Comps on Amp Rear fill on HU?

[AMA 10+ year member]

If I ran my components in the front off an amp and left my factory 6x9's on the factory head unit would it sound bad? would my 6x9's sound different than they do now?

Thankx.

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[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Are your 6x9's powered by the HU now?

Lots of people do that. Key is to use your fader wisely so that your 6x9's dont pull your stage back by becoming localizable.

 

[AMA 10+ year member]

yes my 6x9's are powered by my factory HU. Everything is stock right now. I have a component set I'm about to put in w/ a new amp. I am considering getting a 2 channel amp to save money. The guy at the car stereo store told me that I should get the 4 channel and disconnect my rears until I can put some better quality speakers in the rear or if I got the 2 channel not to run anything in the rear at all.. He said it would not sound right if the rears ran off the factory HU. He said the 6x9"s would sound worse than they do now if I did. Is that true?

He added that I would have good sound quality in front and bad in rear. I understand that especially since my comps are Focal's, but since 80% of your sound comes from the front stage will it really be that big of a deal?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

yes my 6x9's are powered by my factory HU. Everything is stock right now. I have a component set I'm about to put in w/ a new amp. I am considering getting a 2 channel amp to save money. The guy at the car stereo store told me that I should get the 4 channel and disconnect my rears until I can put some better quality speakers in the rear or if I got the 2 channel not to run anything in the rear at all.. He said it would not sound right if the rears ran off the factory HU. He said they would sound worse than they do now if I did.
Is that true?

Let's see here....

Before installing any of the new gear the rear speakers are driven by HU power.

After installing new gear the rear speakers are driven by HU power.

Ask him exactly how installing a set of components and an amp to drive them is going to make the rears sound worse then they do now since nothing associated with them is changing in the least?

There are many folks who subscribe to the theory that rear fill is an unnecessary waste at best and a completely unjustified expenditure at worst. I hold my own council on that but we're not here to discuss my preferences...

If you plan on installing speakers at some future point that you will want to amplify then getting a 4ch amp now and only using half of it to power the front components isn't such a bad idea as preparing for future needs is never a bad thing.

Another route is go with the 2ch now and leave the rears on HU power and if you decide later that you dislike the result upgrade to a 4ch amp.

Sounds like the stereo shop guy isn't completely off base but still trying to make an upsale in the meantime...

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

just get rid of the rears all together and install your fronts right.

 

[AMA 10+ year member]

Thanks for the replies.

Prowler thats what I thought regarding the before and after.

I went to car toys and talked to the guy who sold me the comps and he mentioned that if I run the factory 6x9's off the stock HU the comps would drown them out (they'd be amped) & that if I got say a $100 pair of 6x9's (I mentioned infinity's as an example) and ran them off the stock HU that it wouldn't sound right and that I really needed better quality 6x9's like the focal's or the infinity kappas and should amp them. He said I needed something of more equal quality to my comps than a $100 dollar pair of speakers to get better sound and equality.

But a lot of people favor no rear fill or just running their rear fill of the HU. It makes me wonder what I should do regarding 2 or 4 channels. I do like rear fill in my car though. I like that enveloping full sound as compared to playing with my fader and hearing what only the fronts alone would sound like. Of course the comps will sound way better than the stocks. Also at this point I have no intention of putting subs in my car.

Any thoughts?

 

[chucku 10+ year member]

If you dont want subs then you need 6x9 subs or 6x9 comps in the rear. Tang band makes a 6x9 sub. Try searching and hopefully others will post more useful info.

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

If you dont want subs then you need 6x9 subs or 6x9 comps in the rear. Tang band makes a 6x9 sub. Try searching and hopefully others will post more useful info.

I'd say this would be a route worth considering.

TB 6x9: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=264-838

There are a couple other models of TB 6x9 subs. The one linked above is the 12mm Xmax model.