School me on 2 vs 4 channel amp for 1 set of components?

[perferd 10+ year member]

Hope the title made sense but basically what would make me choose either a 2 or 4 channel amp for 1 set of components? The components would be ID XS-65's which are 4 ohm 125 RMS 250 Peak...

I wont have any other speakers and I wont have a sub for some time either...

Feel free to talk very slow and use small words with me being a newb lol...

Click to read more...

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

When the tweeters are brought up closer to to being on axis and creating the true stage (window pillar/dash pods, etc), they will sound louder. a good reason for using multiple amps with active crossovers is because you can buy the amps that matches the drivers, ex: 50 watts/ch for tweets, 100w/ch for mids, 1000w for subs for the ultimate in tuning flexibility.. Or just use a 4 ch amp active and try to figure out how to attenuate the tweets manually...or use a 2 ch amp with passive crossovers that have tweeter attenuation switches built into the crossovers and hope they hit the mark.. Active also allows for steeper crossover slopes and more precise control when blending drivers together

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Yeah, what he said ^^^

But with smaller words... 4 channels lets you run the tweeters and woofers off separate channels. There are advantages to this but it gets complicated and probably not for noobs. With 2 channels you just plug 'em in to the crossover box and go.

 

[perferd 10+ year member]

Yeah, what he said ^^^
But with smaller words... 4 channels lets you run the tweeters and woofers off separate channels. There are advantages to this but it gets complicated and probably not for noobs. With 2 channels you just plug 'em in to the crossover box and go.

LOL thanks...

or could I do this which someone pointed out another place:

I like the idea of 2 channels for the comps and the other 2 channels bridged for a sub down the road. To me that saves me money and space for a separate amp. For example with this amp pdx-f6 would it end up being 150w rms each to the comps then 300w rms for the other 2 channels bridged to 1 for a sub?

WoofersEtc.com - PDX-F6 - Alpine 4 Channel 600 Watt Amplifier

I am just using it as an example...

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

yes.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

You need two channels if you will use the supplied crossovers. You need four channels if you will be running active front stage. If you go active, a 5-channel amp could work nicely to power the entire system, although the typical 300-500watt output on the sub channel may not be enough for some people (enough for me it seems). If you will be running passive crossover, a high power 4-channel amp could power your subwoofer and speakers. Alternatively, if you want a dedicated sub amp, a 2-channel amplifier should be sufficient for the speakers. In this last case, I'd recommend to look at Boston Acoustics GT-2125 if you can still find them. High quality amp. 2x125watts RMS power. The Alpine PDX F4 and F6 are some of the best compact 4-channel amps, but pricey. The MRX F65 is also pretty good, as well as the PDX V9 and MRX-V70 5-channel amps.