Hi all, I'm getting a used '05 S2000 on Monday. I've decided to leave the car well enough alone for now and to upgrade the sound system. I've decided on an all MB Quart system with a Pioneer 9800BT head unit. The front components are the PVF216 (rear coaxials for fill will be in the far future although i've read that a tuned system will not need it), the Subwoofer will be from the PWH line - a 12' inch not sure of what ohms, and the amp will be a 5 channel PAB 5400. I do not understand the concept of amps all that well (ohms, bridging channels, RMS, etc, etc.) I'm a relative newbie at this and have only researched on audio systems for 3 days so any concerns or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to spend under 700 (ebay is a dear friend).

 

Here is a quick tutorial about amps:

A channel == a speaker So a 5-channel amp will drive 5 speakers (these could be Right Front, Left Front, Right Rear, Left Rear and a subwoofer.)

Power is rated in Watts. Some amp makers advertise a PEAK wattage rating. A better rating is RMS (sometimes WRMS) is a more realistic rating as it is the delivered wattage over a period of time.

If you have a 4 channel amplifier that puts out 50 watts per channel (200 watt amp) you COULD turn it into a 3 channel amp by connecting the Front Right and Front Left speakers to it and "bridging" the two rear channels into one channel that would be 100 watts.

This is actually what I would reccomend to you. You do not need rear speakers. 5 channel amps are rare, expensive, and offer very few options. I would suggest you get a single 4 channel amplifier and bridge the rear outputs to drive your subwoofer. If you ever decide you REALLLY want rear speakers, then you could unbridge the amp and use the 4 channel amp to drive the FR,FL,RR,RL speakers and get a new mono (1 channel) amp to drive the subwoofer.

 

I'd suggest an 8 inch sub woffer. Better movement.

 

Something not touched on here is impedence (in ohms) when bridging an amp. If you have a 4 ohm sub and only one amp channel is powering it, that channel will see a 4ohm load. If you have that same 4ohm sub, but bridge two amp channels together, you take your load (4ohms) and divide it by how many channels are powering it (2 channels). 4/2=2ohms per amp channel. Because each channel is now seeing a 2ohm load (2+2=4ohms) the power output per channel is now doubled. Since you're using two channels instead of one, your power output is now quadrupled.

To recap, a 50W x 2 amp bridged to a 4ohm load will now put out 200w into one channel, 100w per channel. If you decide to later buy a 4ohm sub, buy a two channel amp and not a mono amp. You will get more for your money.

 

Better movement? The more a subwoofer (driver) moves, the more distortion it also produces. Using a larger diameter driver will require less movement to reach the same SPL's, thus also producing less distortion.

 

Bass normally sounds a little sloppy in the car anyway if it's not Dynamatted. I say get a 12"

 

For rear fill, I would simply run them off the deck power not an amp. Get the best 4 channel you can afford and run it as a 3 channel, the amp is very important, more so than the speakers.

 

I found the 8" sub not up to the job and went with a 10", which I like better, but it could also be the brands and sub box I used. I want low end fill more than wake your neighbors hip-hop bass.

I have a V1 enclosure - http://www.darksidesubs.com/

 

Okay, regarding your tips and advice, I've decieded to get the Pioneer HU that i've chosen, a MB Quart PVF216 component set, and the MB Quart PAB4100 4 Channel amp. No rear set. Now regarding the sub - MB quart has the PWE line, both in 2 ohm and 4 ohm impendence. Which of them should I get if I decide to bridge the two channels to drive the sub? Also, would a 10' be enough or a 12'? How bout I go with the cheaper RWE line of subs? Sorry for the questions, I just want to spend my money right.

 

I'm not a big fan of MB Quart anymore. I think their quality dropped off after Rockford bought them. I prefer Alpine decks to Pioneer when talking sound quality. The new Pioneer decks feature better display, ergonomics and price, and most have an eq as opposed to my cda9885 though.