Noob fell into some gold

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Well, eventually I was wanting to have the 'ceiling speakers' hinged so with barn doors open, they can face out the rear. For tailgates, lake parties and what not. Actually thinking that through a little further now that I am buying equipment, I'm going to want them to have a front channel feed for this purpose right?
How do I plan on running 6 speakers? The details to this answer I'm hoping to figure out here on this forum. I know my factory setup takes the rear feed into an auxiliary amp which feeds all 4 (rear doors and ceiling). Am I going to have to replicate this with a 2nd 4 channel amp? One with 1 input?

Why can I not just connect 2 sets of leads to the amp to power 2 sets of respective speakers?

Hence why and I'm willing to bet no other Tahoe/Suburban owners are not using the ceiling speakers, exactly why they aren't being powered.

Ya you could split the power but they'd be getting 1/2 power than ch 1 and ch 2 will be getting.

Kinda a waste of a 4 ch amp using only 1/2 of it. But that's totally your choice.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

If you don't care about time alignment for the ceiling speakers, you could just splice them into the rear door speaker wires.

If you are using 2 sets of 4 ohm speakers, it will present a 2 ohm load to the amp per channel. Most amps are 2 ohm stable. I have 4 front door speakers running at 2 ohms, and 2 rear speakers running at 4 ohms. I just set the gains to balance the sound for rear fill for passengers.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'll have my door panels apart this weekend. I'll take some measurements of existing tweeter location and make sure those Vifa XT 25's fit before I order them. Just did some reading on them, looks like exactly what I want! Thanks for the tip!
As far as budget, up to $300 on 4 channel amp. There is a JBL Power 300.4 on my local craigslist for $200. Doing some searching on it, lead me to someone selling refurbs of it for $150. Is this amp worth that? The only stats I have a decent grasp on is watts and crossover abilities..

JBL amps are quite good for the money, but shop around. There's a pretty wide variance between MSRP and what you can find them for as refurbs or new old stock, etc. Nothing wrong with the Rockford Power stuff if you have the deep pockets and want everything matching.

IMO if you have aftermarket head unit the absolute best thing to do would be to run all new wires to the new speakers from the amps. If, as you say, you're handy you'll be able to pop panels, pull out seats, and tuck everything under the carpet easy enough and snake new wire into the doors.

 

[EppNation]

If you don't care about time alignment for the ceiling speakers, you could just splice them into the rear door speaker wires.If you are using 2 sets of 4 ohm speakers, it will present a 2 ohm load to the amp per channel. Most amps are 2 ohm stable. I have 4 front door speakers running at 2 ohms, and 2 rear speakers running at 4 ohms. I just set the gains to balance the sound for rear fill for passengers.

I plan on getting one the Imprint Sound Processor which claims to correct timing alignment among other things.

As far as splicing ceiling speakers to rear doors creating 2 ohm. Would splicing stand alone tweeters to front speakers do the same thing? What if tweeters weren't same resistance as woofers? Like a 6 ohm or 8 ohm tweeter and 4 ohm door speakers?

Thank you

 

[EppNation]

JBL amps are quite good for the money, but shop around. There's a pretty wide variance between MSRP and what you can find them for as refurbs or new old stock, etc. Nothing wrong with the Rockford Power stuff if you have the deep pockets and want everything matching.
IMO if you have aftermarket head unit the absolute best thing to do would be to run all new wires to the new speakers from the amps. If, as you say, you're handy you'll be able to pop panels, pull out seats, and tuck everything under the carpet easy enough and snake new wire into the doors.

I've got no doubts buying refurbs as long as they meet the 1 condition of having a manufacturer warranty of 1 year. Not to say I would buy something with only a claimed 90 day, but the way I see it, if the manufacturer will warrant a product for the same allotted time as their brand new ones, then it's as good as the new ones.

A big 10-4 on the speaker wire tip //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gifView attachment 26553535

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I've got no doubts buying refurbs as long as they meet the 1 condition of having a manufacturer warranty of 1 year. Not to say I would buy something with only a claimed 90 day, but the way I see it, if the manufacturer will warrant a product for the same allotted time as their brand new ones, then it's as good as the new ones.
A big 10-4 on the speaker wire tip //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gifView attachment 26553535

Yep.... wire is cheap enough if you buy a roll.

Check eBay for JBL/Infinity refurb stuff direct from JBL/Harmon eBay store. Sometimes if they have a big stock of something they actually post auctions and you can score some great deals. I've had great results buying direct from JBL/Harmon on eBay.

 

[EppNation]

If you don't care about time alignment for the ceiling speakers, you could just splice them into the rear door speaker wires.If you are using 2 sets of 4 ohm speakers, it will present a 2 ohm load to the amp per channel. Most amps are 2 ohm stable. I have 4 front door speakers running at 2 ohms, and 2 rear speakers running at 4 ohms. I just set the gains to balance the sound for rear fill for passengers.

With splicing 4 ohm speakers, creating a 2 ohm load to the amp, the amp is going to put out it's rated "2 ohm" wattage right? Then is that wattage split between the 2 speakers?

Say an amp is 50w x4 @ 4 ohm and then 100w x4 @2 ohm, hooking a single 4ohm speaker will obviously receive 50w, but splicing in 2 speakers @ 2ohm, does each receive 100w? or to they each get 50w?

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

No, each speaker will receive 50w because you are splitting 100W by 2 speakers...

 

[EppNation]

No, each speaker will receive 50w because you are splitting 100W by 2 speakers...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbcool.gif.25d3f515a7f948dd6be51428263071ef.gif

Seemed to obvious, wanted to confirm lol

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

No problem, some parts of car audio can be confusing. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif