ekhatchey

ok so i have a 800 watt kenwood amp and (2) 1k watt max 10 inch subs what kind of head unit should i get as far a minimum for wattage rating???

schmiddr2

Most headunits are 12-17 watts rms x 4. So, theres not much to pick on there. You want 4 volt preouts, these supply the signal but the amp still supplies the power to the subs.

Personally, I would use the kenwood for the door speakers and get another amp for the subs. But without a lot of info thats just a guess.

fcm

Ditto the above, more info.

MM&Y of car?

Model of amp?

Make and model of subs?

What kind of box are the subs in, sealed, vented or band-pass? 94

ekhatchey

well the reason why i am asking this is because i had it all hooked up to my old head unit it was a dual and i was driving to work this morning and it was working just fine when all of a sudden the bass just stopped but the music kept going rolled up to a stop sign and smoke came rolling out pulled over and turned off the head unit pulled it and it continued to smoke till i pulled the connector to the power and speakers. and it stopped. i thought that maybe the amp was pulling more than what the stereo can handle. can that happen???

fcm

No. 94

ekhatchey

do you have any idea why that would happen?

fcm

If it is the signal return, [ground] trace, it will happen if the amp is on and it "loses" it's ground, even for a second, because the signal return is a common ground in most HUs the amp will get it's ground through the signal return and obviously because the trace is very thin, it blows like a fuse.

It is repairable if you know how to solder. 94

94VTECoupe

I would definitely get an upper end Pioneer HU or any Pioneer Premier HU. I say this because they are very adjustable in terms of their EQ, look good, and most importantly, have a built in HPF, LPF, and sub-out level adjustment. I know there are others out there with these, but this is the best for the price!

If you're not planning on upgrading your door speakers, or not amplifying them, then this is a great option! Set the HPF on the door speakers to eliminate all of the lower frequencies from them which the speakers can't handle anyway and the HU can't provide either. The Sub can take all of the lower frequencies on the LPF.

I have all stock speakers in my GSR with a pioneer HU, a Kenwood Excelon amp (about the same wattage as yours) and a Diamond D310 400 watt RMS sub.

I took this car back to magnolia hi-fi to have the guys listen to it and they said it was one of the better systems they heard. I can turn it up to ear-splitting levels without any distortion, and fairly extraordinary sound replication and good staging.