Jeremy

I have decided to go with the following sound system. 4x6 Panasonics in the front, 4x6 Infinity Kappas in the rear seat, and 6x9 Infinity Kappas in external boxes in the hatch. I have a 35w head unit. I would like to amplify the rear speakers with a 100w amplifier. I am trying to decide whether both the 6x9s and the rear 4x6s (with a bass blocker, even though they have a peak power of 180 watts) should be amplified or just the 6x9s. I appreciate your thoughts because pre-planning will result in only having to screw around once with the rear seat speaker panels.

Also, from a sound perspective is it good to amplify the sound through the 6x9s alone or in both the rear and hatch speakers?

Thanks -

Jeremy
1983 Guards Red

daly944

I have a face that has 4x60 watts max, and it powers my 4 4x6 blaupunkt speaks that have a clear blue plastic cone. Man are they loud!!! My face has 4x27 watts rms, which is really high. You should check the senstivity of your speakers. THe higher it is, the less power the speakers need to be loud. I have 91db, which is a lot. Is th 100watt amp rms or max? I am running a 280watt rms amp in the back to my 300watt rms 10 inch sub. What kind of amp is it? FInally, how many watts rms, and max can your speaks handle? You may want to hear some of the speaks hooked up to the face you have, because if you hook up that amp it could be really really really loud

MAS

Don't worry, it's almost always distortion/clipping from an underpowered amp that damages speakers.

-MAS

slevy951

I concur. You'll probably hurt your ears before you hurt the speakers as long as the power is clean.

Scott

bron964

jeremy,

i don't recommend you use the amp on the 4x6's. run all 4 4x6's off the head unit and use the amp to power the 6x9's. even with the gain down, your 4x6's are way to small for the 100w amp. this way, you will be able to give your big speakers some decent power.

Andrew

I mounted 5x7 boston ralleys in the back instead of 4x6s and they sound much better. I just made a plate that would accept the speakers. this will get you a better sound without having to cut up your rear carpets... just a thought

-andrew

Dave

While we have the attention of the Sound guys, I'll add a couple questions of my own.
1] What speaker fits behind the stock grill in the door. Car is an 86, and the top of the grill is tucked into the dash so anything that sticks out further will not fit. The blue Blau's caught my eye, will they fit?
2] I want to keep my interior stock, can 6 1/2" speakers be crammed into the stock rear location? Without cutting the side panels? And if so any recomendations?

daly944

Dave, I had the same problem. It seemed like no speaker would fit that location. The answer? BLaupunkt speakers. I got the ones with the clear blue vacumn formed poly cone. They barely fit, the middle of the grill sticks out a very slight amount over them, but the speaks come with nice new grills. both grills fit fine, but the new ones are round, so if your leather under the corners of the rectangle grill is discolored, you may want to recolor it. They sound great!!! bright clear high, the only problem is I wouldnt run bass to them, they were made for high. THese speakers handle from 2-35 watts rms, 105 max with a sensitivity of 91db, which means they need very little power to sound very loud. They also loook sweeeeet if you put a small light behind them. I only run high to them, my sub takes the bass. I got mine from crutchfield for 40bucks a pair. good luck

Stiletto

Dave, I went with Kenwood KFC-X468C for the fronts. They are shallow enough to fit in the hole, and can be driven moderately.

For the rears, if you don't want to modify or cut your car up, you'll need to stick with 4x6 or just leave them empty.

Honestly if I could do my system over, I'd have put a nice component set in front and left the rear holes empty.

nib5

High sensitivity speakers w/a high power amp is ideal, the amp will be loafing along but will have the headroom to deal with dynamic peaks, most modern drive units have compliant suspension and will not suffer for it, especially if you run a filter to block the lowest bass from the small units.

Classical music lovers will demand the ability to handle these peaks. (believe it or not, an orchestra is one of the most taxing things for a sound system to reproduce). If you listen to most rock & pop (especially via the radio) you will not really have to worry about large dynamic variations - the music is compressed to hell - but if you play it at a high level, then a clean signal is important, so the higher power is useful. If you're not really a headbanger, then use the grunt where it can be felt most, driving the low end.