does my HU have enough power?

[joelbah 10+ year member]

I'm a newb. I just put a kenwood kdc mp205 (22x4 rms) in my mazda protege 5. I am about to replace the stock speakers in the rear doors with some Concept 5.25's that I already have. After that I want to replace the 6x8's in the front doors. I am thinking about getting some pioneer rev 6x8's.

My question is, will my HU be able to power all of these speakers? I'd really rather not get an amp. I don't need it to be ridiculously loud, but I don't want to have to max out the volume etc.

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[atoprak 10+ year member]

Hi,

I dont know any thing about your 5.25s for front doors but pioneer rev 6*8 can deliver 60w rms ... which is way higher than your HU power ... I cant even feed my tsa-1682s withpioneer HU (same 4*22) ... if you install a simple amp you get way better sound from pioneer rev 6*8s.

 

[joelbah 10+ year member]

the concept speakers are 100w peak power but I don't know what the rms power is. they ran fine with my old pioneer HU that was probably 22wx4 as well. so what would happen with the revs? they would just be really quiet?

to avoid getting an amp, what are some more efficient 6x8's that are good sound quality and in the same price range as the pioneer rev's?

 

[joelbah 10+ year member]

thanks for the input...anyone else got any advice for me?

 

[atoprak 10+ year member]

Well,

If you cant provide enough power to the speakers, you cant get the full potential of the speaker.

The problem is if you can deliver 22w, you get better sound with 30w-35w rather than 60w speakers... of course it changes to speaker ... but in general speaking this is it.

... sorry I have no idea about 6*8 models.... these size is not common in my country (we generally put 6*9)...

 

[joelbah 10+ year member]

anyone know of any good lower wattage 6x8's in the same price range as pioneer rev's?

 

[Bassdude22 10+ year member]

dude i would honestly get an amp, you will be soooooo much happier

 

[Echo42987 10+ year member]

no, you need an want an amp

 

[KOL 10+ year member]

aftermarket speakers are designed to be amplified. I don't know of any HU capable of properly powering aftermaket gear.

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

the concept speakers are 100w peak power but I don't know what the rms power is. they ran fine with my old pioneer HU that was probably 22wx4 as well. so what would happen with the revs? they would just be really quiet?
to avoid getting an amp, what are some more efficient 6x8's that are good sound quality and in the same price range as the pioneer rev's?

Your pioneer internal amp was somewhere like 14 RMS. Powering the revs off the HU will give you sound, but using a higher powered amp would be a night and day difference.

 

[joelbah 10+ year member]

well the concept 5.25's worked great with just my HU, but maybe 6x8's are a different story, or maybe they would have sounded even better with an amp, but I thought they sounded much better than the factory speakers that they replaced in my old car. I'll put those in the rear doors and see how they sound as soon as I get some baffles.

I guess I have three options here.

1) get some speakers and try them with just the HU and see if they provide the desired results

2) just chill out and be content with the factory speakers (they actually sound pretty good to my inexperienced ears)

3) **** it up and get an amp and some nice 6x8's

option #2 is no fun so I can't do that.

I guess I'll go with option 1) and then I can still upgrade to option 3) later right?

so right now, I have a power acoustik bamf 800/2 amp that is powering my 2 polk ex-10 subs.

what kind of amp should I get for my other speakers...the cheaper the better...used is ok. or should I just use my current amp to power my speakers and get a new amp to power my subs?

how difficult is the installation of a component amp?

 

[joelbah 10+ year member]

however, I must say, I do find it hard to believe that there are no 6x8" speakers at all that could be powered by 22w rms and also sound significantly better than the factory speakers in my Mazda.

still open to suggestions in that area

 

[KOL 10+ year member]

however, I must say, I do find it hard to believe that there are no 6x8" speakers at all that could be powered by 22w rms and also sound significantly better than the factory speakers in my Mazda.
still open to suggestions in that area

Did anybody say that? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif Your HU may state 22×4 but it doesn't mean its the truth //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[atoprak 10+ year member]

You may go and power the 6*8 with head unit... it wiil give the sound but believe me, if you put a decent amp.. and power it up, you wont believe what you hear... like TurdFergueson2 said.. day and night difference... I had that feeling on my setup which has worse speakers (comparing with rev 6*8)... it is like upgrading from VW Golf 1.6 to Audi S3 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

22 watts RMS means you may actually see 1-10 watts give or take during normal listening. Try it. If it's loud enough that you can fully appreciate your music at say 60-70% of max volume leave it as is. If you find the volume dial needs to be maxed out for you to really appreciate your speakers it's probably time for an amp.