7 replies to this topic

[axo]

I haven't been on this forum for a long time... I thought I grew out of car audio... but recently I managed to pick up a 1987 AW11 MR2... and now I'm finding myself redoing it's crapty audio system on a SUPER TIGHT budget just for crap and giggles. I don't want to make door pods and want to keep this install stealth/oem as possible. I don't need hard bass or chasing SQ awards, just want some clear sound to live with (subjective).

Upon buying it:
HU: - JVC - cdRW player - no mp3 ! lol
Fronts: Kenwood 4" 2 way speakers
Rears: Stock paper cones 3"
Amplifier: Under the passenger seat, Unknown brand, 2 channel 225 blah blah - speaker cable leading out to the boot where a sub used to sit.
(I LOLed hard when I found the previous owner had wired the sub cable through the LHS only, and didn't bridge it).
Sub: None.

Now:

HU: I replaced this with a Audiomedia AM 3001mp3/screen player from Repco $79.
Fronts: Keeping it.
Rears: Disconnected it
** Amplifier: Here's the question - see below.
Sub: Stole a 6.5" woofer from an old cheap LG home theatre 40W 8ohms... lolol. I've tested it and it works on the above amp okay actually! I will build a small enclosure for it in MDF and carpet the thing.

Dilemma:

Should I -
1) buy a cheap 2nd hand 4 channel from gumtree $50-80 (which is really all i'm wanting to further spend on this car audio) e.g. Sony/Kicker etc. wire it up to power the front 4" speakers + crapty sub
2) use the given amp and just power the sub?

Does amplifying a 4" speaker make any difference? (I never ever drive my sound until it clips)
- If the answer is no, i will proceed with option 2.


Thanks!

LOL at the post auto-correcting sh*t to crap.

Edited by axo, 18 June 2012 - 12:46 AM.

[TMM]

Not really worth for the amplification alone unless they are exceptional speakers (Kenwood 4" Coaxials probably aren't all that special) or you listen at very high volumes.

One reason that it would be worth amping them is if you used an amp with an inbuilt high pass filter. Therefore you can prevent low bass being sent to the 4"s and driving them past their mechanical limits. It will also stop any cancellation between the 4"s and the sub, therefore giving you cleaner bass.

[arrow224]

The only reason I amped by Pioneer 4" in the front of my old VP Commodore was to filter out the bass frequencies. It seemed that it was easier doing it this way than adding in resistors and whatnot else.

[Big_Valven]

Err I'd imagine installing an amplifier is probably more work and cost than wiring a single capacitor across each speaker...

[Captn_Awesome]

I voted yes BUT in your situation NO.
I'd stick a cap on to high pass if you want to high pass the 4" coaxs.

If your budget is as tight as your suggesting I'd just play with what youve got for now. Have fun. I think little "bitsa" systems can be a lot of fun. Never awesome but still a lot of 'ghetto' fun.

as for cancellation between 4's and subs highly unlikely and you can get cancellation even with a HP filter so ignore that information.

[axo]

cheers for the replies guys...
i ended up hooking up the 4" speakers to the HU... and amp to sub.. and it sounded terrible... just mucky.. so im buying a cheap 4 channel amp and gunna use it for it amplify and crossover to isolate the frequency...

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 2

[TMM]

Err I'd imagine installing an amplifier is probably more work and cost than wiring a single capacitor across each speaker...

Would need a pretty big cap to high pass at a reasonable frequency - 400uf for 100Hz @ 4ohm. You could probably pick up a cheap 2nd hand amp for the same price, and get 12db/octave slopes or better.

[DrBoom]

The only way to make a 4 inch louder is to apply a high pass , maybe 100 - 150hz cutoff either using a cap or an electronic crossover. The downside, is the front will have no midbass so a mid woofer has to be present upfront to provide some midbass effect.