xero-cool

Ok here's my setup all in an 95 Integra LS.

Headunit Alpine CDA-9833



RMS Power Output 26 watts Peak Output 60 watts

Front Speakers : Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1



Sensitivity: 90 dB
Frequency Response: 75-23,000 Hz
Recommended RMS Power: 100W
Peak Power Handling: 400W
Impedance: 4 ohms

Rear Fill Speakers : Infinity Kappa 62.5i 2 Way Coaxials



Sensitivity: 90 dB
Frequency Response: 45-21,000 Hz
Recommended RMS Power: 75W
Peak Power Handling: 225W
Impedance: 4 ohms

My Questions:

Can my headunit sufficiently power these speakers and make them sound good? do I need to purchase an extra 4 channel amp to power my speakers? Would it make a significant difference?

Am I lacking bass? Should I get a bass amp, and a sub in the back?

Any comments welcome.

vteg

Personally I suggest getting an amp. At least 45x4. Once you hear the difference, you will never go back to powering speakers off of an hu. Most hu's cannot make their rated and sound good. If you want more flexibility for the future try a 75x4. Then you can toy with running front stage alone.

In my teg I had diamond hexes in kick panels and kicker rmb6 midbasses in the doors. Each channel got 75 watts from a jl 300/4. It was too damn loud. I could drive down the freeway at 80 and hear music clearly.

BTW, after you get the amp, you will want bass It seems the better your system gets, the inadequecies stick out more.

nOOber

Vteg is right, Audiophile and deck power do not belong in the same sentance.

once you get amped, play around with some test tone sweeps, to see what the roll off is in your system. then plan the sub woofer section of the system with this information in mind.

good luck.

rcurley55

I'd get a 75x4 amp to power the front speakers and a sing 10 or 12" sub.

Run the rears off of the deck power - just make sure you high pass them.

suspendedHatch

A quality amp, installed correctly, with an appropriate output for those speakers will make the most difference to your sound system than any other upgrade. The amp is usually the most important thing. I've saved my friends hundreds of dollars by adding an amp to their stock system. They like the sound so much they decide not to buy new speakers and a head unit.

Rear speakers are only useful for rear passengers, or for more spl. For clarity of sound, all you need are two tweeters, two midbass, and one sub in the rear. The speakers do not have to be large diameter. Use an amp that has active crossovers and have the tweets and mids wired to it individually, and a seperate amp for the sub. Make/buy some custom speaker mounts, especially for the tweeters, and a lesser extent the midbass, and aim them directly at your ear. Then use the time delay on that Alpine to make them sound as if they are equidistant from your head.

xero-cool

Thank you everybody for your replies. Seems everybody agrees I will need an amp.

Say I plan to purchase a 75/4 channel amp. What would you guys individually recommend? I like the JL 300/4 so far

Also, the front speakers in my car the Infinity perfect 6.1, are they good speakers? I have not purchased those but am considering them. I already have all the other components though.

For about 200 USD what other speakers are comparable or better?

MB quart? Boston Acoustics? JBL? Polk? JL Audio? Kicker?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nOOber &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">once you get amped, play around with some test tone sweeps, to see what the roll off is in your system. then plan the sub woofer section of the system with this information in mind.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Noober, what is test tone sweeps? Does it mean playing with the crossover on the amp to see where I should start High Pass filtering out frequencies for my speakers? And after knowing that HPX-over point I should purchase a sub to match?

rcurley55

The 300/4 is about the last amp I would consider if you want to amp the fronts and run a single sub from it - JL's RIPS system would cause you to only get around 150W to a sub - where a "regular" 75x4 would do around 300!!

Take a look at sounddomain - last I checked they were clearing out Phoenix Gold amps. Great amps for the price (the old Titanium and Tantrum lines)

xero-cool

Comparing these 2 amps:

Phoenix Gold Tantrum 600.4 (About USD 240 shipped)

RMS Power: 75W x 4 @ 14.4V
Bridged RMS Power: 300W x 2 @ 14.4V
THD at Rated RMS Power: n/a
Speaker Level Inputs: No
Preamp Outputs: Yes
Built-In Crossovers: HP/LP
Bass Boost: 0 - 18 dB
Frequency Response: 20-20,000 Hz
Channel Separation: n/a
Signal to Noise Ratio: &gt;100 dB
Fuse Rating: 2 x 30 amps


JL Audio 300/4 (Almost 400 USD shipped)

Rated Power (stereo):
75 W RMS x 4 @ 1.5 ohm-4 ohm (11V-14.5V)
Rated Power (bridged):
150 W RMS x 2 @ 3 ohm-8 ohm (11V-14.5V)
THD at Rated Power: &lt;0.03% @ 4 ohm
S/N Ratio*: &gt;108.5 dB below rated power
Frequency Response: 5 Hz-30 KHz (+0, -1dB)
Damping Factor: &gt;200 @ 4 ohm per ch./50 Hz
Input Range: switchable from 200mV-2V RMS to 800mV-8V RMS
Dimensions: 13.4"L x 9.25"W x 2.36"H

Using 2 channels for the front speakers, powering the rear speakers off the HU and running a 12 inch sub with the other 2 channels (Bridged) which amp would be a better choice? Is it an unfair comparison price wise?

o_Rage_o

I usually Love the sound of the Infinity Kappa's but the perfects seem so harsh to my ears compared to their model one line down. Nice crossovers though at 24db/octave.

I've heard amazing things about the Adire Koda component set in the front, but there is trouble fitting the midrange driver in our doors

Someone posted a good comment about amping, aiming the speakers at your ear and then using the Alpine headunit to equalize the distance. You might get better performance however if you aim for something more center, such as the Rear View Mirror for reference, and then tune it finally after doing some sweeps.

nontent

I'd reccomend powering the components with an amp, and then leaving the coaxials in the rear powered by the headunit. I'd look into a 200x2 amp to give the fronts 100 watts RMS, and then just be a bit conservative with the gains.

This way you won't have any conflict in where the sound is coming from, and you can give the front components a bit more attention

I personally haven't run rear speakers in my crx for a while now, and it sounds a bit nicer to me.. personal opinion

xero-cool

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nontent &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd reccomend powering the components with an amp, and then leaving the coaxials in the rear powered by the headunit. I'd look into a 200x2 amp to give the fronts 100 watts RMS, and then just be a bit conservative with the gains.

This way you won't have any conflict in where the sound is coming from, and you can give the front components a bit more attention

I personally haven't run rear speakers in my crx for a while now, and it sounds a bit nicer to me.. personal opinion

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks nontent. I plan to purchase a phoenix gold tantrum 600.4 and run the front components of 2 channels and bridge the other 2 for a 12 inch sub.

Don't know what sub would sound good with only 300W bridged power though