Will I be able to tell a difference between 18 watt rms and 45 watt rms?

[ethanm1]

My dad's truck has a basic aftermarket head unit installed and I am in the process of replacing all 4 speakers (crappy aftermarket speakers installed by someone else) with JBL 60 watt rms 6" x 8"s (truck is an 03 f250 so the speaker sizes are weird). The two speakers I have already installed sound better already, but the head unit is only pushing 18 watts rms. I was thinking of adding an Alpine 180 watt power pack (Link below) to bump up the continuous wattage to 45 watts per speaker. Would there be a big difference in sound quality if I added the power pack? Thanks in advance.

Power pack:

Alpine Power Pack 180W Class D Bridgeable Multichannel Amplifier with HighPass Filter Black KTP-445U - Best Buy

Speakers:

JBL 6" x 8" 2Way Coaxial Car Speakers with Polypropylene Cones Pair Black GX862 - Best Buy

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[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

My dad's truck has a basic aftermarket head unit installed and I am in the process of replacing all 4 speakers (crappy aftermarket speakers installed by someone else) with JBL 60 watt rms 6" x 8"s (truck is an 03 f250 so the speaker sizes are weird). The two speakers I have already installed sound better already, but the head unit is only pushing 18 watts rms. I was thinking of adding an Alpine 180 watt power pack (Link below) to bump up the continuous wattage to 45 watts per speaker. Would there be a big difference in sound quality if I added the power pack? Thanks in advance.
Power pack:

Alpine Power Pack 180W Class D Bridgeable Multichannel Amplifier with HighPass Filter Black KTP-445U - Best Buy

Speakers:

JBL 6" x 8" 2Way Coaxial Car Speakers with Polypropylene Cones Pair Black GX862 - Best Buy

That amp is bridgable so Id bridge both channels (combining 4chs to 2chs) and run to the JBLs it will make a hugh difference ...I have two of the earlier versions of that amp and they are very nice ....I have a much better very high quality 6x8 in that price range if you want to PM me ...that is a night and day difference in the speaker your looking at ...

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

I am using that amp on a set of.rockville 6x8 comps, and I agree with louisianacrx, brigde it, it will give you 90wrms, and will make a world of difference. It kept up with my bc2k on a set of tc2000 12s.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

You still can't expect much bass from a 6x8, but at 90 or even 45w they'll play significantly louder w/o distortion.

FWIW - 45w to 4 speakers vs 90w to 2 would net roughly the same loudness. I'd go the x4 option as I don't think overpowering a 6x8 by 50% is worth the stress on the speaker especially when going th 45x4 route will get you similar results.