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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Car Audio / February 2006Amp setup advice and subwoofer selection Accord w/ Alpine system
I have replaced the stock stereo in my 2002 Accord. Thus far I have all alpine equipment--not by design but by circumstance and so far I'm fairly pleased with the improvement. I have an Alpine CDE-9845 head unit, Alpine SPS-170A 6 1/2" speakers in the front and SPS-690A 6X9" speakers in the rear. I just bought an Alpine MRP-F240 4channel amp which I read good things about and got a good deal online. I want to add a sub. Nothing too extreme. I was thinking originally about a self-powered model but am unsure... looking for recommendations. Also, how would you recommend I install the amp. Should I use it to power the front and rear speakers? Should I use two channels to power one set of speakers inside the car (front or rear?) and use the other two channels for the sub? If I do that, should/can I use the head unit amp to power either the front of rear speakers? Finally, how much should I pay to have my new amp installed? I think I've been overpaying for installation services thus far, but I may be mistaken. Any insight you have is GREATLY appreciated! R Here's my suggestion to you. If you've been impressed with alpine so far, pick up a Type S subwoofer. My suggestion is 12", but whatever floats your boat. http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2063 as for an amp to power it, I'd go with the MRP-M350 (this is the amp I use, and it is great) http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/1281 It should be perfect for that subwoofer, and you can use your MRP-F240 to power your as it puts out 4x40W RMS @ 4 ohms, which should be perfect for your 6.5"s, and your 6x9's. I have a strong feeling though that your 6x9's are only going to hurt your front stage. When you have speakers in the rear, especially 6x9's, your speakers compete for your attention. Imagine yourself watching a band life... The musicians and speakers are all in front of you, and not behind you. That is how music is recorded to sound. Like it is coming from in front of you. I think you would be happier returning those 6x9's, and just using the 6.5's you bought for the front but that is my opinion. Anyhow, I dont think that you'd be satisfied with a subwoofer being powered off that same amp, as it only puts out 100W when bridged at 4 ohms, which is very little power. The MRP-M350 and the SWS-1242 would be a great compliment to your setup, and pretty inexpensive as well ($245 shipped from the website I linked you too) and you'd just need an amp wiring kit for it (4 guage kit with a distribution block in the back should work)  Signature- AUSTIN BECKER > I have replaced the stock stereo in my 2002 Accord. > [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > R Austin, Thanks so much for your input. Sounds reasonable to me. I bought the speakers a few months ago so returning them is probably not an option. Although I understand your point, I assume that I'll be able to adjust the front and rear speakers using the fader control. Often I like having the music behind me when I'm driving which allows me to carry on a conversation in the front if necessary. I will get the sub and the amp you suggest. If I can ask for some further input it would be... Do most people buy the pre-packaged wiring kits sold in the stores? I was more than a little shocked at the price of just the wiring!!!! $50 for wires for the 4 channel amp I bought and $175 for a wire kits that would accommodate the addition of another amp in the future. I suspect the contents of the kits could be purchased individual elsewhere at a substantial savings. No? Also, given the setup I've described what is a reasonable price to pay for installation for the various stages? I paid approximatly $100 for the installation of the head unit and another $100 for the front and rear speakers. How much will the 4ch amp cost me? And how about the sub/amp addition? Just roughly would help... THanks a ton! Ray I'm going to reply to your original post in this one too, as they're related. The question of whether to power the 4 interior speakers off the 4-channel amp or 2 and then bridge the remaining for a sub, really depends on if you're planning on upgrading to a sub at some point. If not, you may find that amplified 6x9s have quite a bit of bass to them if installed correctly, which may satisfy your needs. Austin mentioned concern about your sound stage if amplifying the rear speakers, which is definitely valid. However, in this post, you enlightened us more to your listening style. Which is, and I quote: "Often I like having the music behind me when I'm driving which allows me to carry on a conversation in the front if necessary." Listening is entirely subjective and the only person you should try to please is the person that will be listening to it. I.E: YOU. Now that that rant is over, in this post you mention that you will go ahead and get a sub amp and sub, so all is right with the world :). Have fun, put the 4-channel on all 4 speakers, and as I see the 9845 has only 2 pre-outs, put those to the 4-channel amp. There is a pre-out on the amp itself that you would use to daisy-chain to the sub amp. Doing this will maintain your ability to fade the controls front and rear. Brandonb > Austin, > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Ray quoted from Rmiller's first post "I want to add a sub. Nothing too extreme. I was thinking originally about a self-powered model but am unsure... looking for recommendations." That was the reason that I suggested the way I did. I don't really have any experience with 6x9 other than just random listening at Circuit City or Best Buy. I've never had anywhere to put them in my car, so I can't really provide much on those. Signature- AUSTIN BECKER > I'm going to reply to your original post in this one too, as they're > related. The question of whether to power the 4 interior speakers off [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] > > > > Ray Ahh, yes, re-reading I see that I missed that paragraph. My point was that your suggestion was perfectly valid of being wary of amping the rear channels... if you want a good front sound stage. A lot of people don't care about perfectly recreating a live band/concert situation and could care less. They just want their music clear and sound good to them and a lot of people do, in fact, like it from behind. Brandonb > quoted from Rmiller's first post > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Buy. I've never had anywhere to put them in my car, so I can't really > provide much on those. *covers eyes* ewwwwwwwwwwwww! ;P Signature- AUSTIN BECKER > and a lot of people do, in fact, like it from behind. > > Brandonb Thanks to Brandon and to Austin... I had my Alpine MRP-F240 installed and am very pleased. I have found that the system sounds better with the fade control set slightly to the front with the 6x9's filling in the rear with a little bass. Now I'm ready to move on to the amp/sub purchases. Austin suggested the Alpine MRP-M350 with an Alpine SWS-1242 sub and I was planning on following that advice exactly. However, in researching the best prices, I found an Alpine MRP-M450 on sale for less than the M350 everywhere else. So I ordered the 450. In researching the Type S versus Type R Alpine Subs, I've read that the Type R's are quite a bit better and in my researching can be purchased online for not much more than the Type S subs at retail locations. I'm looking specifically at SWR-1242D, and SWR-1222D or SWR-1221D. The impedance issue confuses me. The amp is on its way. Not sure which sub to go with or what type of box to put it in... Ideas? Thanks again for your help! Ray One of you suggested the MRP-M350 Looking that up real quick for reference: MRP-M450: mono amp 250watts @ 4-ohm, or 400watts @ 2-ohm SWR-1242D: 12" dual 4-ohm voice coils SWR-1222D: 12" dual 2-ohm voice coils SWR-1221D: 12" dual 2-ohm voice coils, less power handling than 1222D (but not enough to matter with this amp) Now that that's out of the way... It depends on if you're planning on having 1 or 2 subs. With the amount of power you'll be giving them, I'd probably go with the single SWR-1242D myself and run the voice coils in parallel giving you a final 2-ohm load. Personally, I'd also run it in a ported box, which will give you a bit louder than a sealed. If you do it right, it will still sound good also. The other option is getting 2 of the SWR-1221D subs and series/parallel them to get a final 2-ohm load (you can try 1-ohm but I don't see that its idea for that amp, so probably best not to push it). To sum up: That amp makes the most power and is still stable at 2-ohm. So you'd want to find a sub or combination of subs to present a final 2-ohm load to the amplifier. This will work for any brand. Single sub: dual 4-ohm coils or single 2-ohm coil. 2 subs: two 4-ohm single-coil subs or two dual-2 ohm coils or two 8-ohm dual coil subs. 3 subs is just getting rediculous with only 400 watts total. This calculator works pretty good. I use it frequently: http://colomar.com/Shavano/impedance_proc.php Brandonb > Thanks to Brandon and to Austin... > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > One of you suggested the MRP-M350 To follow up on this post, I also would get the SWR-1242. As for sealed or ported enclosures, if you are not completely familiar with the tuning process, you can really make your setup sound awful too. If you do decide to go sealed, make sure that you either A) Buy a box that is the exact size reccomended by the owners manual for the sub, or B) Have someone build you a box and make sure it is braced internally, and sealed completely. The Type R subs are oustanding for their price, and they will definitely sound better than the type S. Here's a website for you to look at wiring options for your sub. Go here and put '1 woofer' for the quantity, and 'dual 4 ohm' for the voice coil configuration, and it will show you how to wire it up right. http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/wiringwizard.asp good luck Signature- AUSTIN BECKER > Looking that up real quick for reference: > [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] > > > > One of you suggested the MRP-M350 Aye. Brandonb -ARRRR Tis me fav'rit lettar! > As for sealed or ported enclosures, if you are not completely familiar with the tuning process, you can really make your setup sound awful too. |
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