Hence clipping. Why I recommend an O-Scope!

 

Actually, I do know what I'm doing. Family business was an electronics store in Miami, been around it all my life. The question was whether it was worth it considering I already have pretty good stuff and am fairly happy with the sound. I just want to reduce the distortion a little. Most of it is coming from the rear speakers because of the mismatch in power handling capabilities. If I set the fader to -2 or 3 on the rears it sounds fine, but I lose a little of the stereo imaging and spatial perception. As for the amp ratings, almost any knowledgeable stereo person will tell you that your amp should be rated a little higher than the speakers in order to give your system a little headroom. Not a lot, just a little. My speakers are rated at 80-90W RMS/240-270W peak, the amp is rated at 100W RMS/250W peak. That's hardly a mismatch to be worried about.

The other consideration was heat. The head unit gets pretty warm as loud as I run it. By not using the onboard amp in favor of an external one, it should run cooler. Again, thanks for the input all.

 

Sorry didnt realize you updated the 55watts rms speakers....You should be ok with new speaker choice. but I dont understand the headroom comment. If you think about it you got that the otherway around? by pushing more power to your speakers than they were designed and rated were is the headroom in this setup? Everything is pushed at its max or more right?

I actually had two 8 inch subs catch on fire once years ago....wasnt cool to smell burning and look behind me and see flames through the boxes glass window followed by smoke....but those were subs and some serious overpowering.... didnt know sh#t back then either

 

Is this correct? I've read elsewhere different. I'm building a system too and need to figure this out so I can order some stuff.

 

That's completly incorrect!

For one thing the RCA outputs are called preamps for a reason....they completely bypass the head units internal amp....they usually come in 1.5 volt and theres a higher voltage version but I cant remember what it is...... But even if you used an amps high inputs from the head units speaker wires output you still would be outputting the same power out of the amp, Period. the head unit is basically working exactly the same as using a line out on a portable dvd player, sirius sat radio or mp3 player...in fact you could bypass the head unit entirely and hook any of these up directly to the amp and get the exact same sound quality if you wanted....Its just harder to adjust the volume usually.

 

sorry to hijack the thread, but since the audiophiles are lookin, I might as well ask.

Can I mix 2 ohm speakers with 4 ohm? (2 of each)

Thanks for the reply

 

yep...if you wire them in parallel (positives together and negs together) it should give you around a 3ohm load and if you wire them in a series it should be around 6ohms.... wiring them in parallel will give you a slightly higher power output advantage out of the amp too....(I'm assuming your wiring 1 2ohm speaker with 1 4ohm together on one channel out of the amp)

 

I guess I should have mentioned I will be using a four channel amp.

 

Wiring in parallel doesn't change the load.

If you have a 4-channel amp that can handle 2-ohm loads, then you can mix 2 and 4 ohm speakers, but it has to be in pairs. Channels 1/2 (L&R front) should have a matched set and channels 3/4 (L&R rear) should also have a matched set. Do not mix 2 and 4 ohm speakers on the same channel pair.

 

You are correct. But as I mentioned before, the best purchase I ever made was the Phoenix Gold TLD22 http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...old+TLD22.html took my HU's weak 3v sub pre-out and turned it into an 8v monster. I'm getting 1600RMS out of my sub amp with the gain completely off no bass boost sub sonic set to 26 and LPF set to 65. Was definitely louder and so much cleaner it almost sounds bad because it's so good lol. $30, can't go wrong with that. Very easy to install as well.