I have the following system configuration:

'02 with the stock HU
Kenwood Exceleon KFC-Xr61p components in the front
Rockford Fosgate Punch 501x amp in the trunk, which powers the front speakers and my
10" JL Audio sub in the custom trunk enclosure (in the tool well)

The amp is a 500W amp (125x4 or 250x2).

I'm looking at upgrading my HU to an Alpine 9857.

I've noticed that with my current set-up, when the amp gets hot, it shuts down. (Of course my car is black and this tends to happen the most in the summer.) The volume for radio is much lower than when listening to CDs.

I'm wondering whether the new HU will help this situation.

My question is: since the 9857 has a built-in amp, should I (or can I) use that to power the fronts and just have the amp power the sub? Would that put less strain on the amp and allow me to drive more volume?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

you can use the internal amp of the HU to power the components... make sure they have good efficiency rating, though. how about swapping the sub for something more efficient and leaving everything else the same?

what resistance is the sub? dvc? how have you got it wired? it might present a load that the amp is unable to handle... usually 4 channel amps cant do lower than 2ohm when bridged

 

I'm not sure what resistance the sub is. Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about electrical stuff.

I know I have a JL Audio W3v2 sub, but the manual shows that there are 3 variations ... a -D2, a -D4, and a -D6. I suspect I have either the D2 (which is "dual 2 ohm" impedance, 3.31 ohm resistance) or the D4 (4 ohm, 6.94 ohm resistance). You're right that the amp will only do 2 ohms when bridged. But I wonder if I eliminate the load from the components if that will help. I'm not really in the market for a new sub, the HU is the only thing on my list right now.