I'm new to the whole audio/stereo stuff and i'm not sure exactly how everything works. I have a few newbie questions, and hopefull i can get some answers.
If you change your speakers, do you need an amp for them or not?
If you have for example a 1000 watt amp, what kind of subs can it power? Like how many and what power?
I'm sure I have more questions but for now this is what I can think of. Thanks in advance.
Questions about amps, subs and speakers.
okay here goes:
for your speaker ?: If you replace the four speakers, I would sugest getting a small 4 channel amp. I have four 125 watt speakers (doors rear hatch) and they are hooked up to my stoick head unit which is 70 watts per channel. It works fine, but I have to turn it way up to hear them over my 1400 watt sub, causing the stereo to get pretty hot. so if you can get a small 4 channel it will definately take some strain off your head unit
As far as Subs and amp goes. Not too many amps actually produce what they actually say. The higher the quality of amp you buy the better sound clarity you will get. If you want only one sub(which I recommend) you can either get a single channel amp or a bridgeable 2 channel. For example: I have one 12" sub, and my amp is a bridgeable 2 channel, which means that the way it is hooked up all 1400 watts of my amp are going to the one speaker, instead of 700 to 2 of them.
Also if you plan on putting more than 500 watts in your car, I would highly reccomend getting a capacitor, unless you want all your lights dimming when the bass hits. A capacitor is kinda like a battery that has stored energy. When your amp wants to suck more power than the car can handle (ie bass hittin hard) the amp takes the power from the cap. instead of your alternator and battery.
I'm sure more people have more to add and a few corrections to what I posted, but another good resource for beginners is: http://www.carstereo.com
Good luck and feel free to PM me with any specific ?'s
for your speaker ?: If you replace the four speakers, I would sugest getting a small 4 channel amp. I have four 125 watt speakers (doors rear hatch) and they are hooked up to my stoick head unit which is 70 watts per channel. It works fine, but I have to turn it way up to hear them over my 1400 watt sub, causing the stereo to get pretty hot. so if you can get a small 4 channel it will definately take some strain off your head unit
As far as Subs and amp goes. Not too many amps actually produce what they actually say. The higher the quality of amp you buy the better sound clarity you will get. If you want only one sub(which I recommend) you can either get a single channel amp or a bridgeable 2 channel. For example: I have one 12" sub, and my amp is a bridgeable 2 channel, which means that the way it is hooked up all 1400 watts of my amp are going to the one speaker, instead of 700 to 2 of them.
Also if you plan on putting more than 500 watts in your car, I would highly reccomend getting a capacitor, unless you want all your lights dimming when the bass hits. A capacitor is kinda like a battery that has stored energy. When your amp wants to suck more power than the car can handle (ie bass hittin hard) the amp takes the power from the cap. instead of your alternator and battery.
I'm sure more people have more to add and a few corrections to what I posted, but another good resource for beginners is: http://www.carstereo.com
Good luck and feel free to PM me with any specific ?'s
93SE-KLDE Theres a big peice of metal inside my other peice of metal now...weird???
http://www.bcae1.com
this site is very helpful, force yourself to read it several times.
as far as what 93sohc said, i think on most amps, you can turn down the power on the amp itself (at least on mine you can), so you may not have to get a 4-channel amp afterall... usually you can take a screwdriver and turn down the power on the amp (to the sub(s)) if you worry about your subs drowning out your 4 full-range speakers... but then again, most head units, regardless of what they claim to put out (ie 70 watts max power per channel), won't put out much more than 25 watts RMS (RMS is the way to measure the loudness of CONTINUOUS sound)
the answer for the first question---no, you dont NEED an amp for them, but it might be helpful so that you can get out of them their full potential... if you have really nice speakers that can handle a lot of power, its probably a good assumption that any head unit you'll buy will be "holding them back", meaning that it won't put out enough juice to the speakers to allow them to be as loud as they could be
for the 1000w amp question:
Max Watt Power is all crap... it's a way to confuse and deceive the buyer... always look for "RMS watts", "Nominal watts", or "Continuous watts"... that's what you really want to know about... oh, and yes, you will have to look for it on the box, because whatever big wattage number is plastered all over the thing in big lettering, that's the max wattage... so let's just say this... you have an amp that's 2-channel 500RMS watts @ 4 ohms(ohms is basically resistance, so the more ohms, the greater resistance to sound output)... i would then just look for 2 subs... they should be able to put out 250 RMS watts @ 4 ohms each.... that way, the 500 RMS watts available from the amp is evenly distributed between to subs which can each handle 250 RMS watts...
p.s. USUALLY, and i stress the word 'usually', max power wattage can be divided by 2 to get the RMS wattage... for example if an amp has 1000w max power, it's rms is probably somewhere around 500w RMS
p.p.s. but anyway, like i said, read that website thoroughly, and you'll know more about car stereo than you'd ever want to know, and it'll be of great value to you in the future, especially in determining what you want to purchase... do that, and keep on asking questions, cuz that's the best way to do it-pick people's brains who've been through it all already (you'll know what i mean when you're ready to take on the task of installing all of your equipment, cuz at that point, i'm sure another thousand questions will arise because of uncertainty and intimidation)
hope some of this helps
this site is very helpful, force yourself to read it several times.
as far as what 93sohc said, i think on most amps, you can turn down the power on the amp itself (at least on mine you can), so you may not have to get a 4-channel amp afterall... usually you can take a screwdriver and turn down the power on the amp (to the sub(s)) if you worry about your subs drowning out your 4 full-range speakers... but then again, most head units, regardless of what they claim to put out (ie 70 watts max power per channel), won't put out much more than 25 watts RMS (RMS is the way to measure the loudness of CONTINUOUS sound)
the answer for the first question---no, you dont NEED an amp for them, but it might be helpful so that you can get out of them their full potential... if you have really nice speakers that can handle a lot of power, its probably a good assumption that any head unit you'll buy will be "holding them back", meaning that it won't put out enough juice to the speakers to allow them to be as loud as they could be
for the 1000w amp question:
Max Watt Power is all crap... it's a way to confuse and deceive the buyer... always look for "RMS watts", "Nominal watts", or "Continuous watts"... that's what you really want to know about... oh, and yes, you will have to look for it on the box, because whatever big wattage number is plastered all over the thing in big lettering, that's the max wattage... so let's just say this... you have an amp that's 2-channel 500RMS watts @ 4 ohms(ohms is basically resistance, so the more ohms, the greater resistance to sound output)... i would then just look for 2 subs... they should be able to put out 250 RMS watts @ 4 ohms each.... that way, the 500 RMS watts available from the amp is evenly distributed between to subs which can each handle 250 RMS watts...
p.s. USUALLY, and i stress the word 'usually', max power wattage can be divided by 2 to get the RMS wattage... for example if an amp has 1000w max power, it's rms is probably somewhere around 500w RMS
p.p.s. but anyway, like i said, read that website thoroughly, and you'll know more about car stereo than you'd ever want to know, and it'll be of great value to you in the future, especially in determining what you want to purchase... do that, and keep on asking questions, cuz that's the best way to do it-pick people's brains who've been through it all already (you'll know what i mean when you're ready to take on the task of installing all of your equipment, cuz at that point, i'm sure another thousand questions will arise because of uncertainty and intimidation)
hope some of this helps
1992 GS/RS Mutant Automatic
Mark is right about the max watt thing on the amps, I believe I commented on that. I currently have my gain turned way down on my subs so I can hear my regular speakers, I have to turn it(the headunit) up quite loud to get it to the level of listening I want. I have noticed that when I have my h/u up this loud that it gets quite hot, which is why I sugested a small 4 channel for your mids. I will be adding my 4 channel when I upgrade my pioneers to infiniti's.; ps, mark...thats a great website, never seen it before, thnx
93SE-KLDE Theres a big peice of metal inside my other peice of metal now...weird???
Spano: well then, in cases like 93sohc, IT IS a good idea to pick up a small 4 channel amp, because in order to hear the mid-range music, he feels that too much of a workload is being required from the head unit... but my suggestion is this---first experiment, and see if you fall into the same category as 93sohc, because if you don't (some people like to be deafened by their bass), then there's no need buying an extra piece of equipment. however, if you do feel you mids need a lot of juice and you want to protect your head unit, then go the route the 93sohc did93SOHC wrote:Mark is right about the max watt thing on the amps, I believe I commented on that. I currently have my gain turned way down on my subs so I can hear my regular speakers, I have to turn it(the headunit) up quite loud to get it to the level of listening I want. I have noticed that when I have my h/u up this loud that it gets quite hot, which is why I sugested a small 4 channel for your mids. I will be adding my 4 channel when I upgrade my pioneers to infiniti's.; ps, mark...thats a great website, never seen it before, thnx
93sohc: aw man, that site is nuts... that guy must have put hundreds of hours into that huge write-up... and not only that, but the guy actually reads and replies to emails--all in a timely fashion (at least in my experiences)!! but to be honest, i dont really know what's in it for him... i mean, i guess the sponsorship feeds him a little kickback for all his hard work??? but, i've kinda browsed around that site looking for advertisement and i never noticed any, so it's almost like he's doin it for free
anyway, a great resource 
1992 GS/RS Mutant Automatic
