speaker wiring question (not for stang)

[MysteryMachine]

I asked this in 94-95 talk and got no answer maybe you guys can help




Ok my parents got me a radio for my Ram for my birthday. Its a Sony Xplod and came with 4 speakers I think they are 6X9's and 6 1/2's. Anyway from what I read Rams use 6X9's and 5 1/4 speakers. So the plan is to build a couple boxes to hold the 6 1/2's and put them under my back seat and buy 5 1/4's to put in the door so I'll have 6 speakers. How would I go about wiring them up like that? I was just gonna splice into the rear wires but I'm thinking that will kill the quality and watts that are going to the rears I'm also gonna get a small amp and hook it up to my JL sub that came with my stang and put it in the truck somewhere. Its just been sitting in my house since I put the box I bought in my car. Should be a kicking system when its all done. Can't wait to blast the country

 

[JGT]

I don't see any mention of any amp for the speakers so...Splitting a 15w signal between 2 speakers is not a good idea. If you put speakers under your seat, you're probably not going to hear them. More speakers on the same power isn't going to be better. Sell the 6.5s and buy 5.25s.

 

[MysteryMachine]

Yeah a guy finially answered in my other thread and said I would need an amp for them. So my question to him was this

the master plan was to run an amp but just to the sub. The speakers are 190w peak power.I have no idea what my sub is rated at. I was thinking about using like a 200-300w amp. I wanted to put all the power into the sub. Is there a way to run them 2 speakers off the amp and still have close to full power to the sub or would I have to have 2 amps or a higher amp and cut it down going to the speakers?


You can give me a second opnion so to speak. He wanted to know what type of amp I was gonna use but that I don't know cause I don't have one yet. and as far as not hearing them theres a space under my seat to store stuff and its kinda open in the front so I think i'll be able to hear them

 

[JGT]

I would buy one amp for the sub and one for the speakers. I still say sell the 6.5s and get 5.25s if thats what fits. With 6x9s and a sub you will not be missing any mid to low notes if that is what you're afraid of. You would just be robbing power from other speakers.

Do you know what brand sub? Are there any numbers on it?

If you decide to get an amp for the speakers you will need to try to match it with the RMS power rating of the speakers.

 

[MysteryMachine]

Nope i haven't even really looked at any. Maybe What I'll do is buy a set of 5 1/4's and just see what it would take to get the 6 1/2's to fit. I don't wanna haxxor up my doors though. Beings they were part of my bday presant I don't really wanna sell them and not use them cause I told my parents it was what i wanted and I would use them and how I planed on hooking it all up

 

[JGT]

you should be able to shave out a little over an inch and drill holes to mount them pretty easily. Or you can tell your parents you were simply misinformed about the speaker size.

 

[travelling frog]

If you splice into the wires and place 2 speakers on the same output you'll reduce the impedance that the head unit output will see and cause overheating and probably destruction of the head unit amplifiers. I would simply get the 5 1/4s and forget installing the 6 1/2's. 4 speakers will be ample once you put a bass box in - most of thr power is in the low frequency stuff. The head unit should have a line output for the sub - don't splice into the speaker cables to drive the sub amp.

 

[MysteryMachine]

yeah seems like I'm gonna try to make the 6 1/2's fit and just use 4. I was looking at stuff yesterday and it said fits 5 1/4-6 1/2 speakers which I don't get with tthe size difference. I'm hoping that beings I seen that they will fit in my door without cutting. I will find out tomorrow. As far as the sub and amp combo goes. I found out my JL sub is a 250w. I was looking at kits yesterday that were like 1000w lol I DON"T need that much right behind my head so I think I'll just get a 250w amp and run the sub off that should be plunty for a truck.

I'm sure ya'll will correnct me on that a 250w amp will be fine for a 250w sub right or do I want lower so I don't max it out?

 

[travelling frog]

You'll be fine with the 250 - in the truck it will be plenty of bass. The amp should have an input level adjustment and the head unit will have a max line out voltage (typically 2V or 5V). Just make sure you set the amps input level higher than the head units output level and you'll never be able to crank up the head end volume enough to make the amp run at maximum. If the the amp never runs at max it has 2 advantages - max output will have distortion which can damage cones faster than over-powring the sub plus your sub may say 250W but that's probably peak - same for the amp and you don't run to run at that. Also make sure the sub input impedance and the amp output impedance are matched otherwise you'll lose power as heat and probably burn out the amp.