustik Gothic series amps. this brand gets alot of flak from people cuz they're very inexpensive but 99% of people that actually own them, love them including myself. I have a jetta with 2 of their 4 channel amps runing component speakers and they sound GREAT!
this amp is a 4 channel amp so each channel would have its own speaker on it which is always ideal:
http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWOV4800
the power rating is a little lower than these polks can take at 85w per channel, although you did say moderate levels not too high.
this amp would push them to their limit:
http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWOV2820
but its a 2 channel amp so you'd need 2 (one for front and 1 for rear)
Personally I like to provide component speakers with WAY more power than they are recomended for and NEVER run the amps at their lowest rated ohms. this provides extra headroom for more dynamic sound. it also helps your amps run nice and cool.
its all up to you and the space you have and your budget.
as for the sub, that needs its own amp. again its all a matter of prefrence and size etc. you seem like you're more into quality of sound than just sheer quantity so a sub designed for SQ (sound quality) seems more for you.
I've been recomending the image dynamics IDQ 12 subs alot lately. the sound great in very small boxes and dont need a ton of power either. they're 200 bucks per sub though, but you may only need 1.
check them out here:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2...
let me know what you think and get back to me. give as much detail as you can, if you want to provide me a budget, I can put a design plan together for you.
