I'm wanting to put an amp under my seat in my 2015 WRX, but I'm concerned about it getting hot with the air bag wires right there. Any opinions? Am I being paranoid or should I mount it somewhere else??
I just ordered an Alpine MRX-V70 5-channel (I'm not building a big system - not into that anymore), but now I'm reading some bad reviews about those amps crapping out pretty quickly on people. It's on backorder, so I have time to change it. I'm trying to find an amp in that price range, with approx. that power and size. The biggest issue is the size. The one I'm leaning towards right now is the Fosgate R600X5 since it should still fit under my seat nicely, and gets positive reviews. It's class A/B for front/rear channels and class D for sub - http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_35676_Rockford_Fosgate_R600X5.aspx I'm completely open to suggestions for other amps in that range or different install locations!! (trying to avoid the back of the back seat though)
BX4s are hit an miss- some dead silent and some quite noisy. Won't like the 2 ohm load on bridged channels anyway. Do you need all 5 channels? I assume front/rear/sub as is typical. Just for the record, rear speakers are often eliminated in a situation where you are going for true sound quality. At most, I've run them at quite a low level off the head unit and then amplify the front and sub. You would balance (fade) to the front to the point that the rear can barely, if at all, be heard vs the front. Surround sound is for movies- true music listening is always in front of you with possible reflections of main sound behind; but that does distract from where the band should be playing. Any chance the sub could be 4 ohm? A bridged 4 channel playing fronts and sub with the rears off the deck would be the cleanest way to go- but it's rare to find an amp that will run cool and happy bridged at 2 ohms.
Or buy a 2 channel amp to run the front speakers and a mono amp to run the sub. You could put one under each front seat. I completely agree with Slade with running the rear speakers on your head unit.....they are just there for rear fill.
Sub is an Alpine type-R 8" dual voice coil (sealed box), so it will be running at 2ohms. That's why I want at least the sub channel to be class D (runs a little cooler). I've thought about going the 4-channel route and bridging the rear channel for a sub in the past, but I actually like hearing the rears some. Obviously I'll have the gains set where the fronts get more power. I also like a little more system control as well with crossovers for front and rear without using caps, etc. Also, if I were going for pure sound quality I wouldn't be looking at $300 amps, that's for sure! As a matter of fact I'm only powering the factories for now until I can figure out what speakers I want. They will be mid-grade as well- nothing crazy. For a little background, I was an installer at Circuit City for 3 years (lead installer for 1) back in the early '90's - back when you actually had to INSTALL a GPS system into a car, which was only for rich people, and a major PITA - haha. Of course I've forgotten a TON and haven't kept up with the times at all, and I'm also just not that into it anymore. At this point I just want a little more than the crappy stock system can deliver. Who knows, I may end up not being happy and getting way into it again and blowing thousands....
I hear both of you, I really do. Back to my question though, so no one thinks I should be worried about the air bag wires? ...which are directly above where a hot amp will be? Don't want to be driving down the road in the middle of summer and BAM!!! lol
I have a couple on the shelf if you want another one to make it 4 ohms total load :naughty: Common misconception- price has nothing to do with quality of sound. I know some TOP sounding systems using this amp and is what I would recommend to you if you could make it work. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_38338_Precision-Power-PPI-P900.4.html Though I don't personally agree with, it is understandable; hence the comment of running them off the HU. Should give plenty of power to hear the rears "some", but if you are looking at limiting band width without caps- I can see the argument. High pass caps are much cheaper than additional amp channels though. Typically no with current amps on the market. Bridged at 2 ohms would run hot, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are concerned. You are on the right track with the dedicated sub channel if that is where you are and I have no problems with either 5 channel amp you have listed if the PDX-V9 is out of your price range.
First of all, thanks for your advice and input. Sorry, I should have clarified. There are several other amps I'd probably choose if I wanted to go with 2 amps or didn't mind a larger amp, or wanted to spend more. I'm using the stock head unit, so I'm also wanting high level inputs. The stock head unit wouldn't by any chance in hell have RCA outs would it?? I haven't pulled it out yet. I'm also kind of wanting to do it on the cheap, and there aren't a whole lot of options that are small enough to fit under the seat. So far I've narrowed it to the 2 amps I mentioned before, but any other amp recommendations are welcome. bTw I love PPI amps! Their 5 channel that would fit doesn't have high level inputs, and I would rather not use RCA adapters if I didn't need to. I know I'm being picky, but a clean, easy, small footprint install is just as important to me as how it sounds - actually probably more. Of course I say that and will have a plain jane square box in the trunk, haha..
You are better off buying a quality LOC than using the crappy ones built into some amps. You are essentially doing the same thing except by using an external LOC, you can actually pick up a quality unit instead of using the cheap resistor soldered onto the amp board.