Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Looking for more Kick/pump

Hey guys im looking for some more kick/pump out of my system. its got some good bass to it but im looking for more but i also want it clear. i mean when i turn it up its sounds like crap. what i was thinking of doing was to get an AMp-140w. what does an Amp really do for me anyway. where can i get one for cheap but i dont want a cheap one either. This is my set up im running now thanks for any help guys
JVC KD-S550 40X4W Cd Hu
Pioneer Ts-A6865 6X8 3 Ways(all 4 doors)

Would you consider a subwoofer? The reason I ask is because the 6x8s in your door could reach much louder levels if you could put a high pass filter on them to cut the bass. That way a subwoofer could handle the bottom end.

An external amp will provide better sound than an internal amp because the quality of the amp and especially the power supply is well above that of a HU.

keeping your budget in mind here; Buy yourself a small s channel amp or a mono amp and buy one reasonable sub. some recommendations. Check out soundstream for a mono amp I know they have one for cheap but I forgot the name. Also MTX has what I think GREAT quality amps for the money. They have one that's like 130.00 or so. I think it's rated at 50x2 and maybe 75 or 100 bridged. Thats really all you need if it's clean power. As far as subs, DAMN there are so many new ones out there and I haven't heard many of them. I personally like JL AUDIO and you can probably get a w0 or w1 series for about 100.00. With that combo I think you'll achieve the sound your looking for. Keep me posted on your ideas and give me a ball park fig. what your budget is. I'll try to help further if I can.

Hey thanks for the info guys. this helps me step in the right direction. ill probley surf the web until i find one that i think will suit my needs. but vinny i think i will follow what you were saying. again thanks for the info

I feel so hurt....

Im sorry man i didnt mean to offend you in anyway. I know you also know your sht. so heres another question. say i get the amp 1st and then i want the Sub. how hard is it to connect the Sub. i mean the Sub would have to connect to the Amp for power right. is that all i wold have to do is connect it to the Amp or do i also have to run another wire to the Battery. and when i get the Amp should i run it off the HU. or the speakers.sorry for the dum question but i dont know sht about this stuff and thanks for all your help dnewma04

You will need to run a power wire from the battery to the amp (where ever you install it) and then a ground wire from the amp to the nearest chassis ground (you can drill a small hole and secure it that way). You will also need to run RCA cables from your head unit to the amp to supply the audio signal. Then you simply connect the amps speaker outs to the sub (in an enclosure of coarse) and you're in business. If you don't know much about doing this I would suggest having it installed by a local shop or something, or maybe a friend that knows how. Hope this helps clear things up, if you have any more questions let me know.

Well the reason i ask is. I will have the Amp put on buy a local shop. but i dont know how hard it would be to hook up Sub. I mean i dont want to pay extra for then putting on a Sub if its easy enough for me to do. but i guess i will have to anyway. I might also ask some of my C-CEgers to help me out with the Sub. but thanks for the Info Pete

Maybe this can help.

You have two options, as I see it.

First, just buy an amp and use it to drive your current speakers. It's just as Pete says except the you run the speaker wire to back to the front to connect to the door speakers. You'd just splice them into the stock speaker wires for easiest install.

Slightly less work is a sub install, as far as wiring goes. You don't have to run speaker wire all the way back to the front, just a short run to the sub.

Now, you'll get a little more bass than now going the first route, but a 6x8" speaker is not capable of creating a lot of bass, no matter how good. Thus, Dave's (dnewma04) recomendation for a dedicated subwoofer. Depending on how much trunk space you ware willing to give up, you can get a sub and use the amp for it only, and use the head unit for your door speakers. That'd be a relatively easy system to wire (either for yourself or = less money at the audio shop).

a good place to buy an amp from is http://www.millionbuy.com. check out the legacy amplifiers, they work good and are priced good. you can get a 240watt amp for $49. just thought id let you know.

yeah 240 watts of sphincter power. Whenever you buy car audio, you get what you pay for. I bet if you hook that legacy amp up to a meter it would probably only register about 50 watts TOTAL, if your lucky. Take my advice, stay clear of that amp and buy yourself something descent. If you look around I'm sure you can find an amp for 100.00 that will out perform that legacy in every aspect by far. If you need some help let me know; I've had many competition systems and I'de be glad to give you "GOOD" advice. As far as hooking up the sub once the amp is allready installed, all you have to do is connect the speaker wire to it; very easy. You might as well just wait untill you have the sub because hooking the amp up without it is serving no pupose cause your door speakers are allready running of your head unit. So when you get both then go to the shop, they won't charge you any extra to hhok the sub up. If they do, they are trying to rape you.

Vinny, I have some "GOOD" advice for you. I suggest you become a little more diplomatic in your posts. Legacy amps use max power typically. The 240 watts obviously is not going to be produced but getting 80-100 watts would not be out of line. On a budget, Legacy is a brand to consider. I have heard a few systems that use them and they are not spectacular but are competent for an entry level amplifier.

Quote:

Take my advice, stay clear of that amp and buy yourself something descent. If you look around I'm sure you can find an amp for 100.00 that will out perform that legacy in every aspect by far.

According to your previous statement, the 100.00 amp would be twice as good as the legacy. If he spend 100.00 on a higher power legacy, it would also outperform the 50.00 model by far.

Quote:

If you need some help let me know; I've had many competition systems and I'de be glad to give you "GOOD" advice.

So far you have made some pretty good recommendations but I propose that you open your mind a little. Because you have had many competition systems doesn't impress me, impress me with your recommedations and knowledge and I may be more apt to listen. As it stands, insulting other people because you don't like their recommendations has the opposite effect. Besides, I have heard competition systems that sounded like utter crap, and also heard 500.00 systems that sound very nice and extremely balanced (using a legacy amp).

Post your suggestions but don't insult the rest of us by insinuating that you are the only one offering "Good" advice.

I-Dom-In-8
I could help you out with the amp and the subs install I did my headunit and my amp and subs

ZetecRacing that would be really cool if you could. but i would love to hear your 1st. i hope you can make it to our next meet. then i can hear yours and maybe that will help a little. this is what i was thining with the set up. I want to put the Amp under either my seat or the passinger seat. would this work. and for the Sup i want to put it in the trunk but on the right side towards the back where the light houseing is. can you guys picture where im talking about.would this work. i want some room left back there but i also want a clean setup. anyone have any good pics. and BTW thank you guys for all your help.That goes for everyone

Are you kidding me? Legacy? I don't care how much money you spend on it, it's not a good product and I don't don't see how you could reccomend it. I'm not here insulting anyone; I just happen to have vast knowledge when it comes to quality car audio. I did not mention my competition systems to impress you. I was just simply stating that I know what a quality system consists of. Now you say you have heard 500.00 dollar systems that have sounded good. Please enlighten further. Your talkin Hu, speakers, amp, crossover, accessories. what kind of complete system can you buy for that price. If you manage to, I will guarantee it might work, but it will be a long way from soundidng good in my opinion. You have to understand that there is a BIG difference between a stereo thats sounds ok"descent sound, descent bass" and a quality stereo which has fine imaging, tight bass and low bass that doesn't overshadow everything else. I'm not trying to start world war 3 here, as we both know we need no more help in that dept. I'm stating the facts I know about car audio. I used to spend alot of time at my friends car audio shop " not as an employee, not enough money", But I would help him with his installs and I've seen, helped build and listened to hundreds of setups. we used to have a gauge that would measure power, and you would be surprised at the difference from what shows up on the meter and what the manuf. claims. One other thing you should ALWAYS go by rms power, not max. Max power is a small amount of power the amp can push for a couple of seconds and you should always avoid that. It provides heat, distortion, and in turn produces bad sound.

if possible I would try to avoid putting th amp under the seat because it will be difficult to filter out the heat. Your best bet is to buy a small sealed box and you want to put it right up against your back seats with the sub facing the toward the rear" facing you when you open the trunk". If you get a sealed box and say you go with a 10 in. sub the box will be a minimal size and you can put it against the back seats on either side of the trunk. As far as the amp goes their are so many things you could do. But all would require custom work. You could have it mounted on the side of your trunk standing up. this isn't too difficult and it would be out of the way.

i looked around a little and found 2 amp I think are good buys. the first one is a Rockford Fosgate G160a2 from www.buyloud.com power ratings- 40x2 at 4 ohms and 160x1. The 160x1 figure might be at 2 ohms. i don't think it said. If so it probably puts out about 80 to 100 at 4 ohms bridged. The other is MTX RT2120 from www.crutchfield.com it's rated 30 x2 and 120x1. Both of these amps would produce sufficient power.

Vinny, thanks for the response to my post but I'll pass on the lessons. I may have over reacted but you seem to not understand that not everyone has the same requirements nor the same money to spend. I made the mistake of spending my money on car audio speakers in my last install. I paid 1000.00 on just the speakers. Did it sound good? Sure. Could I do better by spending well under 400.00? without a doubt in my mind. In fact, I think for 800.00, I could buy 2 subs and a component set that would be nearly impossible to beat at any cost with brand name car audio products.

By the way, I'm a firm believer in buying high quality products, but they aren't affordable to some people and others won't consider buying used.

The $500.00 system was not competition quality, but it had good midrange, clear (if not a little bright) highs, and competent bottom end. No boom, no moving hair, but solid low end. It included audax mids, ultimate tweeters, 8" infinite baffle sub, HU and 4 channel legacy amp.

not sure if I ca make it to the next meet since I work retail and our meets are usually on the weekend. but there are some problems to look at with putting the amp under the seat. 1 space for the amp and 2 cooling of the amp. my somewhat old now rockford punch 200x2 wound't fit under my seat but I do have a 6 disk changer under the drivers seat.

It's only 2 channel. I'll stay out of this for now.

Oh...hmmm...thought you were running 2 channels to your doors wired in parallel and 2 channels bridged to your sub?

Par/Par/Par, except for at any given frequency, the amp is seeing a minimmn of a 2-ohm load. Getting techincal, I don't know the impedence curve of any of the drivers except the 8" so that's probably not a true statement either.

If you have a Best Buy in your area, they may have some of the "old" looking RF amps around. I have two RF 120s running my subs now...one I bought when it came out($179), and one I bought brand new on clearance there($110). I am very happy with them running in mono to my subs, way better than the old Legacy 500W :rolleyes: I had in my old car. I also have 2 10" subs in only .88 cu. ft. each, it is only goes back 15" which leaves most of the trunk available for the groceries. If you would like to see a picture, go to the sound section on www.fordcontour.org and click on the post about what direction do you face subs.

I-Dom, you might look into pre-made subwoofers if you're on a budget, intend to complete the install yourself and/or haven't donw much of this type of work. You might also consider a subwoofer wiht a built-in amp. Kenwood, SAS Bazooka and JBL make or have made these.

I have a Fosgate amp that bridges to approx. 140 watts (2 ohm) running into a JL Audio microsub 8.2. This system sounds great and should be reproducable for under $500. The subwoofer contains two 8" drivers in a very compact ported box. There are also versions of this with one and three drivers for less and more money, respectively.

My door speakers (Boston Acoustic RS 5.25" components up front and RS coaxials in the rear - all in stock locations) run off of my fairly high-powered head unit and I'm happy with this. This will not annoy as many neighbors as one or more 12" woofers, but it is very tight and goes pretty damn low while the door-mounted components are amazing compared to the stock setup and are completely hidden.

Cason Grover
E0 SVT