I know almost nothing about sound systems and what can and cannot be done.

So I have a few questions.

I Have a '93 civic hatch and i'd like to put in an aftermarket deck, front speakers, mid speakers and a sub in the back and 2 amps (one for the speakers and one for the sub).

The deck I want has 1 set of preamp outputs.

Can I wire one of those preamp outputs to a 4 channel amp then to the 4 speakers and then wire the other one to a mono channel amp and then to the sub?

Are their certain things on an amp that will make it work better for speakers than subs and vice versa?

(edit) also, will i need a 2nd battery to run these components? I plan on using an Odyssey PC680MJT and mounting it in the rear of the car.


Thanks for the help.


Modified by 206 EH2 at 12:51 PM 8/15/2008

 

Buy a set of RCA "Y" adapters and run them to your amps.
Use a 4 channel amp for the speakers
Use a mono amp for the sub(s)

Instead of adding a second battery, you may want to consider upgrading your existing battery and getting a high output alternator, instead.

*Example photo: These are Tsunami Y adapters. 2 female - 1 male plugs. You can use whatever brand you want. I just used this photo for visual referrence.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by It Wasn’t Me &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Buy a set of RCA "Y" adapters and run them to your amps.
Use a 4 channel amp for the speakers
Use a mono amp for the sub(s)

Instead of adding a second battery, you may want to consider upgrading your existing battery and getting a high output alternator, instead.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So you have to have 2 preamp outputs in your deck per amp, which is why you said to to get the "Y" adapters which will turn 1 preamp output into 2 thus giving me 4 preamp outputs?

What kind of battery would you recommend for this kind of system?

 

The Y adapters double your preouts per side. So, buy a set of two. The deck you're using only has one set. These adapters will give you two sets. Just make sure you pay attention when you connect your RCA cables. Left feeds from the Left preout, and Right feeds from the Right preout. I know, it's pretty common sense, but I've seen people wire them wrong.

My personal favorite battery is Optima yellow. But, opinions vary.

Edit: On a side note, I run my high end from deck power. Tweets and 6.5's in the front, 6x9's in the rear. Sure, amp power would be louder, but it's good enough for me. That, and my car has a wimpy 70 amp alternator.


Modified by It Wasn't Me at 1:39 PM 8/15/2008

 

Thanks for the info man.
I appreciate it a lot.

 

Makes and models of amps would help, most [but not all] 4ch amps will allow for one set of inputs to drive all 4 channels of the amp, some of those 4ch amps also have a preamp output, [through] that would allow you to connect a sub amp, if not, then as mentioned, a set of "Y" adapters is needed.

The amps will have a number of "controls" on them to adjust things like input sensitivity, x-over and x-over frequency, one or two input selector switch and so on, makes and model numbers of the amps are needed to help with them.
Makes and models of the rest of the system would also help.

How the amps are "adjusted" is critical to SQ, [sound quality] as is how they are wired and how the rest of the system is installed and wired. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Makes and models of amps would help, most [but not all] 4ch amps will allow for one set of inputs to drive all 4 channels of the amp, some of those 4ch amps also have a preamp output, [through] that would allow you to connect a sub amp</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's a good point. I didn't even think about that. I do remember some of my previous amps having the passthrough. I don't usually run an amp for the mids and highs, though. I just run them off of deck power.