First time amp and speaker install

[jwcrellin]

I just picked up a DUAL amp that can do 4/3 channels at 1200 watts max 600 rms. The rear parcel shelf in my sedan already had 2 6x8 4ohm aftermarket speakers(200max) in it when I bought it. I bought a pair of kenwood 6x9 4ohm speakers(300max) and i'm thinking of wiring 2 of each in series for the 2 "front" channels. This will to cut the power going to each speaker to 75-80 rms because of the now 8 ohm resistance per channel. 4 speakers firing into the cabin from the shelf should be nice. That should leave me 600 watts max on the bridged rear channels to install a sub at 2 ohms.

Let me know if my thinking about setting this 3 Chanel setup is wrong.

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[jwcrellin]

Or, under the deck, I could wire 2 speakers in series, other 2 in series, then those in parallel to the amp. That would get all 4 speakers running a 4 ohm load on 1 channel.

Would there be a problem running the 2 ohm load for the sub on the other channel?

 

[Cm_low]

If I am understanding this correctly, you have 4 door speakers all 4 ohm and a 4 channel amp that is 2ohm stable on each channel or 4 ohm stable bridged across 2 channels and you want to add a sub to run off this amp as well, correct? If this is true I would wire the 2 fronts together down to 2 ohm on 1 channel, the 2 rear together down to 2 ohm on another channel and bridge the sub on the 2 remaining channels at 4 ohm.

 

[jwcrellin]

https://www.vminnovations.com/Product_57079/Dual-XPR540-1200W-4-Channel-Class-A-B-Amplifier.html

If I read the specs right, it says that at 2 ohm, it'll push 300wattsx4channels.

The 2 Kenwood 6x9's can handle 300rms each but the 2 Kicker 6x8 are more like 150rms. I just don't want to blow the kickers up.

 

[Cm_low]

Those specs are not correct. That is a 600w rms amp and 1200w peak. Each channel is 2 ohm stable which means the most you will see on each channel is 150watts rms unless you bridge across 2 channels @4ohm then you will be combining those channels power and outputting 300 watts. I see what you mean from their specs but those are incorrect. They even state the peak (maximum) power is 1200 watts but then contradict themselves with that 300 x4 rms statement. Also dual is another company that inflates their numbers so I doubt you would even see that 600 watts of total rms power from it.

All and all you should be safe.

 

[jwcrellin]

Okay so I went out and picked up a 2400 watt Kicker mono amp and a 2400 watt PowerAcoustik 12" subwoofer and a Kicker 4AWG wire kit and a power distribution block and a new Kenwood head unit and a relay for the signal wire to have enough current to activate both amps. I'm in the process of extending a couple of the harness wires. The system is still not working but i'm confident i'm on the right track.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Okay so I went out and picked up a 2400 watt Kicker mono amp and a 2400 watt PowerAcoustik 12" subwoofer and a Kicker 4AWG wire kit and a power distribution block and a new Kenwood head unit and a relay for the signal wire to have enough current to activate both amps. I'm in the process of extending a couple of the harness wires. The system is still not working but i'm confident i'm on the right track.

bro stop buying crap without consulting us first... you are wasting precious money on garbage aka power acoustik and all the other brands you choose.

 

[jwcrellin]

I know power acoustic isn't great because its the most powerful sub at my local Walmart and it still was only $90. If it blows up, i'll get something better.lol I'd rather spend the extra $$ on that kicker 1200.1

Wow, my soldering is way better than it used to be. how did that happen?

 

[jwcrellin]

So I got the new Kenwood head unit installed with thicker 12 awg shielded wire. Sounds better than the old aftermarket head. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX701/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X701.html

Now I just have to install the 100 amp fuse inline of a 4 awg cable, yeesh, I need to get some bolt cutters. Kicker Z-Series 2-Channel Amplifier Installation Kit 09ZCK4/CK4 - Best Buy

 

[jwcrellin]

I got the sub working. Turns out my power wire was 10awg with a 40amp blade fuse, replaced it with 4awg and a 100amp ANL fuse. I also ran a relay in the amp switch and moved the 4awg ground to a better spot after scraping some paint. Still gotta run speaker wire and anchor the 6x9's to get the 4ch amp into the party.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

It sounds like you're all caught up in associating big power ratings with big performance. That is never a good way to try to identify the worth of a piece of equipment. ALWAYS ignore peak/max power ratings. They are meaningless. RMS ratings are the ones that matter, and among the lower cost brands those are inflated too.

Is your amp the XPR-540? They can rate it however they like. The fact of the matter is it has a pair of 25A fuses.

Just so you know what it's actually capable of...

It can't possibly produce much more than 500w rms. It is more likely to be in the 400w range. That's 100x4 at 2 ohms per channel. Probably ~75w x 4 if it's running 4 ohm speakers.

Which Power Acoustik sub? The GW3? I believe that's only a dual 2 ohm sub which makes it a bit of an impedance mismatch with the Kicker. Do you understand DVC wiring? How is it wired? Parallel for 1 ohm (a problem for the amp)? Series for 4?

What type of box is the sub in? They claim it can be ported or sealed, but it's very much a sealed box sub. Either way it can't play very low. When looking at a sub's frequency response plot, something relatively flat is the goal. The curve for that sub has an obvious spike in the 50-70 hz range which will make about any music sound boomy.

 

[jwcrellin]

No I have the Gothic sub, which is a dual 4ohm voice coil, powered by a Kicker 1200 mono. I'm in the process of upgrading the wiring of the charging system under the hood and installing a 1Farad cap as a blingy distribution block.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

The GW3-12 is the gothic line. It's the only gothic 12 currently on their website. The only VC option listed on the site or in the manual is d2. But I guess it's working //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[jwcrellin]

I got the one from Walmart, so it's probably last year's model. I'm positive that it said dual 4 ohm voice coils on the box, I matched the specs very carefully when pairing with the amp.

I drilled 3 holes in my trunk floor and got some ground posts installed. I got the 4ch amp out of protection and it's now powering the 6x9's. I dare not turn my volume above 15 now.lol

Only thing left to do is install the cap and extra fuses and mount everything permanently and clean up the wiring.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Quit buying Wal Mart audio.

It's worthless.