Need a good & affordable amp for my in car speakers

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

My subs are drowning out my highs, so I was planning on buying an amp for my in car speakers but I don't know much about which would be best for me. I have 4 6x8 Kenwood KFC-X680's (Kenwood Excelon KFC-X680 6"x8" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com). I just want an amp that is not too expensive and is powerful enough to at least match the highs with the lows. What do u guys suggest? And also, are the speakers that I currently have "good"? Or should I get some better ones?

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[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

Amp that does 50Wx4

Speakers are pretty crappy, you should sell those to get one nice set of components to run in the front, and disregard the rear speakers

 

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

thanks man. do u have any suggestions for like a specific amp and speakers?

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

What's your budget?

 

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

well for the amp, maybe like somewhere between $100-300

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

For your current speakers: MB Quart DSC-450 (dsc450) - 4-Channel Amplifiers - Sonic Electronix

But I still recommend you get a component set for the front.

 

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

ok thanks. How much better would component speakers sound compared to a good set of 6x8 speakers? Because I really don't feel like custom installing the tweeters and crossover

 

[DarkScorpion 10+ year member]

ok thanks. How much better would component speakers sound compared to a good set of 6x8 speakers? Because I really don't feel like custom installing the tweeters and crossover

You don't need to really fiberglass anything, if that's what you mean by custom installing - you could flush mount or surface mount your tweets to your sail panel or in the door, and it could have the potential to look and sound pretty good. The crossovers can be hidden almost anywhere - under the dash, in the door, in the kick panels, or wherever there's enough space to get them secure. It pretty much takes the same amount of effort to do that stuff as installing speakers and running wire does. The effort is definitely worth it IMO.

A single set of decent/good component speakers in the front can go a looooong way compared to 2 pairs of 6x8's. If you're happy with your current system, then I wouldn't worry about it, but if your current setup leaves much to be desired, then we can help you out. I wouldn't pull the trigger yet on the DSC450 - while it's good, you can go with one of it's bigger brothers, the DSC480 or the DSC4125. The DSC4125 is easily one of the most popular 4-channel amps on this forum at the moment. Sadly though, is has been discontinued so not only is the price going up, but dealers are selling the last of their inventory so you should act fast if you feel your future system could warrant such an amp. I have it myself and couldn't be happier.

However, don't count out the the DSC480 - if you wanted to go with a single component set up front, that amp can be bridged to provide 320w x 2 @ 4ohms, which is more than enough power for a single set of components (or 80 x 4). Even the DSC450 does 200x2 bridged at 4ohms, which is ample power for a set of comps, so it's basically up to you with what to go with. I'd personally go with the 480 or 4125 so if you ever wanted to run a single amp to power your front comps and a sub, or if you wanted to run some rear fill, you'd still have a good amount of power for everything. It basically means more flexibility in the future.

There are, of course, PLENTY of other 4-channel amps to choose from. MBQuart is great, but don't forget to take a look at Sundown, Crescendo, or Audioque - those are some of the most popular brands on the forums right now, and for good reason.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

You don't need to really "custom install" anything - you could flush mount or surface mount your tweets to your sail panel or in the door, and it could have the potential to look and sound pretty good.
A single set of decent/good component speakers in the front can go a looooong way compared to 2 pairs of 6x8's. If you're happy with your current system, then I wouldn't worry about it, but if your current setup leaves much to be desired, then we can help you out. I wouldn't pull the trigger yet on the DSC450 - while it's good, you can go with one of it's bigger brothers, the DSC480 or the DSC4125. The DSC4125 is easily one of the most popular 4-channel amps on this forum at the moment. Sadly though, is has been discontinued so not only is hte price going up, but dealers are selling the last of their inventory so you should act fast if you feel your future system could warrant such an amp. I have it myself and couldn't be happier.

However, don't throw out the the DSC480 - if you wanted to go with a single component set up front, that amp can be bridged to provide 320w x 2 @ 4ohms, which is more than enough power for a single set of components. Even the DSC450 does 200x2 bridged at 4ohms, which is ample power for a set of comps, so it's basically up to you with what to go with. I'd personally go with the 480 or 4125 so if you ever wanted to run a single amp to power your front comps and a sub, or if you wanted to run some rear fill, you'd still have a good amount of power for everything.

There are, of course, PLENTY of other 4-channel amps to choose from. MBQuart is great, but don't forget to take a look at Sundown, Crescendo, or Audioque - those are some of the most popular brands on the forums right now, and for good reason.

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[tekk45 10+ year member]

American Bass SQ945. Clean affordable power. I run one on a pair of SQ 5.25's up front and SQ6x9's in the rear. The SQ945 will out run my MTX 1501D on 2 American Bass DX 12's.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Scosche SA68 5.25" / 6.5" to 6 x 8 Car Speaker Adaptors: eBay Motors (item 290435163269 end time Jun-12-10 12:48:47 PDT)

PHOENIX GOLD RSD6CS NEW 6" COMPONENT SPEAKERS RSD 6CS - eBay (item 120566989713 end time Jun-06-10 17:19:23 PDT)

with that mb quart amp

CADENCE CWM6-KIT ALUMINUM ALLOY 6.5" COMPONENT KIT - eBay (item 290439613402 end time May-30-10 15:19:42 PDT)

(35.95) POWERBASS S-6C

6.5" 210W 2-WAY COMPONENT SYSTEM

in front

 

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

this forum is so helpful! thanks!

so do people tend to put components in the rear also? or they usually put components in the front and maybe some 6x8's in the back (depending on what size ur car takes)? and would I need to get those speaker adapters that mclerico83 mentioned for the component speakers to fit?

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

components fron rear is for fill and 6x8s in rear will be fine.

 

[Bennieficial 10+ year member]

what exactly do u mean by "fill"?

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

it creats a hall experience as if the music is surrounding u, some people like the concert feel so they get rid of the rear speakers all together

ig difference between a concert hall and car: size of the acoustic space!

Well rear fill is just that, fill.

The true idea of rear fill is to have a range of sound, say from 100Hz or so up to around 3,000Hz. This sound shouldnt extend into the midbass are to much or go to high where you need a tweeter, just a single cone speaker.

To create the "fill" the sound must come from down low. Mainly from the area your rear sits on low... also as far back as you can get it inside the listening area.

Think of it this way. Take your stock radio with 6x9's on the rear deck. Fade it to the rear. Turn the volume way up. Sit in the back seat as normal. Loud isnt it?

Now put your head close to where your rear sits in the seat. Not loud at all is it?

Thats because the sound is mainly filling the plane at which the speakers are mounted...