XA4000/Germs - Biamp

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Ok, prior to anything else let me assure you I have done research on this. The issue is that I keep getting mixed information on this topic. I have been told to do this multiple ways. I have a pair of Germs (CS 265.25) and an Eclipse XA4000 4-Ch amp. I have been told that I should biamp these babies. The issue is, how to biamp. I have some poorly done diagrams below that show how I believe this should be done.

The reason I went as far as drawing the RCA connections from the HU to the Amp, is because I was told I needed to use splitters instead of using the front and rear, which didnt make sense to me at all. Please assist!

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[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Anyone?

 

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Can someone *please* assist?

 

[Yeah Toast 10+ year member]

I believe that you should run a x-over before the amp, so each speaker/tweeter is on it own channel. So H/U, X-over, Amp, then speaker/tweeter. Sorry i'm a little vague but thats pretty much it. The reason to bi amp is to eliminate the high power of them amp going through the cross over. That, and you get tweeter protection during clipping of bass. There's probably more I'm sure i forgetting. Good luck.

 

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Hello everyone. I apologize for the old bump. Being as it is starting to get warmer out, I decided to finally get around to completing this install. Can someone verify my initial posts above?

The comment above was somewhat vague, and I am not a car audio install genius by any means. I have been told to use the crossover that came with the Germs.. then I have been told to take those out and use one between the HU and the amp.. and then I have been told that my CD7100 can act as the crossover that I need. Very confusing.

I have looked in the forums, and checked out some articles that I searched for on Google or Yahoo, but I am more of a visual person so it is difficult for me to understand what the sites are trying to say by words alone and many weren't simplified enough. I appreciate any help anyone can provide.

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

Bi-amp means running one pair of highs in a stereo mode on one channel while also running a woofer bridged off of the same channel.

But by doing this you will lose fad capibility.The "y"s come into play to split the front left and right channel and make them both have 2 sets of RCA's.You would then run both left rca's to channel 1 and 2 and you woud run the right rca's to channel 3 and 4.

As I said eariler you will lose front to rear fad without adding another amp and hooking it up to the rear output.

 

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Interesting. I figured that with a 4-Ch amp I would hook it up normally, and then run the speaker wire straight from one channel to the tweeters, another to the 6.5, etc etc. Losing the fade doesn't bother me by any means. Just trying to envision this during install.

Do I need to eliminate the crossover that came with the Germs completely? If so, why do they have inputs for bi-amp on them?

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

Losin the crossover isn't that bad.You will just be running active insted of passive.Add another tweeter or do a mid bass mid range and tweeter on each side.

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

Or you could run left to channel 1 right to channel 2 and both to channel three and four.You would then run the channel 1 to the tweeter side of crossover one and bridge channels 3 and 4 and run that to the woofer side of crossover 1.Run channel 2 to the tweeter side of crossover 2 and again channels 3 and 4 to the woofer side of crossover 2.This will give you stereo for the mids and bridged mono for the woofers while still retaning the crossover.

I think this would work out best in your situation.

 

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Ok, I think I understand that. I was doing some drawing while reading that and I think I have a pretty good idea of what to do.

1. So, do I still need Y adapters at the HU or do I run a normal set of 4 channel RCA's between the HU and amp like normal?

2. Also, by keeping that crossover do I still need a crossover between the HU and amp? Thank you for all the help so far you have been very informative.

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

You would save money by running the single rca's to the rear then splitting it there.As for the croosover between the HU and the amp that is up to you.I would just use the ones after, unless its some sort of linedriver.But just remember that your 4 channel is now controling only the front left and right.If you run any thing to the rear then you might need another amp or just run them off the deck.

Sounds like you got it down.

 

[GaresTaylan 10+ year member]

Thanks again for all your help. I think I understand. I already have a pair of 4-ch RCA's. The 2-ch RCAs I have are for the sub-amp. I was just going to leave the rear speakers out of the equation. I've been told with this set up that this is all I need. The rear speakers will be useless anyway when I put everything back in as it's the Boston Acoustic sound system.

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

Your right the main focus should be the front imaging where you will be setting.Should sound pretty **** good.

 

[mikey7182 10+ year member]

Sorry to dig up a semi-old thread, but I think there is an easier way to do it. I have the exact same amp and am bi-amping some MB Quart QSDs. With 4 channels of amplification, as well as independent Front and Rear RCA outputs on your deck, there is no reason to have to run mono on the mids. Your drawing appears correct, except you mixed up the wires running from the output on the amps to the input on the xovers. Basically you will want to do it like this:

Woofers:

From headunit:

RCA- Front left output to front left input on XA4000

RCA- Front right output to front right input on XA4000

Then from amp:

Front left output positive to left side xover woofer positive input

Front left output negative to left side xover woofer negative input

Front right output positive to right side xover woofer positive input

Front right output negative to right side xover woofer negative input

From Xover:

Left xover woofer output positive to left side woofer positive speaker terminal

Left xover woofer output negative to left side woofer negative speaker terminal

Right xover woofer output positive to right side woofer positive speaker terminal

Right xover woofer output negative to right side woofer negative speaker terminal

Tweeters:

From HU:

RCA Rear left output to Rear left input on XA4000

RCA Rear right input to Rear right input on XA4000

From amp:

Rear left output positive to left side xover tweeter positive input

Rear left output negative to left side xover tweeter negative input

Rear right output positive to right side xover tweeter positive input

Rear right output negative to right side xover tweeter negative input

From Xover:

Left xover tweeter output positive to left side tweeter positive speaker terminal

Left xover tweeter output negative to left side tweeter negative speaker terminal

Right xover tweeter output positive to right side tweeter positive speaker terminal

Right xover tweeter output negative to right side tweeter negative speaker term.

This will allow you to have balance and fader, along with independent gain control with your woofers and tweeters. Fading to rear will defeat the woofers and you will hear just tweeters, and fading to front will defeat the tweeters and you will hear just the woofers. Balance L/R accordingly as well. You will have stereo sound from both your tweeters and woofers as well. Sorry I didn't have a nifty diagram and typed it all out instead. Figured it would be easier to follow step by step this way. Hope that helps. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif