Reposting for a prev post... ----------------------------------
When it comes to car audio knowledge I give myself a 2 out of 10. So please bear with me.
My components:
JVC Arsenal KD-AR560 CD/MP3 Receiver Infinity Kappa 693.1i 3-Way Speakers (2- 6x9) (100W rms, 300W peak) Infinity Kappa 52.1i 2-Way Speakers (2- 5 1/4) (RMS 50 Peak 160) Kickpanel Some Random Tweeters from Ebay(2 Top Front)(RMS 100 Peak 200) Infinity 12" 1230w Subwoofer (1) (RMS 300 Peak 1200)
--------------------------------------------- Isaac helped me out with many of my questions, which I am much obliged. However I still have a few questions. I am looking for BALANCED SOUND. I am going to go with the Audiobahn A8000T amp for my sub due to the reviews, price and reccomendations. Are brand name tweeters really reccomended? Also, I need reccomendations for an amp to hook up the rest of my speakers to. From what I have learned, I should hook up the rear 6x9's to one channel ; fronts and tweets on another. So if the rms of my front and tweets are 155 and my 6x9's are 100, I generally want and amp that puts out about 150 watts rms, right? I need one with adjustable crossover, or is an external crossover reccomended? Being that I will be running 2 amps, is a capacitor reccomended? Many thanx. -Rich
Ok rich sounds like you are all over the place with this one. That amp will work well if you sub is dual 2ohm or single 4ohm. if it is dual 4ohm that amp will destroy that sub. So more info on your sub is needed for recomendations on how to hook it up (series/parellel) also next for your speakers. what I would do is get a 75x4 amp and run that one chanell to each speaker. Look for something with an internal x-over if you dont have one built into your deck already. If you boguht those tweeters cheap off of ebay chances are they deffinetly can't handle 100watts.. That is a insane amount of power for a set of tweet's. No you shouldnt need a cap you arnt really running that much power. you should be running 400 watts off of your audiobahn which is overrated anyways(more like 200) and 75x4 is another 300 so you will be fine with your stock alternator and no cap. unless your car for some reason has a 70 amp alt. the other option you have is to run your rear speakers off of your headunit with some bass blockers and get a 75x2 or a 50x2 nice amp to run your fronts. Or even again one more option is to take out your rear speakers and just run your fronts. This is the way you will get the best sound imaging unless you have a theater set-up in your car then the rear speakers come in handy.
Audiobahn A8000T is not a bad amp. In fact for $130, it'll give you the most bang for the money. What do you mean by "I should hook up the rear 6x9's to one channel ; fronts and tweets on another"? Are you trying to combine front and rear together with one channel? That is not a good idea. You'll not only lose the ability to fade, but you won't get the best sound quality. If you want to power all your speakers, then try 4 channel amp or 2 2 channel amp. For tweeters, stay away from those $3 specials. They will not give you any quality. Instead look for some brand names. If you love lot of highs, then buy "hard" dome or bullet tweeters. Most current amps now come with crossover built in. No need to get an external one. If you are going to go with a 4 channel amp (125w - 150w rms), look at Xtant. Their amp has built in "balanced" option using regular rca cable. What this does is virtually eliminate "ground loop" noise. Very handy indeed. 2 2 channel amps might be cheaper and easier to purchase, since there are so many out there. A capacitor may help in certain situations. If the type of music you listen to does not contain long bass notes, then having one will give you smooth tight bass. It's only helpful as long as the amp's power requirements doesn't exceed what's stored in the capacitor. Or else, it'll put more strain on your alternator.
"Are you trying to combine front and rear together with one channel? That is not a good idea."
I was actually hooking up my tweeters and my 5 1/4 speakers to one channel, then my 6x9's to another. In light of that, would a "Kenwood KAC-7202" get the job done for those speakers? Or do you have a personal reccomendation?
Xtant A2002 is the 2 channel version and works very well. The one I got was A4004 (4 channels). They both have same functions. Xtant also makes the higher end of 4 channel amp, x604. If you have the money, invest on one. It's even better than what I got with more power. When it comes to powering mids and highs, you DO need a high quality amp. If not, you'll get ear pearcing/annoying music. If you're going to buy Kenwood KAC-7202, you might as well buy Audiobahn's amp. It's cheaper and IMO, get more bang for the buck.
Kenwood KFC-T205ie isn't a bad tweeter. You might want to look for one that's a little higher in sensitivity. It's only 91db, 92db-95db is good. My tweeter is 101db and it is VERY loud.
It's a no name "hard" dome tweeter. I bought it based on spec, sensitivity, magnet size, frequency response from a car audio shop. Sometimes you can find better product than RF/Kicker sells for 2x the cost. To balance out my strong tweeters, I bought 4" mid range and installed it on my dashboard. Now the sound blends well. In some cars, the bass over powers or kills/distorts the highs, not in my setup. It sounds as clear at low volume as at high.