Car AudioCar audio related questions and helpful hints for building the best sound system for your car or getting the most out of what you have.
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Hey guys.....need some help, want to be somewhat informed....got an 89 Iroc, have a JVC KD-G320 deck that came in the car I just bought....I put 2 yr old Pioneer 6x9s in the back that I had around the garage and I have a Pioneer TSW250R 10" sub that I want to mount in the back but I dont have an amp.....I dont know what to buy and dont know how to pick an amp....Im like 47 yrs old...so.....can you guys help me out??....I want good sound, I dont want to shake the nieghborhood.....it says the amp max power is 500w, min 120.....thanks alot Doug
also - according to the manual I downloaded the deck comes with a remote, it didnt come with one.....can you still get one? how old is that deck?
Amp purchasing is kinda tricky; everyone's got their likes and dislikes, but you will see a trend of good and bad. Money and warranty will play a lot into recommendations. Some people like to buy new parts with factory warranties, others (like myself) are fine with grabbing something used off ebay.
How much are you looking to spend? Do you need a warranty, or do you feel like living a bit more dangerously? Are you looking to just amp the sub or speakers as well?
You won't need much for the 6X9's, maybe 200-300 watts for all the speakers in your car. For the 10 inch sub you might want to get a one channel 300 watt amp. Really it all depends on what the max watt of the speakers and subs are. I have two Kicker CVR 15's in my camaro hooked up to a 2500 watt Kicker ZX2500 amp. It's LOUD, but seeing as you dont want much you will need about 500 watts max, but you can't run all the speakers off of your one amp so you will need two (one for speakers and one for subs)
You can still get a remote, just look for it on Ebay you'll find it somewhere just search around.
for the sub you can go with a jbl 300.1 harmanaudio on ebay is selling them refurb, they are going for sub 50 dollars, they also have infinity 4 channels, i just bought one for 63 dollars, and i saw one sell for 50
the JBL sub amps were quite popular when they came out and are definitely worth the money; refurbs for that price from the manufacturer are a steal.
amping the front speakers is a bit overkill seeing as they are only 4x6s and it doesn't take much to over power them. you can amp the 6x9s, but having louder noise behind you isn't quite what you're looking for (you don't go to a concert and turn your back to the stage, now do you?)
Coming from a "Hi Fi" history I am surprised at sound levels today.
Before 8 tracks, before cassettes, before multi channel, 10 CLEAN watts was plenty for a big room.
Last month I was told by a guy that he had to "burn in" the speakers in his car before they had the right sound. When I asked what he meant he had me listen to his speakers. I said they sounded pretty good. So he said now listen to my buddy's car. I listened and when he said "can you hear the difference?" I had to admit that yes his buddys speakers did sound a lot different. He asked me do you hear that low rumble his speakers have? When they were new they sounded like mine. After my buddy burned them in they got that sweet tone.
I didn't have the heart to tell him that what he was hearing from his buddys car was cracked speaker cones.
Personally I'm of the "less is more school"
Think about it. what's the wattage in a headset? Much more than a few watts and you are courting hearing damage. How many watts in a TV or radio? It's true that the car can have a lot of background noise. Engine, pipes etc. But how much background are you gong to have to overcome?
If it's a lot, then the music your trying to listen to is going to be degraded. You said you didn't want to shake the neighborhood. And I'm guessing that you won't be running straight pipes. The wattage level you already have 150-200 watts is more than enough. If I had any coin to spend I'd put it into good quality speakers. And remember when your amplifier starts getting north of 60 amperes current draw you have to think about wire sizes, alternator ratings and battery life. It's not unknown to open the hood of a car with added sound packages and see a 200 ampere or larger fuse for the sound system. This is on a car with a 60-100 ampere alternator. Where is all this extra power going to come from? So you see one or more extra batteries mounted in the trunk because the amplifier uses so much power that the stock alternator cannot keep up. The alternator and battery for a car are sized for a certain electrical load. With a little extra capacity built in. I know of some shops that will not warranty the alternator or battery more than once if a sound system has a large current draw.
Generally speaking #6 copper cable a common battery lead size, is good for 60 amperes. #2 copper cable is rated for 100 amperes. So think about it for a minute a #2 copper wire with a 200 ampere fuse is simply unsafe.
The primary purpose of that fuse or circuit breaker in a car or your house is to protect the wire. In other words to open and cut off the current flow if the ampere rating of the wire is exceeded. To prevent the wire from catching on fire. If your unsure about current draw ask any electrician or look up the national electrical code online.
It's your call but, all n all I'll take a guess that the wattage you have now is more than enough.
Last edited by DSTA; 10-30-2009 at 04:59 PM.
Reason: addtn
About the remote I just had to order one for a customer last week, I ended up getting it for jvcsercice.com?(I think that's right) type in the model # of the unit in the search box and it should bring up the available parts. I don't sell jvc at the shop so I had to track one down and none of my distributors stock the remotes so I ended up there. I think the remote was $16.33. About the amp, what impedance is the sub you have? Let me know and I can help a little more with choosing an amplifier, or at least a general type of amp to look for. You can always put a decent 4-channel; front channels on 6x9's and rear channels bridged on the sub (depending on impedance). Most 4 channels have the option(a switch) of a low pass filter on the rear channels, if not all 4.
Coming from a "Hi Fi" history I am surprised at sound levels today.
Before 8 tracks, before cassettes, before multi channel, 10 CLEAN watts was plenty for a big room.
Last month I was told by a guy that he had to "burn in" the speakers in his car before they had the right sound. When I asked what he meant he had me listen to his speakers. I said they sounded pretty good. So he said now listen to my buddy's car. I listened and when he said "can you hear the difference?" I had to admit that yes his buddys speakers did sound a lot different. He asked me do you hear that low rumble his speakers have? When they were new they sounded like mine. After my buddy burned them in they got that sweet tone.
I didn't have the heart to tell him that what he was hearing from his buddys car was cracked speaker cones.
Personally I'm of the "less is more school"
It's your call but, all n all I'll take a guess that the wattage you have now is more than enough.
first....thanks for all the replies
I hear what your saying but I know some audiophile (home stereo) type guys and some of them have some systems with some pretty serious power, when I ask them about it they say they never listen to it up full, they listen to it at about 3 or 4 out of 10 (its still plenty loud!).....they say they want to run the components at the lower end of their performance scale where theirs the least distortion.
About the remote I just had to order one for a customer last week, I ended up getting it for jvcsercice.com?(I think that's right) type in the model # of the unit in the search box and it should bring up the available parts. I don't sell jvc at the shop so I had to track one down and none of my distributors stock the remotes so I ended up there. I think the remote was $16.33. About the amp, what impedance is the sub you have? Let me know and I can help a little more with choosing an amplifier, or at least a general type of amp to look for. You can always put a decent 4-channel; front channels on 6x9's and rear channels bridged on the sub (depending on impedance). Most 4 channels have the option(a switch) of a low pass filter on the rear channels, if not all 4.
The "Nominal impedence" is 4 ohms and apparently has a single voice coil.
Off site another member who has won a car audio compititon or two with his third gen has offered to sell me his old Soundstream Granite 180.6 six channel amp with a built in crossover for $200....he said to run one channel per speaker.....how does that set up sound?....I remember at one time a local car audio shop had Soundstream as their top of the line brand.....I'll install the sub like the pic below and Im going to see if I can come up with some Ford window triangle tweeters too which I'll install..... but I'll get the system wired up professionally.
The "Nominal impedence" is 4 ohms and apparently has a single voice coil.
Off site another member who has won a car audio compititon or two with his third gen has offered to sell me his old Soundstream Granite 180.6 six channel amp with a built in crossover for $200....he said to run one channel per speaker.....how does that set up sound?....I remember at one time a local car audio shop had Soundstream as their top of the line brand.....I'll install the sub like the pic below but I'll get the system professionally wired.
SS Granite 180.6 is a FANTASTIC old school amp. I'd love to get my hands on one for my DD. Very underated power wise and reliable.
It makes sense to have one speaker per channel. Each speaker would get power at 4 ohm. Also the crossover capabilites of the the amp will work well if you give each speaker a channel. I assume later on you will want to replace the factory speakers.
You could also use 2 channels to run the sub. Just wire them in bridged mode. Also, using just one channel for the sub will work as well.
For $200 CDN the Granite is a good deal. You could buy amp cheaper here but by the time you ship it north and pay the duty and taxes the Granite makes sense.
Breakdown...
Channel 1 - Front left speaker
Channel 2 - Front right speaker
Channel 3 - Rear left speaker
Channel 4 - Rear right speaker
Channel 5 - Sub
Channel 6 - Sub (in bridged)
Hi pass or full range channel 1,2 and 3,4 and low pass channel 5,6
The "Nominal impedence" is 4 ohms and apparently has a single voice coil.
Off site another member who has won a car audio compititon or two with his third gen has offered to sell me his old Soundstream Granite 180.6 six channel amp with a built in crossover for $200....he said to run one channel per speaker.....how does that set up sound?....I remember at one time a local car audio shop had Soundstream as their top of the line brand.....I'll install the sub like the pic below and Im going to see if I can come up with some Ford window triangle tweeters too which I'll install..... but I'll get the system wired up professionally.
I used to have a SS Granite 180.6 in my 87 IROC. GREAT amp...I regret selling it.
It used to power JBL 4x6's in the front, JBL 2 way 6x9's in the rear and a 10" pioneer sub. Sounded wonderful and lots of power.
If you get a chance to buy one of these amps.....go for it!! AND..if you ever get bored, someone will always appreciate this amp.
