Hello everyone, this is my first post on any forum and my first Ford (06' super crew) and I want to first say thank you to everyone for there knowledge (especially IROC it). I have been reading thread after thread getting info for my first complete audio replacement. I replaced the head unit, all speakers, added some sound dampering, and added an amp and the pictures and articles were alot of help. I have a Pioneer amp thats does 60W rms per channel but that doesnt seem to be loud enough. Can i bridge the amp for the front speakers (Infinity 6810cs components) and use the head unit (sony CDXGt705DX) for the rears (Infinity 6812cf). I have adjusted the amp's gain with a DMM and have ensured a clean ground. The volume is loud just not loud enough for me ! Any help would be appreciated.

 

You really do not want to do that. You would be combining the front left and right speakers in to basically a mono setup. Your stereo imaging would be non existent. If it is not loud enough for you, may be time for a bigger amp.

 

I agree, if its a 2 channel amp.


Although if it's a 4 channel, you can bridge the front and rear channels on each side to run the fronts, and run the rears off the HU...if those things can handle the power.

 

In looking at the wiring diagram, my amp has an option for two channel stereo and two channel mono. So if I use the two channel stereo option then I can still set my audio with out losing any quality or stereo imaging? What exactly is stereo imaging? And can you "bridge" a head unit to deliever more power to the rear speakers?

 

What model is your amp?

Two channel stereo would mean you have a right and left...if you are listening to music and it has ,for instance, bells ringing recorded on it, but they are only supposed to come out of the right speaker...then only your right speaker will will play those bell sounds.
If the amp is in two channel mono mode, then you will have no right and left at all. Take the same example as above...if the amp is in mono mode, then the bell sound will come out of BOTH right AND left...the left and right signals are combined to make one signal (mono)
Using it in mono would destroy imaging also. To keep it simple, its about only usefull in mono for running a DVC sub, and wiring one voice coil to each side of the amp. I wont get into that though...

Stereo Imaging is a term for 'seeing' where the music is (haha dont know what do say there exactley) With a properly imaged stereo, you should be able to tell where the musician was standing when the recording happened. If your listening to a CD and during the recording, the guitarist was standing in the middle (depth wise; front, middle, back) of the stage, off to the left, then thats were that sound should seem to come from. So if your sitting in your car, it should seem like the guitarist is standing right beside the left windshield pillar. Proper imaging will also seem to make the speakers 'disapear'. You shouldnt be able to tell where the speaker is without physically looking at it. When you close your eyes and listen to the stereo, you wont be able to find where the speaker is mounted...instead you will just hear the guitarist off to the left, the singer righ infront of you, the drums right behind him, etc. You could close your eyes, listen, and then pretty much draw a picture of where the musicians were standing when they recorded that song.


I dont think Ive ever seen a HU that you can bridge...

 

Thanks for the all the info. I guess I just need a bigger amp. I thought 60w rms per channel would be overkill but my inexperience has damned me again. Right now i have to turn the radio nearly complete maxed out to enjoy a "full " sound to the music. My head unit is extremely quite untill the last 1/4 or so of the volume. Am i setting it up wrong or is this normal? Could my RCAs have anything to do with it? They are the cheapest part of my system. I did read off this forum and got twisted, oxygen free, and shielded. And I did run them on the other side of the truck away from the power. The brand is Boss performance. I did run new speaker wire from the speaker all the way to the amp (yes, so much to learn) so on the left side they are ran with the power. Could this be a problem? Again thanks for your time and advice.

 

I would sure think 60 watts RMS a side would be enough.

What are your gains set at?
Is it distorting? Or is it clean, just not loud enough for you?

Im doubting where you ran the wires is your problem. Although it could make a difference to move that speaker wire away from your power wire, I doubt youll notice it, plus its a totaly different issue than we are dealing with here in the first place.

One last thing...how high exacley is 'nearly completley maxed out"? If your volume is prett high (3/4th or more Id say) you could be sending a clipped signal to the amp-which can kill your amp and speakers-just something to watch out for.

Sure its just not a setting on the HU or amp?

 

60 watts should blast you out of the cab. Plus, if you are running the front and rears off each channel of the 2 channel amp, you are presenting it a 2ohm load, which would suck even more power from the amp. A good amp 60 WPC would be pushing out closer to 90 WPC at 2ohms. Split that between the two speaks and you would be getting about 45 watts per speak. Still, 45 watts is a lot! An efficient speaker will put out 90+ db on 1 watt! Hell, one of the old Alpine Flex-4 25WPC amps will go louder than you could stand!

But, this is a Pioneer amp we're talking about. It's 60 WPC rating is probably max and it has a real-world RMS of closer to 5-10 watts. It really depends on the model. Some of the more recent Pioneer amps (like their new ICE class-D) aren't half bad, but more often than not, Pioneer amps=junk. They're right there with Legacy, Pyramid, etc.

Go back over your setup. Make sure none of your speakers have their polarity reversed (which will cancel output from other speakers), and double check your gains, etc. Try disconnecting the rears speakers from the amp and just running the fronts on it, it may be having difficulty with the 2ohm load, make sure your power and ground (cables and attachment points) are adequate, etc.

 

So what kind of amp is a good one? I guess I thought pioneer was a good brand, but I also thought 60 watts was plenty. I will listen to your guys advice and I think I will get a new amp. What would you recommend? Is there any way to check if I reverse the leads on my speakers without having to take the covers off and physically look at them, maybe use a DMM or something? I do thank you for your time.

 

If you have a DMM, just stick the leads on the speaker wires (pos. on pos., neg. on neg.) and put the DMM on the ohm setting. If the speakers are wired correct, you will get a positive reading. If you have the polarity backwards youll get a negative reading.

As a little test you could unhook one side, and then just play one side for a bit. Then bridge the amp to that same side (just one woofer, tweeter, and crossover is what I mean by side) and see how much of a difference in volume it makes...make sure more power is what you want for sure.

Whats the wattage rating on those Infinities.

 

No, you have to see the cone.

The way I do it is to pull the leads off the amp, touch the +/- of the speaker wire to the +/- of a AA battery, and watch the cone. If it pushes out, you're golden. If it goes in, you got it backwards. Just touch it though, don't hold it on the battery.

Good amps?

Alpine, JL, Kicker, there's lots of good amps. Go to a stereo shop and see what they have and what they recommend for your installation. Personally, I run JL's "slash" series amps and love them, they are pricey though.

Pioneer has some good decks, and some of their Premier series components and subs are good. But pretty much everything else they make is total s^^t. I have heard some good things about their new ICE class-D amps, but I still wouldn't buy them on principle alone! You can't polish a turd.

 

Doh!...Lol, what he said^^^

...I dont know wtf I was thinking...