About to order speakers and wires. Will my setup plan work? (picture)

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

It will work fine any application under 600 watts.

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KCA is aluminum

 

[andy2lock]

It will work fine any application under 600 watts.

By "application under 600 watts" you mean the collective wattage from speakers going to Pioneer Stereo 4x50W ?

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

By 600 watts I mean the amplifier you are running the wire to.

It is rated for 50amps. Even at 12 volts, that is 600 watts. I don't care what is made of, it will work fine for 600RMS amp. People seem to care about what wire is made of too much. Unless your doing a high power system it doesn't really matter. I've done plenty of systems with 1600RMS with cheap 4 gauge (still decent strand count) with 0 issues. Most guys online will swear you need 0 gauge OFC. Thanks to advancements in class D this isn't that big of a deal anymore.

 

[andy2lock]

That still does not address the 4 ohms in parallel (2 ohms). I wouldn't try it. Not to mention i don't think just adding a tweeter like that will make it sound any better. (more likely it will sound worse) id look at adding a amp instead of the tweeter.

Just visited a car audio shop in town and asked about the parallel connection and the ohm. He said it would be a problem as it is high frequency tweeters and won't draw that much

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

Just visited a car audio shop in town and asked about the parallel connection and the ohm. He said it would be a problem as it is high frequency tweeters and won't draw that much

Ok,

1, Is your goal to have better sound, or more speakers?

What you can do, and what you should do, rarely are the same thing.

Hooking up two completely different speakers in parallel will almost never have the desired effect without a crossover built for that configuration (and placement) in between to drivers. One speaker will likely be louder than the other making your sound way out of balance. Also the same sound frequency coming from 2 different places also likely to detract from sound quality.

2, ohms is not a measurement of load it a measurement of resistant. Amplifier react to resists AND load. Will it hurt your HU i can't say for sure but id bet it would sooner or later. Personally I just don't see any benefit what so ever in doing that.

 

[dsw1204]

OFC cables would have been much better. And, definitely, get an amp. You will be very glad to have that extra power (and headroom) that an amp will give you.

 

[dsw1204]

OFC cables would have been much better. If your cables have not yet been shipped, I would call Knu (on the phone...for expediency) and cancel that order and get the OFC version of those cables. In addition, get an amp. That head unit will not be able to really push those speakers to the best of their abilities. You be very glad to have the added power (and headroom) that an amp will give you.

 

[andy2lock]

Ok,1, Is your goal to have better sound, or more speakers?

What you can do, and what you should do, rarely are the same thing.

Hooking up two completely different speakers in parallel will almost never have the desired effect without a crossover built for that configuration (and placement) in between to drivers. One speaker will likely be louder than the other making your sound way out of balance. Also the same sound frequency coming from 2 different places also likely to detract from sound quality.

2, ohms is not a measurement of load it a measurement of resistant. Amplifier react to resists AND load. Will it hurt your HU i can't say for sure but id bet it would sooner or later. Personally I just don't see any benefit what so ever in doing that.

Would you suggest just doing the tweeters in the front and cut out the Pioneer door speakers? I can't really hear much from them anyway..

 

[andy2lock]

OFC cables would have been much better. If your cables have not yet been shipped, I would call Knu (on the phone...for expediency) and cancel that order and get the OFC version of those cables. In addition, get an amp. That head unit will not be able to really push those speakers to the best of their abilities. You be very glad to have the added power (and headroom) that an amp will give you.

Unfortunately they already shipped and will arrive tomorrow.

If I get an amp, how many channels and which speakers should the amp run?

 

[dsw1204]

Unfortunately they already shipped and will arrive tomorrow.If I get an amp, how many channels and which speakers should the amp run?

Without knowing your budget, it's hard to say. But, you have an opportunity here to go active. But, you'll have to ditch the Pioneer coaxial speakers up front (having the coaxials and separate tweeters up front wasn't going to work well, anyhow). Switch the Pioneers out and look at something like Dayton Audio DC160-8 6.5" woofers (you can get these for about $21/each at parts express). Ditch the Kenwood speakers in back, since you have the sub back there anyway. Now, you will need a 5-channel amp and I found the NVX JAD900.5 at sonicelectronix.com for $225. This amp will work very nicely because it has crossover ability and you won't have to get separate crossovers and each channel of the amp can push each individual driver, including the sub. That's it. Your set up and active. Almost forgot, you will need to get an amp kit for the amplifier and get OFC cables, not CCA (copper clad aluminum). You really do want copper in your wires, not aluminum.

Now, I'm no expert when talking about going active. But, to my understanding, this setup will get you active and running very fine. Except (and this is just personal preference), I don't like the head unit you are using for the main reason of it only having preamp voltage of only 2 volts. I've always like having as strong a signal going to my amp as possible (currently I have an 8 volt head unit). I know a lot of people say that amps can't handle an 8 volt signal, but mine is...I just keep the gains way down and I get absolutely no clipping. If you have a weak signal going to your amp, the amp will just be amplifying a weak signal...and that is not good. I think a 4 volt head unit would be good in your case. Actually, I found a 5 volt head unit on Ebay. It's the Sony MEX-XB100BT and you can get it for under $170. It has great reviews on sonicelectronix.com.

But, seriously, even if you don't upgrade your head unit, you have a great opportunity to go active and everybody says going active is much, much better that staying passive.

Well, I'm done rambling.

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

^^^Good points.

I think you should give yourself a budget, and go from there.

Don't worry about rear speakers, get your front right first. Some 6.5" (or the biggest door speakers you can fit, a good tweeter, and a inexpensive amp (with crossover built in) would be my suggestion as the priority. You already have a sub.

 

[andy2lock]

Without knowing your budget, it's hard to say. But, you have an opportunity here to go active. But, you'll have to ditch the Pioneer coaxial speakers up front (having the coaxials and separate tweeters up front wasn't going to work well, anyhow). Switch the Pioneers out and look at something like Dayton Audio DC160-8 6.5" woofers (you can get these for about $21/each at parts express). Ditch the Kenwood speakers in back, since you have the sub back there anyway. Now, you will need a 5-channel amp and I found the NVX JAD900.5 at sonicelectronix.com for $225. This amp will work very nicely because it has crossover ability and you won't have to get separate crossovers and each channel of the amp can push each individual driver, including the sub. That's it. Your set up and active. Almost forgot, you will need to get an amp kit for the amplifier and get OFC cables, not CCA (copper clad aluminum). You really do want copper in your wires, not aluminum.
Now, I'm no expert when talking about going active. But, to my understanding, this setup will get you active and running very fine. Except (and this is just personal preference), I don't like the head unit you are using for the main reason of it only having preamp voltage of only 2 volts. I've always like having as strong a signal going to my amp as possible (currently I have an 8 volt head unit). I know a lot of people say that amps can't handle an 8 volt signal, but mine is...I just keep the gains way down and I get absolutely no clipping. If you have a weak signal going to your amp, the amp will just be amplifying a weak signal...and that is not good. I think a 4 volt head unit would be good in your case. Actually, I found a 5 volt head unit on Ebay. It's the Sony MEX-XB100BT and you can get it for under $170. It has great reviews on sonicelectronix.com.

But, seriously, even if you don't upgrade your head unit, you have a great opportunity to go active and everybody says going active is much, much better that staying passive.

Well, I'm done rambling.

Thank you very much for taking time to write this! Very helpful!

Now I kinda have reached my budget limit for now with the order I made.. I definitely want to go this route in the near future, but for now I think I have to try to set up with what I have.

That being said, you mentioned using an amp to the sub, even tho the sub has a built-in amp - so a powered sub?

What do you think of moving my Kenwood 6" up front and ditch the Pioneers 4" ?

So then I will have the Rockford powered sub in the back, and Kenwood speakers and Rockford tweeters in front running from the Pioneer stereo?

many thanks!

 

[dsw1204]

Thank you very much for taking time to write this! Very helpful!Now I kinda have reached my budget limit for now with the order I made.. I definitely want to go this route in the near future, but for now I think I have to try to set up with what I have.

That being said, you mentioned using an amp to the sub, even tho the sub has a built-in amp - so a powered sub?

What do you think of moving my Kenwood 6" up front and ditch the Pioneers 4" ?

So then I will have the Rockford powered sub in the back, and Kenwood speakers and Rockford tweeters in front running from the Pioneer stereo?

many thanks!

I don't know exactly what Kenwoods you have, but I am assuming they are coaxial speakers, as well. Thus, they will not help if you are going to install the Pioneer tweeters. Remember, the Kenwoods (if they are coaxial speakers) will have tweeters in the speakers which will conflict with the Pioneer tweeters. What you will need is a midbass driver (aka woofer) such as those Daytons I mentioned earlier. They are just that, woofers and will only produce frequencies up to a certain point. Tweeters will go higher. Which is why you want an amp that has crossover abilities that will go high enough to crossover at the right point (frequency), such as that NVX amp I mentioned earlier. I suppose you could buy separate crossovers and now worry about the crossovers in the amp, but I would figure that would just be additional monies that don't have to be spent.

I did not realize that the Rockford sub was a powered sub. In that case, you don't need a 5 channel amp. A 4-channel amp will work, as long as it has the crossover abilities needed for your setup. Now, be careful here. I purchased an Arc Audio amp who's specs said it had crossover abilities up to 5500 hz. But, the PUBLISHED spec sheet was wrong. When I got the amp, indications on the amp only went to 550 hz, not 5500 hz. When I called Arc Audio on this, they even didn't realize this. They then told me the specifications (regarding this) was wrong. The lesson here is: Look at the back of the amp and see how the markings are listed. If I would have looked at a picture of the back of my Arc amp, I would have seen that the crossover ability of the amp was only 550 hz, not the 5500 hz listed in the spec sheet. So, again, you don't need a 5-channel amp if you have a powered sub. A 4-channel will do. But, since you already purchased separate tweeters, you will need a 4-channel amp with crossover abilities that go high enough to service the tweeters (and don't forget to actually look at the back of the amp and see how high up the crossover will be).

 

[andy2lock]

I don't know exactly what Kenwoods you have, but I am assuming they are coaxial speakers, as well. Thus, they will not help if you are going to install the Pioneer tweeters. Remember, the Kenwoods (if they are coaxial speakers) will have tweeters in the speakers which will conflict with the Pioneer tweeters. What you will need is a midbass driver (aka woofer) such as those Daytons I mentioned earlier. They are just that, woofers and will only produce frequencies up to a certain point. Tweeters will go higher. Which is why you want an amp that has crossover abilities that will go high enough to crossover at the right point (frequency), such as that NVX amp I mentioned earlier. I suppose you could buy separate crossovers and now worry about the crossovers in the amp, but I would figure that would just be additional monies that don't have to be spent.
I did not realize that the Rockford sub was a powered sub. In that case, you don't need a 5 channel amp. A 4-channel amp will work, as long as it has the crossover abilities needed for your setup. Now, be careful here. I purchased an Arc Audio amp who's specs said it had crossover abilities up to 5500 hz. But, the PUBLISHED spec sheet was wrong. When I got the amp, indications on the amp only went to 550 hz, not 5500 hz. When I called Arc Audio on this, they even didn't realize this. They then told me the specifications (regarding this) was wrong. The lesson here is: Look at the back of the amp and see how the markings are listed. If I would have looked at a picture of the back of my Arc amp, I would have seen that the crossover ability of the amp was only 550 hz, not the 5500 hz listed in the spec sheet. So, again, you don't need a 5-channel amp if you have a powered sub. A 4-channel will do. But, since you already purchased separate tweeters, you will need a 4-channel amp with crossover abilities that go high enough to service the tweeters (and don't forget to actually look at the back of the amp and see how high up the crossover will be).

Thank you for that input! I will def check that back of the sub.

The tweeters that I ordered are Rockford Fosgate Prime R1T-S 1-Inch Tweeter with a built in crossover.

The Kenwood are 2-way 5,5" coaxial speakers.