My passenger side front speaker is popped, so I'm shopping for something new that I can upgrade. I have Kenwood headunit that has built-in amp with 22 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels. Do i still need to buy external amp to power aftermarket speakers?? I don't listen to music constantly LOUD.
I've never understood amplifying door speakers. I mean I've always had to install crossovers to keep them from having too much bass and popping. I've never wanted to give them more power. But I'm no expert by any means.
That's what I was thinking as well, but i see most of people with amp for speaker and sub. BTW, I have kenwood woox, self-powered sub that tucks in under the front passenger seat, to fill in the bass.
Yeah. I think your head unit should be more than enough for your door speakers. Especially since you're not looking for anything crazy loud. I have the underseat sub and amp combo that SPT sells or whatever, but I hooked up a Memphis 10 inch sub instead of the 6 inch speaker that's built in and I couldn't be happier. I mean the 200 watts or whatever it puts out is more than enough for any reasonably good speaker. But that's neither here not there. Lol.
I would say you don't need the amp either. I just installed some infinity kappa's in my front door speakers and they are powered right now by my clarion 53x4 head unit. It gets REALLY loud and clear even with my Blitz Nur Spec-R exhaust which is LOUD!!! I probly will eventually put an amp on them but just because i'm a perfectionist... At first i thought i would need it but now after my speakers are broken in (didn't realize they would need to break in) it sounds AWESOME!!
You shouldn't need an amp unless you also have a sub that is pushing alot of power. Usually the front speakers can run off the deck until you get to loud with a sub that you are drowning out the front highs. Obviously, if you do run an Amp to the front speakers, they will sound much better, but it is not necessary unless the case above.
icic (BTW, i just realized that this is kinda in wrong forums since there is dedicated section for Audio/video) Is there any good pair that can be dropped in for under $100?? or $200?
Yes, many. I was looking at the Pheonix Gold Speakers components. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_7294.html Also, I have always had good expereinces with Pioneer. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3OmngvsIMJs/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?g=400&l=C&nvpair=FFBrand|Pioneer Infinity is decent. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3OmngvsIMJs/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=400&I=1085010CS or http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3OmngvsIMJs/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=400&I=1085010CS
I just got the infinity kappa's component set up front. I LOVE it. It's a HUGE difference... Would recomend them to anyone. I don't have mine on an amp right now either and they sound wonderful even with my 2 12's running on 1k wats in the trunk. They are more than loud enough and oooo so clear .
Ok trying this again as I accidently hit the back button :/ I disagree. While there are some speakers to be had that can work off a head unit, if you want good quality component speakers up front you would be better off getting a small amp to run them. The advantage is with components you are really running 2 speakers...1 for highs and one for mids and some lows. Most of these speakers are going to require more than a head unit can push. I have ML quartz in my front doors and I am starting to think that the 100 watts RMS I have going through them may not even be enough (amp previous owner chose). Remember you can blow a speaker by not providing ENOUGH power to it as well. When you crank up the stereo there is distortion. Even if you can't hear it completely, it is there. Much better to get a good set of components and a matched amp for them. Your head unit should have both front and rear pre-amp outs.
I agree that an amp will definitely be beneficial, and if cost permits, it is the best way to go. I have to disagree with you that underpowering a speaker will cause it to blow. You can't blow a speaker from using to little power. You can blow a speaker from using low power that is not clean. The power coming from your headunit, if aftermarket is most likely a cleaner signal than the factory, but not up to a decent amps cleanness. For example. My new setup includes a JL10w6. Peak power in that sub is 300 watts. If I were to put 200 watts of unclean power into that sub from a cheap Radio Shack Amp, I could easily blow the speaker. If I put 200 watts of clean power to it from say a standard Pioneer Amp, there is no harm and the speaker should last a good length of time. I am currently putting about 500 watts, 200 over the recommended peak, of clean power into the sub, and it is eating it up like it is nothing.
I guess I should have explained a little better...to reach the same level of sound, if you under power a speaker...say it requires 50 watts rms...and you want to reach 100 db....if you have 25 watts rms from a factory head unit and you reach 100 db, the power at that point will not be clean compared to same speaker reaching 100 db with a 50 watt rms amp pushing it. The speaker will get distorted power (unclean power) from the head unit but clean power from the amp at the same 100 db. These are not exact numbers, just an example. You will be getting distortion by underpowering the speaker. Found these from crutchfield and other sources: Crutchfield: "Q: How does a speaker's power handling relate to the power output of a receiver or an amplifier? A: Let's limit our discussion to RMS (continuous) power, because whether we're talking about power handling or power rating, the RMS number is always more significant than the peak number. You should pick an amplifier whose power rating is in the upper end of your speaker's power range. For example, if a speaker is rated to handle up to 35 watts of RMS power, it will perform closer to optimum as your power source approaches delivery of 35 watts. It's better to overpower a speaker than to underpower it — the distortion caused when you push a low-powered amp to its limit is much more likely to harm a speaker than too much power. " Now in this example above, consider the head unit amp as the low power amp... Underpowering a speaker is likely to damage the voice coil due to the excess heat created by distortion. This distortion, called clipping, is created when the amp is not able to supply the power demand when the volume is turned up. If you turn the volume up very high without the power to back it up, you'll end up clipping the signal coming out of the amp. The speaker will try to reproduce this clipped signal, and if played under these circumstances for any length of time, the speaker will not last very long. Again, consider the head unit amp in the above. RMS Power: The power output of an amplifier should be roughly matched to what the amp will be used for and what speakers it will be driving. Oddly enough, the most common problem with matching speakers and amps is using an amp that is too weak to power the speaker. When an underpowered amp is used to power a speaker, the listener tends to turn the volume up higher in order to get more output of the amplifier. Eventually the amplifier runs into its limit and begins to distort. This distortion can cause the output from the amplifier to become DC for short periods of time and DC signals of even low power can destroy a speaker. Underpowering a speaker in this way can be more dangerous than overpowering it! Also more power is usually necessary when powering subwoofers because of their large size and excursion. Do not plan on using an amp of less than 75watts per channel to drive a subwoofer. The converse holds true for higher frequencies (midrange and treble) only 25-50watts per channel are necessary to drive speakers in those frequency ranges, however more power will not hurt, it just probably will not be used. Another factor in power output is stability in low resistance loads. Sometimes you can wire mutiple subwoofers to a single channel on an amplifier but the amp will have to work harder to drive this kind of load. Many moderately priced amps can drive loads as low as 2 ohms or less, with 4 ohms being the typical load of a single speaker.