The catalogs I get from Crutchfield tell me that speakers that require less than 8 watts RMS can be used with my stock head unit. They have component systems by Infinity, Blaupunkt, and others that have an RMS range of 2 to 60+. Is the factory head unit going to have enough power to drive these component sets? I don't want to change the head unit or waste space with and amp. I am interested in a component system because at high speeds, the tweeters would be easier to hear from on top of the dash. The existing speaker locations are usually blocked by legs anyways. The position of the mids shouldn't matter. Any opinions???

 

Sure, the stock head has enough power for these, but you're still going to be unhappy at high speed with the top down. It doesn't have ENOUGH power at highway speeds to make it heard.

 

MacGyver,

I am still scouring the web and other resources to find a documented reason to back up my "clipping of low power amplifiers is highly damaging to speakers" argument...

I have damaged several good speakers by clipping low-power units and therefore always plan systems to have more available clean power than I need...

I mention this here because trying to play the stock headunit at distorted levels could damage a good component set's woofer... I just need to document why to convice you.

 

On Thursday I installed Infinity 605CS's. I surface mounted the Infinity tweeters on their angle mounts on the A pillers about an inch off the dash and on Friday I was cruising at 80 with the top down and listening to Muddy Waters and hearing the fingers move on the guitar strings with only the stock 2001 head end ... I then stopped the car without turning the volume down to see how much distortation (if any) was audible and to my ears (and my passenger's) there wasn't any... This was my (definitely unscientific) test to determine whether to install an amp at this time and I'm not going to right now ... I would suggest that you listen to the components before putting them in though. THe Infinity 605's have very crisp and bright tweeters and I think this helps quite alot since in order to balance the sound between the tweeters and midranges I chose the -3db point on the crossover and used the treble adjustment on the head end to further reduce the hi freq level.

 

Shaner,

By all means, try to find some good information...I'm always open-minded enough to listen to reason. Beware, however, I've been designing audio equipment since I was in high school (I cannot say who for...NDAs being what they are), and I have 11 years of schooling from top universities (BS and MS) in electrical engineering...so my theoretical background is pretty solid.

I only refute information that I can PERSONALLY show where theory (and practice) show otherwise...all other cases I keep in the back of mind for when I come across more info (either helping or hurting the case at hand). I don't make my arguments lightly...they're based upon years of design and theoretical experience, so be prepared to offer some REAL hard evidence or theory

Anyone, feel free to pick my tiny brain for info (unless it violates my NDAs)...

 

wsm,

I suppose I should have been a bit more precise in my post about the stock unit not having enough power. It shouldn't have a problem with high frequencies (as you correctky noted) as they don't take as much juice, but should he require some real bass, the stock unit is going to fall flat on it's face at high volumes/speed. If you're more into hearing the voices and cymbal crashes, the stock unit shouod hold out for you just fine.

 

Shaner and MacGyver--
I am inclined to agree with Shaner on this one. I had a Sony head unit (17x4 RMS, 40x4 peak) powering four Boston Acoustics speakers in my first car, and I think I blew three speakers in a year and a half. I was told that this was due to turning up the stereo too high and using bass boost, which overpowered the amp, and the installer at Tweeter, Etc. told me that when the amp was overpowered, it "opened up" and fed the straight 12 volt from the car directly to the speaker. I think that the 12 volt, not being regulated or "clean" has too much noise and this kills the speaker. That last point is just speculation on my part, however, the speaker getting 12 volt is what my installer told me. Good luck in the search for the answer

 

HG,

When you say "opened up," do you mean you blew the amp as well? If that was the case, flowing high current through a small speaker is going to blow the voice coil just about every time. Other than a short, there is no direct path in an amp directly from the battery to the speakers, so I wish I could have been there to hear his explanation firsthand.

If I had the time, I'd slap in a class-D amp (of my own design, of course ) and know exactly what's going on...but for now I'm happy with Sony's internal amp.

Not to say there aren't an intelligent installers out there (since I've met a few...VERY smart people), but the majority I've run across just don't TRULY understand what's happening. They either make a bad supposition based upon incorrect info (theirs, or someone else's), or they blindly take someone else's words for fact and propogate the falsehood. This isn't their fault necessarily, but all too often they choose not to think for themselves and actually question what they're being told. Blind faith will run you into a tree eventually...

But as I said, I'm all ears if someone can provide proof. Am I a professional installer? No, I just hack away at my own stuff because it's fun. I have a lot of respect for the work and care many installers put into their projects, and I don't have the patience they do. I wish some shop would pay me a consulting fee...they do the box designs and the install, I do the hard-core theory/design and acoustic calculations Well, there's always my next life...

 

When he said "opened up" I assumed it was like a safety valve was tripped...that for some reason the current bypassed the amp completely, and went to the speakers, or went through the amp as 12 volt and straight on the the speakers. The amp in the head unit didn't blow though. You probably know far more about this than I do, I was just passing on what the installer told me. He seemed like a pretty knowledgeable guy, but I don't know that much about it, so who knows? He just said that because I was overloading the amp, it was causing my head unit to pass on the 12 volt to the speakers. Hope that clarifies a little...

 

Hmmm...I too was looking at the Infinity 605cs Components. Relistically, I think my plan will be to buy and install those and continue using them until I can figure out which route to take for a subwoofer. If I get the Kelton Sub I'll most likely forgo an extra amp. If I wait for the JL Stealthbox or go with a custom sub I can always get a 3 ch. amp to power everything. I don't want to enter a downward spiral of spending like I did on my truck. $15,000 later I have a good sounding system but with a collection of problems. It's good to know where to start. Thanks everyone!