I'm in the beginning stages of putting together a system for my truck. Nothing special, some new door speakers, an amp (maybe 2?), and a 10" sub. Mind you, I knew very little about system installations and all that up until about a week ago when I started researching everything so bear with me.

I guess I should present some sort of hypothetical situation so you all can get a better idea of what I want and can afford (full time college student). Let's say I have all new door speakers with, say, 60 watts rms each, and a single voice coil 4 ohm 300 watt rms subwoofer. Here are the options I'm aware of:

1. One 4 channel amp to drive the front speakers with 2 channels and bridge the other two channels for the subwoofer. What would be a good amount of power to have if I were to go with this?

2. One 4 channel amp to drive all 4 of the door speakers and one mono amp to drive the subwoofer. I've read that mono amps are much better for subs. Does it make a huge difference as far as loudness, accuracy, and such for the sub to be hooked up to its own amp rather than the same amp as the door speakers as stated in the previous solution? Again, any recommendations for how much power each amp should provide?

3. I know there are 5 and 6 channel amps out there but I don't see a lot of people using them. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the previous solutions would be more practical for the long term.

I'm sure there are some other solutions I have overlooking and open to any and all suggestions about anything I have said. My only restriction is that I can only have one 10" sub for now. Thanks in advance!

 

You're on the right track, anyone of those options will work. I would suggest, personally, for overall cost, ease of adjustment, etc. to use 2 amps- 1 for the front doors with an output in the range of 50-75 watts rms per channel, and either a mono amp, or a 2 channel amp, bridged mono, in the 300 watt range, and you will be in good shape. Look for amps with electronic crossovers built in, or do as I do, and use an external electronic crossover so you can overlap your crossover points

 

PS, I would run the rear speakers off the head unit, which is why I didn't mention amping them

 

Thanks for the suggestions infinityexpy and I have a few other questions now.

I haven't decided yet, but I was leaning more toward using a 4 channel amp for everything. You said for ease of adjustment, among other things, a 2 amp setup would be better. Do I sacrifice power, loudness, clarity, etc. by hooking the sub up to a 4 channel amp instead of having its own amp? I'm looking to minimize the space taken up by all of this but using 2 amps certainly isn't out of the question. Just making sure I know everything I can before purchasing everything.

 

I apologize for not responding sooner. I was away from the computer until last night and today, anddidn't notice your question until now.

Yes, you do sacrifice a bit from running off 1 amp, however it's all up to what you are looking for. If you are just keeping it simple and don't expect much, than 1 amp would be fine. However, look at it this way: If you have a 4x50 amp, you would be able to put 50 watts to your front speakers and 100-150 watts to your sub off the rear channels (bridged). Most subs are more power hungry than that. I think you need min. of 200-250 watts for a sub. Of cours I also think you need at least 100 watts for the front speakers
If you could find a 100x4 amp you might be in business, but generally those are larger and harder to place than just using 2 amps.
Either way, I hope this helps and good luck with your purchase!

 

I'm using a 4 channel amp to run my whole system. Its a zapco Z400( 4 x 50 rated conservatively). I'm not using any rear fill. Never have and never will. Running a set of comps and a pair of IDQ12's. Eventually I will get a big mono amp to run the subs but I'm not in any hurry.Been running this setup for 10 years.

 

If you are looking for simplicity I would run the doors (all 4) with the head unit and use either a 2 channel or mono amp to power you single either SVC or DVC subwoofer.

Step up from that would be to use something like the JL Audio 500/5 amplifier.
It has both RCA and line level inputs so you can use it with the stock head unit OR a much nicer aftermarket head unit.
It will power all 4 doors and your sub without losing the ability to fade front/rear as you will if you power your front and rear with the same 2 channels.

Using less amps means you have less power/ground wires to run, and more importantly less chance of an annoying ground loop HUMMMMMMMMMM. If you do end up with a hum you have a lot less places to look than if you double or triple the number of amps, RCAs, Power and Ground wires!

I have a pretty decent sound in my truck and I am running all 4 doors off my head unit (not stock) and then I have a 2 channel amp (bridged to a single mono channel) power 2 DVC subs wired for a single 4 ohm load. One big advantage to newer head units (at least Alpines that I KNOW of) is that they have built in crossovers and EQs that let you adjust things to the best sound for the specific setup, and they do so without adding more boxes, RCAs, and wires!

I would put whatever money you are looking to put in a second amp for your mids/highs into a head unit instead.

 

I know opinions are like butts, everyone has one, but I have to reply to PROzac's. While you are correct in saying that it is easier to wire with a single amp and HU, you get a MUCH better, cleaner sound with seperate amps than with any available HU on the market. Fact is, the more stuff you cram into a radio, the more likely it won't do anything really well, b/c it's trying to do EVERYTHING!
Ground your amps to the same location and you won't get ground looping.
I looked into the JL 500/5 and decided against it b/c in the end, it cost more money for less flexability than having 2 amps (300/4 and 250/1).
Also, if you amp your subs and not your other speakers, more than likely you will get lots of bass at the expense of drowning out your mids and highs.
Just my .02

 

I agree with some of what you are saying but at the same time the JL (and plenty of other multichannel amps) are not really "one amp" but several in the same heatsink with the same power supple and ground. It isn't like these amps just have one gain **** for all 5 channels or just 1 crossover or something. I find the 5+ channel amps to be quite a lot like a thousand dollar+ home theater amp that sits in my den downstairs. Sure you could run individual stereo amps for each pair of drivers but none of the normal good home stuff does it that way and in 10-15 years most of the mobile stuff wont either. It is too bad that we are still on the front side of these amps and the good ones are HIGH dollar but then again most of the two channels I have run in the last 15 years weren't exactly cheap either. With a good head unit that has a real EQ and a real crossover the JL 500/5 is at the top of my list for both flexibility and ease of install AND looks of install too. Now there are crappy 5+ channel amps for sure and running decent amps for each set of drives is for sure far and above better than them. As for only having an external amp for the low end meaning you are going to have too much bass - My door speakers play plenty loud and I have a nice flat curve of sound coming out of my truck but if you read my post about my system you will see that I want an external amp to run a pair of separates in my kick panels

 

kram, I have an '05 F150 super crew and am upgrading as we speak. After alot of surfing, and talking around this is what I've got goin: Amp to drive all four speakers: Alpine MRP-F450, 4 channel 70w x 4 @ 4 ohmz, speakers: (front) Infinity 680.7 cs 6x8 Components, (rear) Infinity 682.7 cf 6x8 2 ways, Sub Q forms F150 box with an Infinity perfect 10.1 10" sub, with an Alpine MRP-M450 mono 220W x 1 for the sub. The 4 channel is $196, the mono is $126, the fronts were $178, the rears were $88, the sub $128, the box approx $225 (@ Crutchfield). I went to Crutchfield to check what fits and user reviews, then went to Pricewatch to get the best deals. When my bank account Bounces back I'm hoping to replace factory head with Alpines IVA-W200. I chose the amps because they were rated extremely well and have such a small footprint, I've always had great luck w/ Infinity speakers (plus check their ratings out as well....very good), The sub box was on of the few relatively economical choices I had, that didn't stick out like a sore thumb in the interior. Hope that helps a little

 

I have been reading all of the responses from the original question. I have a 98 reg cab. I have been trying to figure out the best way to set up my sound. What about the following set up. What if I use my HU front channels to power the Infinity 6x8's and the rear channel to power the tweeters that match. Then power a 10 inch sub off of a seperate amp?