bi-amping advisable with this set up?

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

i have a Kicker kx650.4 4 channel amp pushing morel hybrid ovation 6" components in the front. no rear staging, no plans for rear staging. my guy at the audio shop has been doing car audio for 26 years and said no to bi-amp it but i am not happy with the volume of the components. plus, i believe them to be rather underpowered. check out these specs (PLEASE):

Kicker 4 channel:

Power Output:

Input Voltage at 14.4 Volts:

120 watts x 4 into 4 ohms (≤1% THD+N)

170 watts x 4 into 2 ohms (≤1% THD+N)

325 watts x 2 into 4 ohms bridged (≤1% THD+N)

Input Voltage at 13.8 Volts:

70 watts x 4 into 4 ohms (0.085% THD+N)

135 watts x 4 into 2 ohms (0.5% THD+N)

250 watts x 2 into 4 ohms bridged (0.5% THD+N)

Morel Components

(OVERALL specs for woofer and tweeter listed sep. below):

Nominal Impedance 4 Ohm

Power Handling 160W

Max. Transient Power Handling 600W

WOOFER:

Nominal Impedance 4 Ohm

Power Handling 160W

Max. Transient Power Handling 600W

Morel Tweeter:

Impedance 4 Ohm

Power Handling 110W

Max. Transient Power Handling 300W

i appreciate any advice. i am very interested, but not completely clear, on the benefits of an active system.

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[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Rather than biamping which won't give you much more power at all, bridge the amp to two channels and run one side off one bridged set and the other channel off the other. An experienced installer should know this...

 

[GordonW 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/iagree.gif.15d6c075ee8d3913ba26866d06993068.gif What he said.

Those Morels can use a lof of VOLTAGE drive... unlike subs, they don't need a lot of current, but they do need a lot of voltage "swing"... bridging the amp DOUBLES the voltage available to drive them. Should help!

Otherwise, you want a different amp... 2-channel with a LOT of 4 ohm power. Doesn't matter as much what it does into 2 ohms... but you'd want like at least 200w/ch into 4 ohms...

Regards,

Gordon.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

i greatly appreciate you guys helpin me out. how much does the likelihood that I will blow the speakers increase by bridging them? also, am i correct in assuming that if the amp begins to clip at volume 23/35 presently, that it will be the same if the channels are bridged? would it affect where the amp clips?

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

If you set the gains properly using the gain setting tutorial and a DMM, you shouldn't have any problems with the speakers using the extra power.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

basically, i was about to take my car in today to have the channels bridged and the wattage pushing my morel components doubled. you guys all told me they could handle a lot more wattage, just as i would have thought they could. however, with just the one channel wired to the left component system, the woofer blew last night (big time). i am not very knowledgable, so if that, for example, is indicative of a shoddy wiring job or that i am just blasting my music too loud, please share your opinions (since i gotta decide if i am going to bridge them before i take my car in a just a few hours).

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

When you look at your current gain adjustment, where is it at?

While it is true that underpowering your speakers can never blow them....a severly clipped waveform and excess heat can!! That's my guess as to what happened. Either that or you got a bad mid to begin with.

You really need to learn a bit more about how to properly set up your own system. By what you said about the shop, I wouldn't trust them to do anything without them clearling explaining ALL the options for your system because bridging a 4 channel in this instance makes A LOT more sense!!

Here's some reading to get you started:

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/57210.html

http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm