Interior speakers

[Matt_Matt]

Hi all

I've just finished my door card mod's only taken me about 12 months! anyway I've removed the original door speakers and have fitted 2 pioneer speakers into the door card and not I'm wiring them up. BUT obviously I've gone from one speaker to two and I'm not technically minded. basically do i connect the first speaker to the second and then to the original speaker wire to the CD player OR do i take a speaker wire from each speaker and join them to the existing point?

Or will it make sod all difference?

Cheers

[Cooper_GTI]

If i've understood you correctly...

You have modded your door cards to accept 2 speakers in each one?

If this is the case, you cannot simply wire them up together due to the different resistance (ohms) that you will load the head unit with.

Let me explain!

Each speaker is 4 ohms, if you wire 2 speakers together (in parallel), the resistance will drop to 2 ohms. Now there are only a select few head units that will happily run at 2 ohms. Most are only stable down to 4 ohms.

If you wire them in series, you will be getting 8 ohms on each side, which will mean the power from the head unit is halved (i.e. if it kicks out 25w rms @ 4 ohms, it will only put out 12.5w rms @ 8), meaning that each speaker will be receiving a whole 6 watts!!!

[NOCK]

You'd be best to run an amplifier between your head unit and speakers.

[Matt_Matt]

ah right, how would i be able to check whether the head unit would be able to cope with all 4 speakers? i was told that the unit i have has a built in amp but well its an unrelaiable source and i rather doubt that it has. The head unit is a Pioneer AVIC-X1BT which does have a brain so you never know

other than that what would be the most suitable amp for an extra 2 speakers?

cheers guys

[treblet]

Your headunit will have a built in amplifier but you'll still need to buy an aftermarket amplifier.

[Matt_Matt]

here's me showing my ignorance . . again not techinaclly minded. So i'm basically going to have to get an amp. What am i best doing getting 1 amp running it from the back of the head unit to the 4 speakers or 2 small amps one for each pair? or again is there no difference in the method?

If I'd know it was going to be this complicated i would have fitted all this when i had most the interior out to fit the head unit.

Cheers for your help guys

[Cooper_GTI]

The simplest method would be to run one amp.

If you run 2 amps, you will need to set them up to run perfectly in sync with each other using a machine called an ocsilliscope. You dont really want all that hassle for no real gain.

Make sure you buy a 2 channel amp that is 2 ohm stable, with about 100w RMS per channel @ 2 ohms.

When buying an amp, make sure it a brand you've heard of, and ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE RMS POWER RRATINGS! Max power means naff all!

Another option is, to buy a 4 channel amp and use the first 2 channels as i described above, and the second 2 channels bridged to run a sub.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Cooper_GTI

[Matt_Matt]

Cheers for that, I'll get my ass on Ebay or something although with christmas coming up might have to be in the new year. so based on what's been said, how can i check whether my current head unit would support the speakers i am fitting? am i to assume look for the output of the unit and the spec of the speaker. to get the door cards fitted im just going to wire up one set until i get the amp but now im concerned will the unit support the speakers!

talk about been a novice or what!

[NOCK]

Cheers for that, I'll get my ass on Ebay or something although with christmas coming up might have to be in the new year. so based on what's been said, how can i check whether my current head unit would support the speakers i am fitting? am i to assume look for the output of the unit and the spec of the speaker. to get the door cards fitted im just going to wire up one set until i get the amp but now im concerned will the unit support the speakers!

talk about been a novice or what!

You'll be okay to power one speaker in each door, albeit at a relatively low volume compared to what you could get with an amplifier between them. You can damage speakers by running them at too low power so I'd check what the 'nominal' power input is for the speakers that you want to run. If it's higher than 25W then I'd certainly be trying to listen to them quietly until I had my amplifier. Hope that makes sense?

[Rich]

Simple method.

Since you're running an SDI, you don't have standard rear speakers.

If you're not running 6 x 9's and simply have the ones in the front, wire the second set up as rear speakers, head unit should cope with that fine.

[Cooper_GTI]

Simple method.

Since you're running an SDI, you don't have standard rear speakers.

If you're not running 6 x 9's and simply have the ones in the front, wire the second set up as rear speakers, head unit should cope with that fine.

Thats not a bad idea.

I really dont understand why you went to the hassle of fitting 2 pairs of coaxial door speakers though? It will be louder, but it'll sound awfull. The sound stage will be right down low and it will no doubt sound muddy and lifeless, like most coaxials do.

You're best bet would be to invest in some 2 way components, amped up, for a far superior sound. Believe it or not, they would probably be much louder than your 2 sets of coaxials too!