autotech

88 - C4 - L98

I have infinity speakers mounted in the factory locations. I believe 5-1/4 in the doors and 6x9's in the rear. A 360W 4 channel Alpine amp behind the drivers seat, and a pioneer head unit. It does not sound good at all to me, so I bought an Alpine head unit, (to add cirrus, mainly to eliminate commercials), and (2) 10" woofers. A friend tells me that we should drive the stock located speakers directly off of the head unit alone and drive the subs thru the amp. Seems to me, I should continue to drive the stock located speakers thru the existing amp and get another amp for the subs. I'm kinda at a loss. I know I have the equipment here, or close, to have a good sounding system. Am I missing something?

Triple Black 88

Hmmm, it sounds like you have more then eunough power. Its hard to pinpoint the problem, but I would first double check the gain on the amp, and double check the + & - speaker leads.

snoopdan

Well, since your asking and all,

I would leave the amp alone, thats hooked up to your mids and highs. someone has already done alot of work for you, wiring it up. Id just buy a monoblock amplifier for the 10" subs, that has its own built in crossover. It would help if you told us what brand / impedience the subwoofers are. Also, you havent really told us how much money you intend to invest. That would help us to suggest an amplifier for your budget.

snoopdan

autotech

The subs are Alpine 10", 4 ohm impedence. Also, what is the minumum size speaker wire for the factory located speakers and the subs. I installed the amp. and seems like I used 22 gauge, I think...

snoopdan

16 guage wire for both your mid/highs and your subs will be fine. That is, unless you plan on putting 1000 watts into them. Which, even then, it would probably still be fine. Just dont go to any SPL sound off competitions.

As far as the subs are concerned, what version are the subs? Type R, Type S? or older? Are they in some sort of prefab or custom enclosure? A pic would help too....Ive had plenty of experience with Alpine subwoofers. I currently have a Type R 12" dual voice coil in my hatch, in a crappy box. (soon to change in a few days, puting in new subs, and a fiberglass box)

So anyways, id be happy to help ya.

snoopdan

autotech

Thanks Snoopdan - The subs are type "E". I am planning on continuing to drive the stock located speakers with the original amp, except I am going to replace the 22 ga. wire with 16 ga., as you suggested. I am probably going to drive the 2 subs with around a 300 watt amp. My question is, Can I use the factory wiring inline from the amp to the speakers, or is too small?

snoopdan

Nah, the wires going to the stock speakers are fine. No real need to replace them unless you want a badge on your sleeve for doing it. If you were competing with your setup, then even MAYBE youd have good reason to replace it with 16 gauge as well. I know I suggested it in my last message, but definately do what you think is more easier for you to do. Ive been known to use factory wiring for the mids/highs

As far as the Alpine E series, they are the precursor to the S series. Basiclly Alpines low end subwoofer entry. Nothing wrong with that, still a good first subwoofer. Just dont expect to loose your hearing quite as fast as if you had an R, or even an X series. Still, your neighbors will hate you. If you do like your alpine sub and want to upgrade. I definately suggest the R series sub. Its a cheap upgrade, and has OK SQ and OK SPL...for the price. Dont expect it to sound like a XXX though.


snoopdan

OrthoAggie

IMO I would run the rear speakers off the decks power, get a decent set of components for the front or use the current ones and power them with 2 channels of the amp and then run the rear channels bridged to the subs.

knewblewkorvette

if you want to save a few bucks, that is a great option.

Still, the set-up you have now should sound good. As well as Triple Black 88, I think one or two speakers are out of phase. Double check your speaker hook-ups. Let us know what you do and how it turns out.

autotech

You guys are a world of help, and I appriciate it. I think I am going to buy one more amp for the subs, and rewire everybody with the proper ga. wire, except the factory wiring, which will still be inline. Then from there, I think we will have the horsepower to drive the system, and then, we can change the setup easily till we like it. We will start fabrication on the enclosures for the subs this coming weekend. Whadaya Think???

OrthoAggie

I would hook it up with one amp now and see how it sounds...you might like it...I would only add another amp if you want more power for your subs not to just hook up the rear speakers to it