Component speaker questions.

[HALLSAC]

4 Rockford Fosgate punch series 6.5 components powered by a Rockford 400 watt amp....OR 4 Power series 6.5 with no amp. Which would be louder and sound better?

[Hoodlum007]

Giving a speaker its required wattage will always sound better compared to a under powered set.

[46panel]

Why not two sets of powers with an amp? If just those two choices definitely the punch amped.

[Horsemanwill]

install has a lot to do with sound

[ejschultz]

install has a lot to do with sound

Install and clean power have a lot to do with sound...

[Horsemanwill]

that too

[HALLSAC]

Install and clean power have a lot to do with sound...

I'm prolly gonna have a prossional who works for rockford install it. Best buyvisnt installing anything no worries.

[ejschultz]

I'm prolly gonna have a prossional who works for rockford install it. Best buyvisnt installing anything no worries.

I work at Best Buy and I consider myself to be a rather proficient installer. However, I do not work car audio. My installation skills are pretty much useless on the job.

[HALLSAC]

I work at Best Buy and I consider myself to be a rather proficient installer. However, I do not work car audio. My installation skills are pretty much useless on the job.

I knew someone was gonna say that. It was suppsed to be a joke. I'm not baggin on anyone.

[ejschultz]

I knew someone was gonna say that. It was suppsed to be a joke. I'm not baggin on anyone.

Well, I did have a bad install by them once, a few years back. Long story short, I was a dumb high school kid. I had them install an amp. They told me everything was set and that the crossovers on the amp were set. Well, the gains were maxed out and there were no crossovers set. I blew my front speakers on the way home. My rears were able to take the abuse for that short period of time. That was the exact moment I promised myself I would do everything on my car from there on out.

[HALLSAC]

Well, I did have a bad install by them once, a few years back. Long story short, I was a dumb high school kid. I had them install an amp. They told me everything was set and that the crossovers on the amp were set. Well, the gains were maxed out and there were no crossovers set. I blew my front speakers on the way home. My rears were able to take the abuse for that short period of time. That was the exact moment I promised myself I would do everything on my car from there on out.

That blows man. I wanna have somone teach me so I don't have to waste money and what not.

[ejschultz]

That blows man. I wanna have somone teach me so I don't have to waste money and what not.

I've taught myself a great deal over the last 5 years. Forums are a great place to learn. You just have to sift through all the bull sh*t. There's also nothing better than hands on experience. Start with some simple stuff like swapping speakers or a HU from an older car.

[HALLSAC]

I've taught myself a great deal over the last 5 years. Forums are a great place to learn. You just have to sift through all the bull sh*t. There's also nothing better than hands on experience. Start with some simple stuff like swapping speakers or a HU from an older car.

I'll try that man. Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

[eharri3]

Well, I did have a bad install by them once, a few years back. Long story short, I was a dumb high school kid. I had them install an amp. They told me everything was set and that the crossovers on the amp were set. Well, the gains were maxed out and there were no crossovers set. I blew my front speakers on the way home. My rears were able to take the abuse for that short period of time. That was the exact moment I promised myself I would do everything on my car from there on out.

The Best Buy around me has a habit of dialing in bass boost and agressive gain settings on both monos and 4 channels because most customers don't know the difference as long as it's loud enough and they know if they don't dial in a little extra somthin somethin some people will be a bit dissapointed. I was just at one shop the other day where I just wanted them to re-arrange my setup so the 4 channel was bridged to the fronts and the rears were off the head unit because I wanted more clean power in my front stage. They said they could get me the extra volume I want by simply cranking the gain.

Most shops around me tend to cut sub volume at the head unit then use bass boost AND crank the amplifier gains. Cutting the SW volume and raising the gains can actually be a valid tuning technique in some situations to get more low volume bass in instrumental music but I find things tend to fall apart quickly if I switch to something with a real deep, loud bass line and crank it. One shop set my crossovers for my front components at 40 HZ just because the one song that happened to be next up in my CD player seemed to lend itself to this.

If I have a shop install something no matter how squared away they seem, I normally just go easy on my stuff until I get home and re-tune it so it sounds right with all the different types of music I normally play. A shop can have all the expertise and experience in the world but it's still not a great substitute for taking time and listening to a range of music you're familiar with and tweaking from there. There's been times when I go in just to have a thing or two added or switched around and forget to tell them not to touch my settings. Then when I'm paying I hear "Oh, by the way those settings were a little off so we boosted this a bit and cranked this..." I quietly say 'thanks' but inside Im irritated because there is more work for me when I get home.

[ejschultz]

^^^ If this is the case, why don't you just do the install yourself?