New Guy Needing LOTS of Help

[Clayon91 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I am 15 gonna be 16 in a couple months, I got me a really good condition '91 Ford F150 reg. cab. I wanna hook up a nice sound system for when I can start cruising. I would like to have 2, 8'' subwoofers, an amplifier for the subs, and replace the stock speakers and deck. My first question is: what all do I need if I wanna have 2 subs? how many channel amp do I need? When I replace the stock speakers do they need to be run off the amp? And what about capacitators? And is there anything else I would need? I know all my newby questions are probly irritating, but I wanna do this right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

How much do you wanna spend?

 

[cyn 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I am 15 gonna be 16 in a couple months, I got me a really good condition '91 Ford F150 reg. cab. I wanna hook up a nice sound system for when I can start cruising. I would like to have 2, 8'' subwoofers, an amplifier for the subs, and replace the stock speakers and deck. My first question is: what all do I need if I wanna have 2 subs? how many channel amp do I need? When I replace the stock speakers do they need to be run off the amp? And what about capacitators? And is there anything else I would need? I know all my newby questions are probly irritating, but I wanna do this right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Amp for subs you can have a Mono amp or 2 chan amp either or. No on the Caps. Stock speakers will sound better off an amp even if its a smaller amp. on 2 8"s you could prolly do a 600watt mono on 4G wiring kit, with a 200-400watt 4 chan or 2chan amp for the front stage. with no Cap and just a good deepcycle battery replacement.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Amp for subs you can have a Mono amp or 2 chan amp either or. No on the Caps. Stock speakers will sound better off an amp even if its a smaller amp. on 2 8"s you could prolly do a 600watt mono on 4G wiring kit, with a 200-400watt 4 chan or 2chan amp for the front stage. with no Cap and just a good deepcycle battery replacement.

Pretty much but I wouldnt put stock speakers on an amp...

 

[cyn 10+ year member]

Well ya not stock but new front stage componets like he was talking about doing.. I should of reread what i wrote lol.

Or you can get a good 5Chan amp and upgrade all the wiring and throw another bat. in with an isolator and should be good or maybe 2 batts...

not sure never ran more than 1 batt...

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

I agree.

New front speakers - 6.5" comp set - make it fit and seal it like you should.

Subs - you can go 10" shallow for more output.

Amps - a 4 channel speaker amp (bridged or active) and a mono-block sub amp.

4 awg is probably plenty for an amp kit. do the Big 3, get a good AGM battery up front, (no cap) and you're set.

 

[Clayon91 10+ year member]

Okay thanks for the info guys. But I have a couple more questions. You say to seal the speakers, how do you do that and what do you use? Also, I just wanna clearify my understanding, I should get a speaker amp, and then a sub amp? As well, I should run all the speakers in my truck off an amp even if they are just replacing the oem ones?

Thanks

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

To get the most out of the setup, amplify the speakers as well. No sense in having a powerful sub setup if you can't hear the remaining 99% of the music.

As said above, 2 amps, a good 4 gauge wiring kit, new speakers, headunit, and subs. Focus a LOT on proper installation and you can have yourself a really good sounding system.

 

[Clayon91 10+ year member]

To get the most out of the setup, amplify the speakers as well. No sense in having a powerful sub setup if you can't hear the remaining 99% of the music.
As said above, 2 amps, a good 4 gauge wiring kit, new speakers, headunit, and subs. Focus a LOT on proper installation and you can have yourself a really good sounding system.

Thanks man. So I should get 2, 2 channel amps?

Thanks everybody who replied on this thread, your help was greatly appreciated. When I get all my stuff I will start a project log in that section.

 

[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

A mono or class d amp for subs, I like to use them strictly for subs due to how much more efficient they are than type a/b. a 4 channel for your speakers, even if you're only going to run 2 speakers. Look into deading your doors too while your replacing the front speakers.

 

[Clayon91 10+ year member]

What do you mean by deading my doors? Thanks for the other info though.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

to seal speakers i use weatherstripping foam - closed cell. you can buy rolls of it for $3 at hardware stores. use a continuous strip of foam on both sides of the speaker basket. one between the speaker and the mounting baffle/metal. one between the speaker and the factory plastic door panel/grill. the foam creates the important airtight seal.

for deadening doors - see my build log or this Scion tC build log.

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1369669/page/1#Post1369669

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1805987/page/1#Post1805987

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

agreed on external amplifiers for speakers. head units don't provide enough power for aftermarket speakers due to a substantial reduction in sensitivity. i don't buy or recommend 2 channel amps due to low resale and limited flexibility. i only recommend 4 channel amps. the aren't much more expensive and they are much more flexible. the right 4 channel amp can even run speakers on CH 1&2 and a sub bridged on CH 3&4. you need to coordinate the sub impedance with the minimum bridged impedance if you go that route.

but i do agree that your best bet for a sub amp is a monoblock Class D. something efficient that can give the sub plenty of power. a dual amp setup isn't that difficult to do, but it does require a fused distribution block and more effort with mounting and wire routing. these simple dual amp build logs may help you as well:

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1625041/page/1#Post1625041

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1400581/page/3#Post1400581

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1755977/page/3#Post1755977

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Why do so many people say this many channels or that many channels......none of that matters nearly as much as how much power you need at a given impedance....and that can be performed by amps with any number of channels.....channels can be bridged....speakers can be combined on channels. The number of channels aren't nearly as important as the amount of power and the features you need for your system.

short list of advantages/disadvantages of amps:

Mono-more often than not able to perform stable down to lower ohms due to no need for bridging technology.

2 Channel- able to provide power for subwoofers and speakers on different channels, though due to the demand of power of a subwoofer vs speakers it is rarely practical to use a 2 channel for more than 1 sub and 2-4 speakers. Can be useful for adding options for wiring 2 or more subs. May not be stable bridged at as low an impedance as it is per channel.

4 Channel-usually made for powering 4 or more speakers. Very versatile wiring options as well as bridging options, once again may not be as stable bridged as it is per channel per given impedance.

5 Channel+ are amps generally made for powering an entire system.

Amp features to look for:

Crossover filters- Low pass this takes out high frequencies at a given setting low pass filters are generally used for subwoofers to keep from recieving them harmful high frequencies.

High pass this takes out low frequencies at a given setting high pass filters are generally used for speakers to keep them from recieving harmful low frequencies.

The better your crossover settings, the better you system blends and more importantly the more life all your speakers/subs will have.

Crossovers are also found on middle to high end head units.

Gain allows you to set a level of output for the amplifier setting this correctly will ensure the safety of all speakers powered by the amplifier and will reduce distortion.

Subsonic filter like the high and low passes the subsonic is specifically designed to protect your subwoofer from extreme low frequencies that may be damaging.

Fuse rating in general you can calculate the true power of an amplifier better using their fuse rating and ignoreing their specifications for power, especially peak power, peak power is a marketing gimic and greatly, in some cases extremely overrated. RMS power is the general use power your continuous power and is generally more accurate, but due to standards for testing this may also be an exaggerated figure. By using the simple formula of watts=ampsxvolts you can get a more accurate guess for power output of an amplifier. Many use this formula assuming volts will be approx 10-14 Batteries are generally 12.5-12.8 resting voltage and most alternators are regulated at 13.5-14.4 volts. So multiply the amp's fuses by 10-14 and you will have a fairly accurate gauge for how much actual power that amp will put out.

Generally speaking 4 or more channel amplifiers have a mixture of these features that you can set for the front2 and rear 2 channels therefore allowing for flexibility with wiring different speakers that require different filters and power.

 

[Clayon91 10+ year member]

Thanks guys.