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Mate i have a set of Eclipse 6x9's, very good sound quality with some good bass. i have a amp running them though. Mate if you don't want to go deaf spend your money on sound quality. Also when running speakers with amps try to match the output with the rms of the speakers, its like having a 1 litre jar and only filling it up half way, so if you have a amp running 2x100 watts then get speakers that run 100 watts rms. Thats why spkers that are 15-30 wrms sound ok from just a head unit but spkers that are 100 200 wrms sound shit with just the HU. the speakers need the power to drive them and give good sound. Also to get good bass it needs a load more power to produce it.

Sounds like you've got the right advice already, you need a decent amount of power to get some decent sound out of them.

I actually think you should go for an amp that puts out slightly more power than the speaker can take, and don't turn the gain on the amp up all the way, that way the amp has plenty in it without stressing it.

Sounds like you've got the right advice already, you need a decent amount of power to get some decent sound out of them.

I actually think you should go for an amp that puts out slightly more power than the speaker can take, and don't turn the gain on the amp up all the way, that way the amp has plenty in it without stressing it.

Thanks for all the good advice guys. I'm still confused on something though.

I have gathered this much: Stock speakers sound OK when powered by the headunit because the power rating of both are similar. The same cannot be said when running higher power speakers off the headunit. As per advice given by people in this thread, an amp is needed. This leads to the following question:

I still do not understand about amping/power/volume. I would imagine that more power means more volume? Thing is, I don't want more volume. I don't like loud music. I like SQ.

Am I wrong in saying the following:

1. stock 30 watt rms speakers powered by the headunit. If I put the volume at medium, then the speakers might be getting say 10 watt rms?

2. after market 100 watt rms speakers powered by the headunit. If I put the volume at medium, the speakers should still be getting 10 watt rms? How will it sound compared to the stock speakers receiving the same power?

3. amplified 100 watt rms speakers receiving 50 watt rms from an amp. If I put the volume at medium on the headunit, then doesn't that mean that the speakers will be much much louder since they're getting more power?

cheers guys

Sounds like you've got the right advice already, you need a decent amount of power to get some decent sound out of them.

I actually think you should go for an amp that puts out slightly more power than the speaker can take, and don't turn the gain on the amp up all the way, that way the amp has plenty in it without stressing it.

being loud will come down to a few things such as what you run the speakers off how much power (wrms not just watts) and the sensitivity.

eg head unit will be about 16wrms depending on brand etc etc. if you run them off an amp that is 100wrms the amp will not distort at the same level as the head unit.

sensitivity has a part as well if your speakers have a sensitivity: 89dB/Wm a speaker that has a sensitivity 91db/Wm needs less power to produce the same sound as that with 89db/Wm.

i hope this helps mr 32

Always use an amp on at least the front speakers and the subs.'ALWAYS'

Mate you can't avoid it, to get good SQ you need an amp. but if you don't like loud music there is a dial on the HU that can turn the volume down!

I'm not trying to avoid it, i'm trying to learn and understandd. I believe that what you said is incorrect.

Picture it like this. The reason why people always amp their speakers, is such that more power can be suppolied to the speakers. I.e. at low power levels, headunit can provide clean power, but as you turn it up, the internal amp can't handle it, and supplies distorted power. That is why you have the volume on low and amp the clean signal.

If you're going to run the headunit on low volume, then there is no need for an amp. When I say I like low volume, I mean very low. As in, I would have to turn the volume on the headunit to at least double that volume before it would start to distort.

So I just can't see how amping it would make the signal any cleaner, when the headunit's signal is nowhere near distorted yet.

Look mate i and everyone here thats answered are only trying to help, your original question was bassy 6x9's a few have answered and said to get good bass you need an amp. The head unit itself doesn't really have the power to provide good quality bass without an amp, it really doesn't matter what speakers you have. You also said your next thing to get was an amp! so if you don't like loud music why are you getting an amp? Look i'm only trying to help. to be honest if you listen to music as low as you say with or without an amp you won't here much bass at all. As i've said before if its good quality sound your after get the good gear but the trade off on getting good quality sound systems is that they can be loud! but they'll sound great loud and soft. do yourself a favour and go see a good reputable installer, they can answer all your questions and recommend your best options.

And what i said was not incorrect, to get good SQ you need an amp, as i said the head unit alone cannot give you the low bass you need for good clean sound quality! Does anyone else think i'm wrong in saying this??

Look mate i and everyone here thats answered are only trying to help, your original question was bassy 6x9's a few have answered and said to get good bass you need an amp. The head unit itself doesn't really have the power to provide good quality bass without an amp, it really doesn't matter what speakers you have. You also said your next thing to get was an amp! so if you don't like loud music why are you getting an amp? Look i'm only trying to help. to be honest if you listen to music as low as you say with or without an amp you won't here much bass at all. As i've said before if its good quality sound your after get the good gear but the trade off on getting good quality sound systems is that they can be loud! but they'll sound great loud and soft. do yourself a favour and go see a good reputable installer, they can answer all your questions and recommend your best options.

And what i said was not incorrect, to get good SQ you need an amp, as i said the head unit alone cannot give you the low bass you need for good clean sound quality! Does anyone else think i'm wrong in saying this??

Gday mate, sorry if what I said seemed like it was an insult against you. I did not intend it to be. Like I said, I didn't understand and was only trying to learn.

Cheers mate

Gday mate, sorry if what I said seemed like it was an insult against you. I did not intend it to be. Like I said, I didn't understand and was only trying to learn.

Cheers mate

no insult taken, we all start in the same boat. At the end of the day its your choice on who's advice you take.

By the way, i have an eclipse HU (cd3434) running a five channel Cadence amp, soundstream 6inch splits in the front doors eclipse 6x9's in the rear shelf and a ten inch pioneer sub in a box in the boot, i can take it out when i need the extra room. It sounds awesome! the SQ is unbelievable and i hope you get yours to sound just as good, I am the same as you when it comes to loud music, i didn't care for it i just wanted sound quality, i told this to my installer who then recommended my system ( i had a budget of $2000) i was lucky most items were on sale. But he told me that because of the quality gear i'm getting it will be loud anyway, but it doesn't need to be to get good SQ, though it won't break any SPL records. As i said get the good gear and you'll love the SQ that comes with it. I highly recommend any Eclipse product. Best of luck with your system

Mate I have been through a few sound systems and after all the ones i have tried I would have to say that you can't go past cadence speakers, amp and subs if you so wish.

I'm running a Eclipse HU and the rest of the equiptment is all cadence.

Unbelievable sound quality and have never had any problems wiht it unlike some other brands.

pioneer yellow kevlar cones. They were top of the range when i got them ($320). I have a 4 channel jbl amp and kicker splits and fosgate head unit. Havnt got the stereo in yet as i have no money.

Guy at shops thinks these 6x9's will be that bassy i will have to crank the splits up a bit at the front.

  • 2 weeks later...
That's so strange!!! today, I just bought another set of jbls, and the bass is still the same. It's crap.

Maybe I need to get an amp? Initially, I just thought it was the first set of pioneers, but now i'm thinking it's something else.

It could be your head unit having a crappy crossover. My old one was really crap, so I ended up changing to a pioneer unit about $400 and a set of Alpine 6x9's running off the Head unit and it's got pretty decent bass for head-unit powered speakers with little distortion. I skimped on my install though...pretty rough speaker job :ermm:

6x9's are designed to work on a parcel shelf, using the boot area, not boxed seperatley... (unless maybe you built the boxes to some specs provided with the speakers).

I'd build a decent parcel shelf out of 12mm or thicker mdf and thow away the boxes.. although its been said before a pair of coa 6.5in coax's and a 10in sub will be way better than any set of 6x9's. I found in my last 2 systems (which had 6x9's) that the bass they produced was far too overpowering anyway, and drowed out the higher frequencies.

2 mates of mine where running pioneer 6x9's, both through amps, and both very bassy.. one was in a barina, the other in a magna sedan..

im quite a big fan of pioneer, and in both hatch and sedan they seem to go hard... im aware you do not want to go deaf, and without sounding like a smart arse ( as there is no intention ) there is the volume dial..

basically in untechnical terms, the amp will improve sound quality.. eg clear vocals, decent, but not stupid bass..

hope it helps in some way.....

Sorry to backtrack, but we are missing an important point in the aplifier question: increase in power v increase in volume is not linear... its logarithmic, if you have a speaker powered by 10wrms (for arguments sake we will say a 100hz tone) to make that speaker sound twice as loud you would need 100wrms.

Each time you double your power or number of speakers you gain 3db. to double the volume you need a 10 db gain, this is where the sensitivity comes in, if you have a midrange which is 89db at 1w/m and a tweeter wich is 92db 1w/m you need 'yep you guessed it' two midranges to make the speakers sound linear (or twice the power to the mids, which is what the crossover does - limits the power to the tweeters as well as seperating frequencies)

Having an amplifier will give you more headroom, it wil not have to work as hard to make the same volume, it will not heat up as much allowing it to make more bass and being more reliable.

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