Your advice wanted please

[Greg]

I'll start by saying I know sfa about car audio so please excuse me if i ask stupid questions.

I have the following:

- jvc mp3 h/u

- mb quart splits

- signat 2 channel amp (2x60watt rms)

- pioneer 2 ways for rear fill (run off h/u)

- 10" mtx sub (will run 100 - 200 watts rms)

I need another amp to run my sub, my options are:

- buy another 2 channel and run two amps

- sell my current amp and buy a 4 channel

Will running two amps drain my battery of power so I won't be able to listen to my system for very long with the engine off? Will I need to upgrade the alternator or anything else?

Thanks for you help!

Cheers,

Greg

[The Tool]

Running another amp = more power = more current drain. So in short, yes.

Depending on how good your charging system is you shouldn't need to upgrade your alternator. You might also want to consider investing in a capacitor - not essential, but will help "smooth" the current flow to the amps.

Why not purchase a 4 channel to run the speakers & bridge the sub of the 2 channel? By running fronts off an amp and rears off the head unit you will probably find that the rears won't have enough volume.

[Mud]

Yes, do that.

Or buy a 5 channel amp?

[sniffy]

to starr with...amps are designed to run when the car is running...ie. 14.something volts, not 12! so running it when the car is turned off isnt that good. but ive found if the amps arnt staining for power (not enough power for the speakers) it doesnt do much harm (well, noticably)

if you are only going to be running a set of splits and only 1 sub, i wouldnt worry about a capacitor, just upgrade your battery perhaps.

amp wise, a 4 channel amp would do the trick...2 for the fronts and bridge the other 2 for the sub. alternativly, you could get another 2 channel amp, depending on where you are going to mount them and how much room you want left. remember, amps are generally designed to get rid of the heat when they are sitting normally...so if you mount it upsidedown and its being put to its full potential, you might have an over heating problem and then bye bye amp!

hope this helps, hope i didnt sipn too much crap!

[Greg]

thanks all for your replies

i've decided i don't want to spend money on another amp just yet...so here are my options:

a) Use the amp to run my splits, and run no sub for the moment

B) Use the amp to run my sub and run splits from the head unit

I'm leaning towards (a) because my splits were pretty expensive and are quite good quality so it would be a waste not running them off an amp.

what do you think?

[Mud]

I would go option B.

Your splits will still sound good if your head unit has even half decent power.

And the benefit from a sub will outweigh the benifit of powered splits tenfold.

Hope this helps dude.

[predator]

Yup, subbies require more power to generate a decent volume.

Hence why most subbies are around 1000w and you will not find much above 300w for other speakers. Really for a sub, an amp is essential whereas for splits its not.

[Greg]

I hooked up my splits to the amp but it lacked bass... so then i hooked up the sub to the amp and ran the splits from the head unit. It sounds sweet

I might get a cheap 2 channel amp to run my splits though because the sound is so much clearer with an amp. Anyone know of any amps for sale?

Thanks for your help all