speaker and amp installation in 4 door sedans

[stevexyz 10+ year member]

hi eveyone, i've been having a stupid question in my mind for a long time: how many channels (speaker systems, NOT including sub channels) are recommended to be installed in a 4 door sedan? you can definitely install 6ch - 2 in the front doors, 2 in the rear doors, and 2 on the board under the rear windshield. and there are many cars come with factory-installed speakers this way.

but of all the aftermarket head units that i have seen have 6ch output at most, including 2ch for subwoofer signal output. this is the same case for input channels of all the amps i seen. that leaves only 4 ch total for non-sub speakers. so if you want to install 6ch of speakers in the way i mentioned above plus a subwoofer, then you'll have to get at least 2 or 3 amp: 6ch + one 2ch, or one 4ch + one 2ch + one mono (for big powerful sub). for amps that don't have signal passthru output, you'll also need two Y RCA adaptors because your HU doesn't have enough output channels.

does that mean those audio manufacturers don't recommend 6ch speakers installations? if they do, then why there's no 8ch-output HU or 8ch-input amp ever made for simplicity? is that because it's too complex or expensive to build this type of HU/amps? i think the money/cost is not the issue here, because they can always sell it at a higher price, n' there'll always be people who are willing to pay the price.

so what do you guys think? can some tech guys clarify this? thanks!

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[stevexyz 10+ year member]

ok, thanks to ca90ss over at diymobile. he pointed out that Clarion DRZ9255 is an 8 ch HU, also ADS and Xetec made some 8ch amps. but how come they are so rare? why most brands don't manufacture these?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

i recommend only amping your front stage. I would get a set of nice component speakers and run an amp on them matching the needed rms power. If you wanted to you could get a bigger four channel and amp some coaxils in the rear.i honestly think the imaging and what not will be terribly hard to get right when using 6 speakers.

so maybe run two sets of coaxils in the back factory location and then a nice comp. set up front on an amp. I recommend maybe Pheonix Gold RSD6.5s as the comp. set and then maybe some alpine rev series coaxils for a pretty low budget.

 

[Twilight 10+ year member]

I agree. If I were you, the first thing I would upgrade is the front speakers to a good component set, and get an amp for them. This is what made me a believer that rear speakers are not necessary. When I turn it up, I can still hear it in the back seat. Not as well as I can in the front, but well enough to satisfy any passengers. I have a Sable, so it's a reasonably large car too.

Music is only recorded in two channels, so you're not getting a whole lot out of using more speakers. If you are watching DVDs in surround sound though, then rear speakers can be of benefit.

 

[stevexyz 10+ year member]

i used to have 4ch speakers installed: 2ch in the front doors and 2ch on the rear board. it sounds good when you are siting in the front. but when you are sitting in the back, the music is more like coming from your back. so i installed extra 2ch speakers in the rear doors. the music sound much better both in the front and the back. it filled up the emptiness in the middle. made it a lot smoother.

but i wouldn't install coaxial speakers in the rear door, because it makes the sound like the music is coming from the floor when you sitting in the back (the usual speaker installation position in the door is in the lower bottom). i'd put the tweeter of the comp set in the rear door just under the window to bring up the vocals.

budahbuddy803: how are you going to tune the rear two sets of speakers without amping them? if you just wire them to the rear speaker output of the HU, the the volume levels of both sets of speakers would be the same. then you cannot ajust their volume individually.