ok what kind of bass did you listen to?? Loud boom boom or light crisp not to loud sound quality bass?? Also it is possible to run an entire system off of 2 channels...ask Viking and other old people here lol
RMS means the continuous power output. what you said about the amps is spot on.2ch for 2 speakers.4ch for 4 speakers. just what about the sub is not for you?you dont have to crank the hell out of it you know.set the gain so the bass blends in with the music.
Well, there were four different ones. Two were enclosed and two were not. I even told the salesman that I didn't prefer the loud "thump" but he couldn't get it to a level that sounded good to me. (As he wanted to sell me something, I would assume he tried to tone it down to sell me on it) It was the loud boom boom that you describe. It would give me a headache!!!
Well you were talking to the wrong guy...he was a SALESMAN. His only job was to sell you something...Most sales people don't know jack about car audio. They just read off of the product labels and tell you what they think (BUY IT!!!) Did you go to an actual audio shop or Best Buy or Circuit City
Like I said above...at the store, they couldn't get to a sound that I found pleasant. Don't get me wrong, I love it loud,,,ust not so thumpin that my ers bleed!!! That's why I think some decent speakers in the front (back too?) with some good bass would satisfy me.....
well an 8 in a small box should do the trick.with maybe 100 watts or less. hell i cant think of any amp that is less than 100 for a sub.
Ok, you want clean basic sound, not alot of boom boom, Sound quality is your primary concern with loudness secondary. Look into a nice set of 2 way componenets for the front end, and a simple set of coaxials for the rear. Run these on either a 2 or 4 channel amp. A 2 channel amp will run all 4 speakers just fine, but you will not have front to rear fade control, a 4 channel amp will give you the fade control. Later on if you decide to add a small sub, it can be easily integrated into the existing system with no amplifier upgrades, it would run off the same amp as the highs, done this countless times and the result is always good...
Viking,,,sounds like you have hit on exactly what I am looking for! I like the idea that I have the option of adding a small sub in the future. Thank you very much for the info. Now, if I may be so bold...(again knowing nothing about amps) lets assume that I get a 4 channel amp, how do I know what power to get (both the amp and the speakers). Even further, is it as simple as running the power, the wire to the headunit to turn the amp off and on, RCA's to the headunit, and speaker wire from each channel to each speaker (one channel for each speaker)? I am looking to keep it simple as I am by no means an amp expert!!!!
OK ROB, i think we are on common ground! Lets just go with a 4 channel amp here, will give you the most options for future upgrades, trust me, i have done this a "few" times. Look for an amp in the range of 40 to 150 watts per channel. anything in that range will give you a very nice sytem. the more power the better of course. (more power means better dynamic range at lower volumes and easier to make it loud when you want it.)..........speaker wise, dont look at power handling too much, it aint that important. Most all speakers will handle 100 watts all day every day, as long a its clean power that is unclipped (distortion free) the speakers will take it in stride and do fine. As far as runing wires, well...this is more technical and a little more dificult to convey on this site. i would just tie into the original witng in the dash for the speakers, and run the wire to the location of the amp. all 4 speaker wires that is.... Power wire is not too bad. not is the rest of it.....if you get an amp and speakers, let us know, we can talk you through it....thats why we are here!
Viking...you ARE the man!! Thanks for the help. I think I can get everything run and the right equipment with the info you gave! I will update (and probably ask for help) when I get ready to install. Thanks again.
now lets say in the future you want a sub.you may want to consider a 5ch amp.that way you can power your 4 speakers and the sub.
If your not interested in a sub right now, dont worry about a 5 channel amp. A 4 channel will do fine for now really. The, if you do decide to add a sub, you can run all 4 of your highs on the front 2 channels and the sub on the rear 2 channels, you will lose fade control, but not lose any power. And besides, if you want the rear speakers to be a little quiter, an attenuation circuit is easy to add to quiet them down.
ok...now another question. Given my scenario, what would you guys suggest as a good, moderately priced amp (to accomplish what you guys have suggested)?
This one here would make one helluva nice amp...dont know the price of it, but would kick some ass! http://www.soundstream.com/amplifiers-tarantula.htm It appears to be based on the older reference series in looks, but the circuit topology has changed, not a bad thing, just different. Just a suggestion.....Soundstream has been around longer than most companies out there....and they make a fine product. heck, cruise the SS site, lots of NICE stuff in there!
I checked out the site...too bad they don't list pricing. I searched for dealers, but you can't get to websites from there. I'll have to look some more!!
ok yes the 4 ch will do. ebay is loaded with soundstreams.a 4 ch can run you around 250ish. did you ever mention how much you want to spend on an amp?