6 channel amp

[worm 10+ year member]

i am very familiar with normal dual amp set ups with subs, components and all that but im about to buy a new car and it has 6 speakers. powering the amp(s) and running speaker wire is no problem, but what confuses me is the RCA's and the # of outputs a normal headunit has. what do you have to do (get) in order to have 3 outputs plus a subwoofer output? i have a high end alpine head unit so i really do not want to buy a new one if that is the case. if someone could explain this to me it would help a lot, thanks.

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[ParkRat 10+ year member]

What model Alpine do you have? This will help tell me how many rca outputs you have and if they are front, rear, sub or full range.

 

[worm 10+ year member]

cda 7897, im pretty sure it is F,R,S. In my old car i had it running with a JL 500/1 and a PPI 4-channel. it was a pretty standard set up so i didnt really have any problems wiring that, but ive never worked with 6 speakers before so im a little lost. i dont necessarily have to run a 6 channel amp but i just figured the wiring would be the same. i plan to continue to use the 500/1, i just want to ad either a 6 channel for the interior speakers or maybe a 4 and a 2 channel instead. my guess was that you use y adapters to seperate either the front or the rear into 4 channels.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Usually 6 speaker systems are only 4 channel. The front two channels are running a mid and a tweet separated by a passive crossover and the rear channel runs full range. Your head unit is perfect for that kind of setup and I doubt that you would find a unit with 6 discreet outputs plus sub. I sure don't know of one.

 

[worm 10+ year member]

im still confused, lets create an example.

say i have a set of two way components in the front (thats two channels right there, one set of outputs). then i have two sets of coaxials in the rear (four channels or two sets of outputs). and 1 amp for a subwoofer (one set of outputs)

that is 4 sets of outputs for 7 channels, where does the 4th set come in, is it from splitting the rear rca's into 4 channels???

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Why do you have two sets of coaxials in the rear?

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

And have you been led to believe that you must wire them to their own specific channel? What kind of speakers are they?

 

[worm 10+ year member]

its just an example, all im trying to say is that how can you have 6 speakers and a sub with only three sets of preamp outputs from the headunit. i dont even have this truck yet but im looking into it and i would like to know how to wire a system with 7 channels.

 

[ParkRat 10+ year member]

You don't use a set of preamps for each channel. Normally..but not always.. you will have a set of front preamps, a set of rear preamps and a sub preamp. For example with a 4 channel amp; the front preamps would be connected to the front channel input rca's on the amp and the rear preamps would be connected to the rear channel rca's on the amp. This will allow you to have left, right control as well as fader. If you have a 5 channel amp the sub preamp off the headunit would be connected to the sub input on the amp.

Many times the amp also has output rca's so you can daisy chain amps together. Back in the day(early 90's ) headunits only came with one set of preamps. I remember everytime I built a system we also had to buy a 3 or 2 way x-over. Good times.. good times.

I hope this helps.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

worm- What truck are you getting? Chances are if it is a "6 speaker stereo" from the factory, that it is as I described above a mid and a tweet on each side up front running off the two front channels, and a mid on each side in the rear running off the two rear channels. Some SUVs have a set of full range in the rear doors and another set in the very rear. I wouldn't suggest using both of these positions. Too much sound coming from behind you. Just pick one or the other and run a four channel plus sub setup.

ParkRat- Those were the days weren't they...

 

[80_Cutlass_mn 10+ year member]

Also if your convinced that you need a 6 channel amp then maybe you dont. All you have to do is wire up your sub amp and a 4 channel and when hooking up the back 4 coaxials, just wire them in parallel to get a 2 ohm load on the amps rear channels, almost all 4 or 2 channel amps for that matter can handle a 2 ohm stereo ohm load and you can run your components off the front channels with their respecting left and right configurations. So all your doin is running the front channels of the amp at 4 ohms and wiring the rear speakers in parallel to get a 2 ohm load and then hook them up to the rear channels, this should also work so you wont have to do any rca splitting or anything.

 

[worm 10+ year member]

worm- What truck are you getting? Chances are if it is a "6 speaker stereo" from the factory, that it is as I described above a mid and a tweet on each side up front running off the two front channels, and a mid on each side in the rear running off the two rear channels. Some SUVs have a set of full range in the rear doors and another set in the very rear. I wouldn't suggest using both of these positions. Too much sound coming from behind you. Just pick one or the other and run a four channel plus sub setup.
ParkRat- Those were the days weren't they...

good point with the woofer/tweeter example i didnt think of that. thanks for all the help guys. just for the hell of it, would it be the same if you originally had one set of components in the front, one in the rear, plus a sub, and then you wanted to add kick panels or something like that in the front. then would there be splitting in the rca's or would you still wire them in parallel?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Usually when you "add" kickpanels, they are instead of the front components not in addition to. Kick panels are used for better imaging of the front stage not just to add another set of speakers so you don't want an extra set of speakers with less than optimal positioning messing up the better imaging provided by the kickpanels.

 

[worm 10+ year member]

i could see how having two sets of components may mess up the imaging created by the kickpanels. so now that you explained why you wouldnt need a six or seven channel amp, why would you???

 

[LSCCEO 10+ year member]

For SQ setups where you might have surround sound or just want to adjust levels for each channel. I wanna find a 7 channel amp . . . that would be kick arse. *LOL*