speaker amp q's

[<qman>]

Ok i've got to sets of Inifinity 5.25" speakers. The first are 505cs Components that run 225W Max and 75rms. The seconds are 5521 that run 135W Max and 45 RMS. My Alpine head unit is a 60Wx4 deck. Is it better for me to run all of my speakers off of my deck amp? or should I get like a 100-150W amp for my back speakers alone (or fronts alone) and then run the other set off the deck? Or finally, should I just get an amp to run all of them? My main concern is sound quality. It may be a misconception but I was told if you have seperate power sources- your speaker sound becomes unbalanced. I was leaning towards running them all off the deck to save cash but if I have to change I will.

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[gregj9 10+ year member]

well,

I used to have the separates you have. While all of the speakers you have are fairly efficient and could run off of deck power, it is always best to run an amp for a couple of reasons. You will have more headroom, and less distortion. Once you get to a certain volume on a head unit, you will get clipping which causes distortion and is BAD for your speakers. You don't want to spend what you did on speakers only to blow them in a few weeks (especially the tweeters). Having the extra headroom the amp gives you allows you to listen at a higher volume when you want without worrying as much about your speakers blowing

My suggestion would be to get a good four channel amp. If the power is a little more than what the speakers say they can handle it won't hurt as long as you have a clean amp. The amp in the head unit is not a clean or accurately rated amp.

bottom line is get an amp, get a good one, and listen to your speakers closely, they will let you know when something isn't right