Increasing the audio setup...

[JiMR2]

Hey guys,

Not too long ago I installed a Pioneer double din HU and an active sub. Whilst scrolling through the forums I noticed a lot of people upgrade their speakers as well... This got me thinking... I have an old Sony Xplod 250w amp knocking around some where up the loft that I could drop into the other rear bin and power the front speakers off?! Luckily the HU has 2 sets of pre-outs available a rear/sub output and a front output.

From using the incredibly handy Search function I was able to ascertain that purchasing the cheaper make 6.5 components for my 2003 '2 may not actually make an improvment... so I was considering just amping up the stock ones... I wouldn't want to be spending more than £50 on a set of components... on that note I need to do some reading up on crossovers and components etc as I'm slightly confused but will do some research.

Now onto my queries;

Can I run the 2nd amp with a 2nd wiring amp wiring kit off the battery?
Will I need to invest in a power cap to assist with the power being drained from 2 amps?
Is it even worth amping up the stocks? Would only cost me £10 for the wiring kit/flashing tape + time to do it

Cheers guys

[stargazer30]

You'd be better getting a four channel amp and using one amp to run a sub and the fronts.  I ebay'd my active sub to do this when I wanted to amp my fronts.  The main advantage is you can use the amp to set the crossover between the speakers and the sub to save overlap.

To answer your questions;

Amping your stock fronts vs an aftermarket HU feed to them may not make much difference.  The stock speakers don't need much power to drive them so the aftermarket HU will not do a bad job.  Now if you want to fit after market component speakers that changes.  They will require more power, especially if they have separate passive crossovers.  I ran Focals on a Pioneer HU and they sounded decent but not as good as you'd expect for a £120 set of components.  After I amped them they sounded a fair bit better.

PS You don't need crossovers but they improve the sound by doing a better job of just sending highs to the tweeter and mids/low frequency to the main speaker.

[markiii]

stock speakers are pants

even £150 spent on components will yield a big improvement

[m312]

Get a new set of component speakers and amp those. They will have crossovers with them, so no need to mess about with settings etc.

The other option is getting a sub as well and a 4 channel amp, but you can always do that later!  s:P s:P

[JiMR2]

I really dont want to get rid of the active sub as ive only  just got it... In heinsight if i'd of looked at Liam's setup with the whole of the back boarded up with speakers/subs dropped in it i'd of gone down this route and really gone to town with it all...

Am very confuzzled now re: component speakers/crossovers...

You don't need crossovers

Get a new set of component speakers and amp those. They will have crossovers with them

Have looked on wiki and am still none the wiser... can some one shed some light on this for me, just a brief summary please?  s:( s:(

[markiii]

components have a tweeter and woofer so will need (and come with) crossovers

[stargazer30]

components have a tweeter and woofer so will need (and come with) crossovers

Depends on which ones you buy, some have crossovers as a separate unit (Focals), some don't they have a very cheap capacitor style crossover in the wiring instead.  To the OP, crossovers are better if you get them, the trade is off is power, they take power to drive them so an amp will make the speakers sound better than just a HU feed.

[stargazer30]

components have a tweeter and woofer so will need (and come with) crossovers

Depends on which ones you buy, some have crossovers as a separate unit (Focals), some don't they have a very cheap capacitor style crossover in the wiring instead.  

To the OP, all crossovers are, are a high pass and low pass filter.  the components have 2 speakers a tweeter and a mid/woofer.   Without a crossover the full audio range is sent to both the tweeter and mid/woofer.  That's not ideal as the tweeter can't produce lower frequencies and vice versa.  The crossover separates them out so the mid/woofer gets the low pass and the tweeter gets the high pass so the music sounds better.   The trade is off is power, crossovers take power to drive them so an amp will make the speakers sound better than just a HU feed.  Most decent components are ~ 50w RMS power rated, a typical HU amp put out 50W peak power, which is more like 12W RMS, so the HU can't fully drive them.

[m312]

You don't have to have crossovers, but the sound won't be particularly great if you didn't have them!

The crossovers basically only allow certain frequencies to enter the speakers, for example high frequencies to the tweeter and lower frequencies to the mids/woofer.



Most/all sets of components come with crossovers set for the speakers you have brought, so all you have to do is put the crossover between the speaker and amp.


If you want to keep the woofer, then you can still get a set of components and amp them. I should think a small 2 channel amp would be okay with the active amp, but ideally you would want to get a separate sub and 1 amp...

[markiii]

components have a tweeter and woofer so will need (and come with) crossovers

Depends on which ones you buy, some have crossovers as a separate unit (Focals), some don't they have a very cheap capacitor style crossover in the wiring instead.  To the OP, crossovers are better if you get them, the trade is off is power, they take power to drive them so an amp will make the speakers sound better than just a HU feed.

I'll rephrase

any components worth buying will have a crossover with it

[stargazer30]

components have a tweeter and woofer so will need (and come with) crossovers

Depends on which ones you buy, some have crossovers as a separate unit (Focals), some don't they have a very cheap capacitor style crossover in the wiring instead.  To the OP, crossovers are better if you get them, the trade is off is power, they take power to drive them so an amp will make the speakers sound better than just a HU feed.

I'll rephrase

any components worth buying will have a crossover with it

Actually the entry rainbow components don't have one either, I was suprised.

[JiMR2]

Thanks for all the great advice guys - finally grasp it now!

That diagram finally clicked every thing into place, thank you!  s:) s:)

Will let you know what i decide to do/get!