?????advice on Amp?????

[KReePiN]

what would be a good amp for my highs??......running 4x6 plate speakers up front.....as well as regular 4x6 speaKers in the back pillars.....i would like to add some 6 inch to my door panels....what would be a nice amp to run everything?....im not very sharp when it comes to audio equipment

 

[91Bluestreak]

Kicker makes some great amps.

 

[Rich32]

What is your price range?

 

[KReePiN]

mehhh few hundred bucks or so? as long as it works and is not gonna shut off on me everytime it gets warm...

 

[Mean Green]

Your going to be pretty hard pressed to find a good 4 channel amp for less then $200. I would recommend first choosing exactly what speakers your going to run, and then match the RMS wattage that the speakers are to the RMS wattage of each channel of the amp!

 

[KReePiN]

well i can go to 500 if i have too....i just dont know what to get

 

[Mean Green]

well i can go to 500 if i have too....i just dont know what to get

I can't recommend Kicker amplifier enough, they are truly an excellent product. But like all things in Audio, it really comes down to personal preference. If you go with an amp from any of the big guys in audio (Kicker, Alpine, Kenwood, JL, etc) you should have a good product! I would strongly suggest staying away from cheapy off brand amps, do you really want to gamble a component that is getting direct voltage from the battery at all times? No. Here is a few links to a few great options for 4 channel amplifiers:

Amp: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_29873_Kicker-IX500.4-11IX500.4.html

Here's an amp with a little lower RMS wattage depending on what speakers you go with: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_21950_Kicker-ZX350.4-10ZX350.4.html

Amp Install Kit: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17773_Kicker-PK4-09PK4.html

RCA Wires: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17720_Kicker-ZI25-09ZI25.html

Here are a few speaker recommendations for mids/highs: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_13966_Infinity-Kappa-462.9cfp.html
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_31833_Kicker-KS6.2-11KS6.2.html


Hope that helps you out a bit!

 

[gmcyukondriver]

I would look at running speakers in parallel vs. in series. I have mine run in parallel.

Check your speakers. You need to know the resistance in ohms, and the RMS (not the peak watts). Then I would go on Craigslist.

Here's what I did. I got a JBL P80.4 for $80. They don't sell them any more, but it's a decent amp. Since I'm running all my door speakers in parallel, it's pushing 80 watts RMS to my door speakers, which handle 90, so that's decent. Then I bridged 2 outputs for the subwoofer, so it's getting 160 watts RMS, and I think it can handle 180-200, something like that.

Basically, running speakers in parallel means you take the positive from one output on your amp, and put it to the positive on two speakers, and the same with negative. Since my amp has 4 outputs, it has a front left, front right, rear left, and rear right. I ran the front left channel to my left door speakers (front and rear), and my front right channel to my right door speakers (front and rear). See what I mean? This allows me to still have left and right and stereo sound instead of mono.

"Bridging" is when you take two channels (outputs) on the amp and run it to one speaker. This effectively gives that speaker all the output from both channels. Let's say my amp puts out 80 watts per channel, but since I "bridged" the rear left and rear right channels, my speaker gets 160 watts. Make sense?

Basically, I would look for an amp that can safely be run at 2 ohms of resistance. Most speakers are 4 ohms, so when you run them in parallel, they bring that to 2 ohms, so you want an amp that is stable at that load. Looking at your setup, I don't think you would be bridging any outputs, but it's a nice feature to have in case you ever change your system. I'm running 4 door speakers and 1 sub off a single amp, and it does a decent job. It doesn't get too hot either, just make sure it has plenty of space around it to dissipate that heat.

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Basically I would look for a 4 channel amp that can handle a load of 2 ohms, so you can run a couple speakers in parallel, which would allow you to run 4 speakers off 2 channels, which leaves 2 more channels for other speakers you want to add later. Kicker and JBL are probably the most common entry level amp manufacturers that I can think of.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

[Mean Green]

Yes you can run in parallel as well, most good amps are stable @ 2ohms. There are disadvantages to running mid/highs in parallel however, one being you will only have 2 unique channels instead of 4. As well as having potential imaging problems.

If you plan on adding a subwoofer now or in the future, you would be better off buying a separate amp dedicates to the sub driver IMO. A lot of times it is much easier to get the system dialed in with separate amps for the bass driver and the mid/highs.

I would also recommend installing 14-16 gauge speaker wire from the amp to the speakers. The larger the gauge of speaker wire (to an extent), the lower the resistance which equals better flow of power from the amp to speakers!

 

[KReePiN]

Ok i think i got a better understanding now....i really appreciate it guys thanks alot!