Need car audio amplifier advice

[KingNothing]

I have a 1995 Geo Prizm, which I will soon be upgrading to have Infinity Kappa 42.3i 4" speakers in the front, and Infinity Reference 652i 6.5" speakers in the rear. Obviously I need an amplifier (or two) to go along with this setup. The question is, what should I buy? The local store that has excellent prices on the speakers I want is selling a Kenwood 2-channel 250W amp for $67. The sales guy said it puts out about 30W RMS per channel. I'm considering buying two of these, one for each set of speakers.

Concerning installing amps, the store charges $48 per amplifier. I had been talking to the salesman about running both pairs of speakers off one amp, and when I got home, it occurred to me that if you ran the wiring for two speakers to one amp, wouldn't it be a simple plug-and-play to hook up two amps? Is it fair that they'd charge me $48 twice if I bought two amps? I don't know where the amp would be installed, I'm guessing the trunk.

I'm thinking it would be better to buy two 2-channel amps instead of one 4-channel because it seems to be cheaper. Space isn't a concern. The salesman tried to sell me a Sony Xplode 800W 4-channel amp for $219, but that seems excessive. In the listening booth he ran the Infinity Kappas off a 40W headunit and it sounded too loud to me at a little over half power. That's about the best I can do as far as describing what seems "loud" to me.

 

[NutBucket]

Ok. Lets clear things up.
As for the speakers/ HU you heard in the store. 40Watts on the HU is the peak output, RMS is somewhere around 20.

The amps you're lookin to get are about 40 RMS, unless they're not the ones listed on Kenwood's site. They will be "louder" then what you heard in the store, but even if you don't crank it you'll prolly notice some difference between using the amps and just the HU to power the speakers.

Looks to me like you're keeping the stock HU? If so then the amps are going to have to run on speaker level inputs, since I've never seen a factory HU with pre-amp outputs. In this case, it would make more sense to mount the amp for the front speakers under one of the front seats since you'll have to feed the the signals from the existing front speaker wiring. The other amp could certainly go in the trunk since its where the wiring for the other speakers are located. I don't consider it unfair to charge you the $48 install twice since both amps need to be wired to different parts of the car. The only "common" aspect of the hookup would be the power cable coming off the battery and the ground cable to the chassis.

That seems to cover everything, I think. Hope it helps.

 

[gregshin]

Get a 4 channel amp so you can have the proper cross fades for the music...try looking around this site. Ask for scott on extension 22 if you call...tell em greg with the 240sx sent and he'll take care of ya he'll even take the time to answer all your car audio questions and wont try pushing ya to buy stuff. And check out those CDT Audio specials...they will rock your infinitys no doubt.

One of the best Online car audio shops!

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: gregshin
Get a 4 channel amp so you can have the proper cross fades for the music...try looking around this site. Ask for scott on extension 22 if you call...tell em greg with the 240sx sent and he'll take care of ya he'll even take the time to answer all your car audio questions and wont try pushing ya to buy stuff. And check out those CDT Audio specials...they will rock your infinitys no doubt. One of the best Online car audio shops!

Yeah, I've seen that website before (and your plugs for "scott" ) but that's out of my price range. I don't want to dump a lot of money into my car, I just want something that sounds good for now. Concerning the amps, can't I fade the music front-back and left-right with two 2-channel amps?

Relating to NutBucket's post, yes I'm keeping the stock HU. I actually like my HU, it has huge buttons and I can operate it even with gloves on. Seems like all the aftermarket HU's I see have tiny buttons.

Are there any brands of amps that I should avoid? I was looking on www.etronic.com and Ebay, and I saw lots of brand new amps there but I don't have any idea on what the pecking order is among brands. I'm not looking for high end, I just want something that isn't going to overheat or something after owning it for a year.

BTW, the total bill for my setup thus far is $515 + tax, which includes a pair of 4" Infinity 42.3i Kappas, a pair of 6.5" Infinity 652i Reference, a pair of these amps, and wiring/installation. If anyone can think of some ways to save money (other than installing it myself) I'm all ears. I'm going to try to negotiate them down to $450 since I could buy the speakers from Etronics and have them installed elsewhere, knocking their sale down to around $250 for the amps and installation.

 

[Ns1]

er n/m you're still on stock hu ^_^

 

[KingNothing]

I can do better with $515 (including $150 installation, remember) but not unless I replace the stock HU? Huh?

 

[Ns1]

well


with only 500

i'd go with some pioneer HU

then get an amp/sub

it'll end up 550 before installation, + 50 for wires + harness, and then install it yourself

i mean that stock hu has got to go before doing anything else

UNLESS all your speakers are already cracking and stuff

 

[NutBucket]

I think you'll get the biggest improvement by just changing the speakers. That's what I did in my parents' Camry and it sounds great. I think that if you're happy with the stock HU then what you're lookin to do sounds pretty reasonable and I think you'll end up with something that should keep you satisfied. Besides, if you end up changing the HU, everything else will already be in place. At most all you'll do is change the configuration of your amps to run off of pre-amp vs. speaker level inputs, but even that is optional. I think you're on the right track.

 

[KingNothing]

Well not ALL my speakers are cracking...just the rears. When I ask them for bass, they say "Bass? What is this bass you speak of?". If they were fine, an amp and sub would probably satisfy me (and be easier on my wallet). And I do like my HU, so I'm not gonna replace that.

So I guess the only question I have left is if I can do better (as in more bang for the buck) than $67 per amp for the amps I linked to above. Because I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna get the Infinity speakers. I'm not really mechanically inclined either, so I don't think I want to attempt the install myself.

 

[Spendthrift]

i beg of you, please dont run good speakers off your stock head unit, please please please dont.

ok, sorry about that.

nutbucket is completely right. youll have to run line level inputs to your amps because the stock HU wont have RCA outputs. speaker level signal isnt as clean as an RCA, but itll be tolerable. it also looks to me like youll get 20watts RMS per channel from the amp (the site says 40watts but doesnt specify RMS. im guessing thats 40watts peak at this price level)

install the speakers yourself. thatll save you a little money and speaker installs are easy. amp installs arent too difficult but it does involve tearing the car apart a bit to run wires. oh and you arent going to find respectable amps cheaper than $67.

and please buy a new head unit with 2 sets of RCA preamp outputs.

enjoy the music!

 

[NutBucket]

I checked it out on Kenwood's site and the amps are indeed 40RMS.