Component combos?

[E30_Pare]

So ive been looking to change it up a bit. Had a cheapo Sony xplod deck which I wasn't really impressed by. A friend offered me a nice Kenwood deck for 15$ so I jumped on it.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDC1...8.html?tp=5684

Right off the bat it's definitely a better quality deck performance wise. User friendly not so much. I'm also running an old Kenwood amp powering my sub so its nice to have them match.

Anyways I've been looking to change up my speakers. Currently I'm running infinity reference dual component 5.25 front/6.5 rear. I like the sound, but I feel its lacking & could still be better. A little better highs & mids is what I'm looking for. Maybe Kappa series?

The sub is a 12in MA audio in a ported box. It has a nice rumble, but not the kick I'm looking for. I like sharp hard hitting bass.

So any recommendations for components that meets my needs? I've heard good things about 12in infinity subs & would like to try there tweeters. Any tips in removing the stock tweets from the housings?


P.S.
Not interested in alpine/kicker/pioneer components.

I'm running my speakers off the deck. The fronts connected & the rears r bridged.

[dwvw]

Wait, you have the rear speakers bridged off the deck?! I wouldn't bother changing the speakers until you get an amp on them, that will make way more of a difference than changing the speakers to Kappa's. Get a LukeBox for the sub amplify the rest of the speakers and go from there.

[bobthecouchguy]

The first thing I'd do before buying speakers is to check the rms ratings on your speakers and make sure the deck is providing the right amount of power, if not find a refurbed amp meets the rms ratings and go from there.

[E30_Pare]

Not off the deck sorry. I've got them wired in series as I wanted the fronts to have a bit more power.

I'm planing on getting a 4channel & running a mono for the sub. I need to install some bass blockers as well, but with my Kenwood only offers a single RCA out. So that will be later on when I upgrade agian.

[E30_Pare]

The first thing I'd do before buying speakers is to check the rms ratings on your speakers and make sure the deck is providing the right amount of power, if not find a refurbed amp meets the rms ratings and go from there.

Alright haven't thought about that. Il check that out.

[bobthecouchguy]

makes a world of difference

[E30_Pare]

Did an rms test at 60hz. Amp is giving what it can limited by my small 8g wiring. Pushing the limits at around 280w bridged. Sub can take around 350w @ 4ohm. If I wanted to push a little bit more I'm definitely going to need a 4g wiring kit.

Amp is a dinosaur Kenwood kac-821

[StereoInstaller1]

Wanna do this cheap and killer sound?

Well, the sub box is a HUGE difference. If you put 280W RMS on any entry level MA sub (not gigantic beast) in one of my boxes will blow your mind. The depth, the impact, the clarity, the lack of rattles...but, even with the box on special it is not sounding like you have that kind of coin sitting around.

So, any chance that you can find a couple of cheap-o amps, literally anything that works, even 10 watts per channel? Seriously, if it has RCA inputs it will be a HUGE improvement.

Get this electronic crossover: http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLXR8-Ele...3way+crossover

You would not have to use your shitty deck power, your single RCA would get a knob for bass control and be able to balance front, rear and sub levels, all crossover points easy to adjust and you would have more than 2V out to share between all the amps.

This would improve your sound on a massive scale. It won't fix the bass, but it will sound damn good othewise.

Do the setup as biggest amp on bass, medium power on the front and smallest amp for the rears. The amps don't need to even be bridgeable, just something that works.

Now, as far as speakers...consider taking your tweeters out of the middle and mounting them in a set of stock Premium mounts. Use something like these: http://www.amazon.com/PCZXO-Crossove...aker+crossover as crossovers. The speaker themselves are the same, only the crossover is different. Leave the rears alone, they will be just fine if they are installed well.

Make sure you "space out" the front kickpanel so that Infinity midrange can move. Use something so the panel isn't squishing the speaker keeping it from moving. I put nuts under the screw heads, pushes the panel out just like 1/4", still looks stock.

$15 for a pair of crossovers and you are golden, IF you can find tweeter pods. Give those Infinitys 20 watts per channel with an amp on a crossover, you will be impressed.

Luke

[E30_Pare]

Thanks Luke exactly what I've been looking for. I'll report back with details once I make some progress

[bobthecouchguy]

Did an rms test at 60hz. Amp is giving what it can limited by my small 8g wiring. Pushing the limits at around 280w bridged. Sub can take around 350w @ 4ohm. If I wanted to push a little bit more I'm definitely going to need a 4g wiring kit.

Amp is a dinosaur Kenwood kac-821

That amp is not enough, if your sub is 350w RMS then that means your max power must be something like 500w, the current amp you have is only delivering 150w, bridged at a 4 ohm load. It doesnt have to be spot on but it needs to be somewhat near the RMS rating of that speaker, 300 - 400 RMS load from the amp is sufficient for a 350w RMS speaker. At 150w you are just going to shorten the life span of that speaker.

[E30_Pare]

Amp is delivering 280 bridged.

[German Audio Specialties]

That amp is not enough, if your sub is 350w RMS then that means your max power must be something like 500w, the current amp you have is only delivering 150w, bridged at a 4 ohm load. It doesnt have to be spot on but it needs to be somewhat near the RMS rating of that speaker, 300 - 400 RMS load from the amp is sufficient for a 350w RMS speaker. At 150w you are just going to shorten the life span of that speaker.

Who the hell told you that? That is wrong, it is complete bullshit. Generally, words like "you need this big ass amp to run those" goes with it, spoken by a salesman.

And one of the oldest myths in audio. I heard it back in 1972, it was bullshit then and is bullshit now.

The fact is that CLIPPING is what kills speakers...which is caused by asking 1000 watts out of a 100 watt amp. It is basically when the amplifier cannot create a complete waveform and "clips" the top of the wave off.

When this happens, it creates DC voltage and the speaker cannot deal with DC voltage. The DC is what kills the speaker. I will save the details of why DC voltage kills speakers, but just so you get the idea, audio is all AC signals and causes the speaker to move, while DC just shoves the speaker to one end of the travel or the other, keeping it from moving. That is what kills the speaker, not "lack of power"

You can get around that easily by simply turning it down or just listening carefully and not getting into mass distortion.

It has nothing to do with speaker ratings either, as DC voltage will smoke a 1000 watt speaker nearly as quick as it will smoke a 100 watt speaker.

Of course, efficient subwoofer design will get you around that too, as you will get the SPL you want to hear from a smaller amp. That is why the boxes I design are as much as 20db higher in efficiency compared to normal "car stereo shop" boxes, so generally, 350 RMS is more than enough, especially on a 12".

The truth, from a real professional installer with over 30 years...trust me, the whole "needs more power" thing is pure bullshit.

Luke

[E30_Pare]

That's what I've thought. That clipping kills subs not under powering. Anyways I've got my gain turned half way up on the Kenwood & its giving me peak performance for what it is. Like I said its limited by my 8 gauge wiring anyways.

[Jean]

Yep, it's not like your are ALWAYS sending your speakers the MAX rms they can handle... Sometimes you might be using 5-25 watts. ..and they work fine.

[agent]

OP I have a Kenwood KAC-629 S for sale in my thread if you're interested.