are amplifiers actually worth using?

[m^ke 10+ year member]

the reason im asking this is.

i have recently gone from unamped 5.25" in-phase component speakers to amped dual 6.5" components. when i say dual, i mean, 4X 6.5" components, 2 to each xover.

dont get me wrong, they sound nice, & the midrange couldnt be any better, but it just dont seem to be any louder.

i thought the whole point in getting new higher power speakers & amping them up was so you can have them play louder?

heres some details....:

Flexible 2-way frequency crossover with:

tweeter level adjustment -3 / 0 / +3 dB with gold plated repositionable jumpers

4 ohm / 2 ohm switchable for the operation of two woofer systems

integrated tweeter protection

&

Technical Data:

Power RMS/ MAX.

60/ 80 Watt

Sensitivity

90 dB 1W/1m

Frequency range

50 Hz - 21 kHz

& heres the info on the amplifier, its currently in bridge mode.

Technical Data:

Power RMS / Musik at 4 x 4Ohm at 13,8 Volt

4 x 60/120 Watt

Power RMS / Musik at 4 x 2Ohm at 13,8 Volt

4 x 100/200 Watt

Power RMS/Musik 2 x 4 Ohm bridged

2 x 180/360 Watt

Total harmonic distortion

Signal to noise ratio

> 93 dB

Bassboost adjustment

0-18 dB

Frequency range Highpass

15 Hz-4 kHz

Frequency range Lowpass

40 Hz-4 kHz

Frequency range Bandpass

15 Hz-4 kHz

Frequency range

10 Hz-30 kHz

TIM distortion

Input sensitivity

200 mV - 8 V

Fuse

2 x 25 A

Input impedance

10 kOhm

Dimensions (H/W/D) in mm

64 x 245 x 400

Weight netto

4,6 kg

my stereo is a sony stereo & thats 4X50W so it seems that theres no need for a amp? or i have made a very big mistake in buying lower RMS speakers?

plus the amp gets RED hot to touch, i mean realy hot, that you carnt touch it.

any help in this matter? im starting to feel that i have waisted alot of money on this kit.

Click to read more...

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

Is it a Volfenhag amp?

 

[Jybfan04 10+ year member]

the headunits don't put out exactlyh 50 watts more like 22watts..

 

[m^ke 10+ year member]

no helix dark blue 4

http://www.audiotec-fischer.com/englisch/produkte/endstufen.html

the components are also helix precision H236

the amp should be about correct for the speakers, the sound is awesome, midrange vibrates the car.

when i play dia straits its sweet as a bell, but any other type of music & its realy not to clever, i carnt play it as loud.

this is why im thinking that theres no point in useing amps, only to power a sub in the rear...

cos theres no benefit from it, & it only costs money in buying the cabling & the amp in the first place,

you might aswell just buy new speakers & run them on the HU, as the amp wont make the speakers sound any louder.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Do not toast that (very) nice amp.

You need to review your filters and processing setup.

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

You have the equipment to get VERY nice sound.........just need to set it up right.

 

[m^ke 10+ year member]

thats easier said than done, i have just spend at least 20 mins reading "how to set gains" & "amplifier settings" & they contradict themselves....

how do i set it up right then? & is it even possible to set right? as all types of music is different from each other, & the music them selfs are different.

 

[CRXican 10+ year member]

do you even know what the final ohm load is with 4 speakers running off two channels?

 

[m^ke 10+ year member]

yes, 4ohm, i can change the jumper on the xover to 2ohm, or leave the jumper on the 4ohm.

Flexible 2-way frequency crossover with:

tweeter level adjustment -3 / 0 / +3 dB with gold plated repositionable jumpers

4 ohm / 2 ohm switchable for the operation of two woofer systems

integrated tweeter protection

the xovers have just the normal "input" "woofer" "tweeter" on there, so i have wired 2 speakers to one xover. & just left the single tweeter on the xover.

im thinking as i have left the xover jumper on 4ohm, itll be 4oh.

or am i missing some thing here?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Good speakers and amps are transparent. They don't care if the music is different, they only reproduce what they are given. The likely reason that they don't seem as loud is either because as suggested things are not set up correctly or that the lack of distortion makes them seem like they are not as loud because they don't hurt your ears.

You're missing something. It doesn't work the way you seem to think. You can wire the pair of mids to the crossover but unless the crossover is configured correctly it will not work as it should and the division frequency will be totally out of whack. In addition, if you have two mids wire in parallel, the amp will see a two ohm load at the freqs where they are playing. Chances are that your amp isn't going to like that 2 ohm load when bridged.

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

thats easier said than done, i have just spend at least 20 mins reading "how to set gains" & "amplifier settings" & they contradict themselves....
how do i set it up right then? & is it even possible to set right? as all types of music is different from each other, & the music them selfs are different.

20 minutes isnt really that long.

Are there any reputable shops around you?

Maybe a forum member?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

He's in the UK.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

if you have two mids wire in parallel, the amp will see a two ohm load at the freqs where they are playing

* which explains why the amp is too hot.

 

[m^ke 10+ year member]

how can this be if the xover is designed to run 2 mids in 4ohm, so the amp will only still see 4ohm.

 

[SilverSquared 10+ year member]

I never saw components that were made to operate in the fashion you speak of. I thought each speaker, tweeter, woofer has its own connection.