Install help with decisions.

[Broggie]

Hi. I have recently bought an Alpine ilx-f905d HALO head unit. The vehicle it is being fitted to is a 2015 Fiat panda cross 4x4. The front speakers will be Focal PS165 FX and the rears will be Focal icu 130’s. As you may be aware the ilx-f905d has a class d internal amplifier rated at 50w x 4. Previously I had used an Alpine head unit (CDE-205DAB) with non class d internal amplification and found it wanting and needed to add a Focal impulse 4.320 amp to add the required amount of power at the speakers. Now I am planning the fitment of the new ilx-f905d and really need to know whether the new class d amplification in this head unit is up to what I am wanting from it… else I will be considering a Focal performance series FDS4.350 to give it that extra help. At which point a further question comes in whether to wire the rear speakers direct to the head unit and run the fronts bridged from the FDS4.350, or whether the amplifier would be too much for the front speakers alone. I do have a small Rockford Fosgate P300-10 10” active subwoofer to add some body to the overall sound. I’m not looking to deafen myself, did enough of that when I was younger, but I appreciate decent sound and as I am getting older I really only want to take the car apart once. Thank you for your thoughts and help.

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[Doxquzme Premium Member]

I'd bridge the Focal to the front set, run the HU ro the mids and tweets in the rear. The rears are essentially just fill anyway and the leads on those are easy to manipulate. That way you'd get 50 watts/50 watts to rear 5.25" midbass/tweeter drivers and 160 watts a side to the Focals in the front.

 

[HardofWhoring]

I wouldn't do any of that.

That head unit is 50w x4 MAX.
Those fronts are 80w RMS, and the rears will be 60w RMS.
If that's me, I don't think you can use the head unit for those two sets. You're just gonna lose out on some. I also like to power over RMS, and think you would want 100-120 for the fronts, and about 80 on the rears.

If you got 130s in the rear, you should be able to fit 5 1/4 right? If that's me, I'm either getting 5 1/4 that can do 80-100w on the rear, or I'm gettin a 4x 100w amp, but specifically one that will let me set the gain independently for ch 1& 2, and then 3 &4. It's not much of a wattage and you could easily do 80w to both. Just have to dial it in right.

If you're not sure how to set amp gain, so you get your exact wattage:

 

[Old_Slapper]

As mentioned, your deck is 50 watts max. Your RMS is about 16. Also, there a lot more that goes into an amp that makes it put out cleaner power than a deck. I would recommend a 60w x 4 amp. That is an extremely clean system you're looking at. Do it justice and get the appropriate gear to push it. You can't go wrong with Focal amps. The FPX 5.1200 is a pretty nice amp.

 

[Broggie]

Thank you for your kind replies. I have decided to use an amplifier I purchased for another install, but subsequently never used. I was concerned it might be overkill but maybe it was just the right purchase for the wrong car and this is the right one. It’s an Audiotech Fischer Helix P-SIX DSP Mk2.