Couple Audio Questions
 

I'm purchasing all of the components for my system now, but I have a couple questions. I searched for an answer but I couldn't find a description of what to do.

I'm buying a 5 channel kicker amp, that will be powering 6.5 focal 2 way speakers up front and 6 x 9 pioneers in the rear along with a type r sub.

1. What should I do about the tweeters in the sailpods? I don't think I can power them with the amp, so will my sound be ruined unless I am able to power them?

2. Would it be stupid to use the stock headunit with this setup? I already have the iPod adapter and I really like steering wheel controls so I'd love to be able to retain that if the headunit will work. Do most people keep the headunit or swap it out?

Thanks guys, please try to keep the flames down. Sorry if this has been asked before, I've been away a while

a couple of things -

you should probably get a component fet for the fronts - that would come with tweeters, and a crossover that would split the sound coming from your amp to both the tweets and the front speakers

and the sub, i have 2 alpine type R 10"s and I LOVE them! but I'm afraid you are going to be seriously underpowering it with a 5 channel amp - these things are dual voice coil and 500 Watts RMS (if you don't know what this means, then you need to do some research before you attempt an install) - so unless you can run the sub in parallel and your amp be stable at that level - I would Highly recommend getting a separate amp to get the potential out of the sub. you'll thank me later.

and as for the HU - it does not HAVE to be switched out.. but if you have the money, I think you would be a lot happier with the capabilites of a new HU with navi built in or something... again, not a priority, but something to think about (and you can keep the steering wheel controls on a new HU if you buy a $50 adapter)

Would a 2-ohm 420w RMS amp channel be enough to power the sub? That's the sub channel rating from the amp I'm looking at. (Kicker 08ZX700.5)

Why do you want to do a 2ohm setup?

I believe the type Rs are 500W RMS each @ 4ohms so that amp would be quite underpowered.

ACTUALLY that would be perfect - just make sure you get the SWR-1042D and not the SWR 1022D - that means that each voice coil would be 4 ohm instead of 2 - that way you can hook them up in parallel and each voice coil would see the 4 ohms load - but the amp would see a 2 ohm load @ 420 watts.

google (or search on here) how to set up a dual voice coil amp in parallel if you don't know

Thanks for the help guys, will I be better off going with 4-ohms for less heat and distortion, or 2-ohms for more power? Which is preferred?

well - it pretty much only depends on what your amp is stable at and what the power output is -

since you have dual voice coils - you have to do one of three things - hook them to 2 amps (or 2 channels of one amp) in which each channel would see the Ohm load the voice coils are rated (4 or 2 depending on which sub you get)

or if you only have one amp channel and 2 voice coils - then you only have 2 options - hook the 2 coils up in series or parallel - and basically if you run them in parallel - the amp sees half the rated ohms - and if you run them in series, the amp will see double the rated ohms. which gets convenient when you're doing multiple dual voice coil subs -

so with your amp your options are get the 2 ohm rated sub SWR 1022 and then run it in series which would put a 4 ohm load on the amp, but your amp would only put half the power at the ohm load - or get the SWR 1042 which each coil rated for 4 ohms - then run that in parallel and your amp would see a 2 ohm load, which you mentioned could push 420W RMS at 2 ohms. which is right where you want it.

now yeah - if you could run your amp with a 4 ohm load you would get a lot less heat, but then you need a more powerful amp in the first place to do that. There is nothing wrong with the way you are doing it, just be mindful that you may have a lot of heat, and leave the amp plenty of breathing room.

now my setup uses 2 2042 (4 ohm) subs with each sub in series and the 2 subs together in parallel - to make a 4 ohm load overall - then with the alpine PDX 1.1000 amp they get exactly 1000 watts RMS @ 4 ohms and the amps produce so little heat you would think they are broken. click my sig to see pics

and when your trying to figure all this out - it's much easier to draw pictures with lines and + and - to figure out what exactly is going on. but I know there are lots of sites that show pictures and tell exactly how to do it.. so look around and make sure you know what you are doing before you do it

Thanks man, that helps a bunch. Good thing I asked