Matching Amps to Speakers (JBL)
08-15-2011, 02:14 AM
#1
0 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5
Matching Amps to Speakers (JBL)
Hey guys. Not going to go into a huge amount of detail, but here's the scoop:
Looking at throwing some front and rear speakers into my car. I'm looking to go with JBL speakers and amplifiers (the local store doesn't have a huge selection, and I've had good experience with JBLs in the past). Looking at getting some power series speakers. These are the specs:
1" tweeter: 60 watts RMS
6"x4" woofer with tweeter: 50 watts RMS
6"x9" rear woofer with two tweeters: 110 watts RMS
Now, I listen to lots of heavy metal, so it's very important to me that I bring out all of the frequencies, especially the highs (hence the tweeters) and mids, hopefully to be provided by the 6"x9"s in the back. Therefore, I'd like to get the best bang for the limitations of these speakers, and I'm looking for a good way to match them up with some solid amps. The problem is, JBL's amp selection isn't very wide. Here are my options:
120w 2 ch (2x 60w @2ohm)
220w 2ch (2x 110w @2ohm)
320w 4ch (4x 80w @2ohm)
600w 4ch (4x 150w @2ohm)
Looking at the available choices, to me, there doesn't seem to be an intuitive choice without going with multiple amps. I definitely want to run the rear speakers at their optimal capacity (110w) because I really want to bring out the mid/mid-lows to help out my subs. The easiest solution that I was told to go with at the store was to take the 320w 4ch and run 80 to the front and 80 to the back, with the tweeter and 4x6 splitting the front (I assume that'd be 40w each depending on how they're wired), and the rear having 80w to itself. This, however, doesn't seem really optimal to me, as neither the front nor the back speakers are getting their optimal wattage (40 per speaker in the front instead of 60 and 50, and only 80 in the back instead of 110). I really want these speakers to sing at their best, but is the difference in the wattage going to make that much of a difference on loudness and sound quality? I have a feeling the answer's going to be no, but I want to make sure I've made the right decision to get the best out of these, as I've got a lot of driving to do when I drive to university every day in the fall.
Another alternative that I've been told I can go with is to grab the 600w 4ch amp and down the inputs to match the speakers, but to me this sounds like a good way to blow the speakers if I don't tune the amp correctly, and I'm paying for 600w when I'll only be using 440 of it.
Besides going with the 4ch amps, I was thinking of all the different combinations I could come up with. The easiest would be to just match an amp to each pair (a 120w amp for the tweeters, a 120w amp for the 4x6s, and a 220w amp for the 6x9). However, this would mean I'd be running four(!) amps (including my sub amp), which seems stupidly excessive and likely over-expensive for what I'm looking for. On a side note, the guy at the store told me that this was also a bad idea because I'd be running more amps (as in, amperes) into the back of the car. He also told me that it's about the amps (amperes), not the wattage, and as a physics student, I was internally shaking my head as I'm certain he didn't know that watts are derived from amps anyway. And besides, I already know how much wattage I want (2x[60+50+110] = 440), so the whether or not that wattage is divided up between several amps or just one is kind of irrelevant, no? I don't think I'll be paying him to do the install. :P
Anyway, a solution I came up with that seemed a little less excessive would be to run two of the 220w 2ch amps, which would give 110 to each front (and therefore 55w to the tweeter and 55w to the woofer [the RMS is listed at 50w, will this matter?]), and 110 to each back speaker. In total that'd give me three amps including my sub amp (one amp for the front, one for the back, and one for the subs).
So, my questions, summed up in point form for your viewing pleasure:
- Which solution would I be best off with? What'd give me the best performance based on the speakers I've chosen? Will the difference between the 4ch and the dual 2ch amps be that big?
- Is three/four amps a bad idea?
- Will driving the 50w RMS 4x6s with 55w (from half the 110) or 60w (from half the 120) be a bad idea?
- If I really am dead set on matching up the wattages as best I can, is 2 220w amps acceptable?
I apologize for the wall of text, tangents, and general noobie questions, but I want to know that I'm making the right decision before I spend my money. I appreciate any and all input! Thank you.
Looking at throwing some front and rear speakers into my car. I'm looking to go with JBL speakers and amplifiers (the local store doesn't have a huge selection, and I've had good experience with JBLs in the past). Looking at getting some power series speakers. These are the specs:
1" tweeter: 60 watts RMS
6"x4" woofer with tweeter: 50 watts RMS
6"x9" rear woofer with two tweeters: 110 watts RMS
Now, I listen to lots of heavy metal, so it's very important to me that I bring out all of the frequencies, especially the highs (hence the tweeters) and mids, hopefully to be provided by the 6"x9"s in the back. Therefore, I'd like to get the best bang for the limitations of these speakers, and I'm looking for a good way to match them up with some solid amps. The problem is, JBL's amp selection isn't very wide. Here are my options:
120w 2 ch (2x 60w @2ohm)
220w 2ch (2x 110w @2ohm)
320w 4ch (4x 80w @2ohm)
600w 4ch (4x 150w @2ohm)
Looking at the available choices, to me, there doesn't seem to be an intuitive choice without going with multiple amps. I definitely want to run the rear speakers at their optimal capacity (110w) because I really want to bring out the mid/mid-lows to help out my subs. The easiest solution that I was told to go with at the store was to take the 320w 4ch and run 80 to the front and 80 to the back, with the tweeter and 4x6 splitting the front (I assume that'd be 40w each depending on how they're wired), and the rear having 80w to itself. This, however, doesn't seem really optimal to me, as neither the front nor the back speakers are getting their optimal wattage (40 per speaker in the front instead of 60 and 50, and only 80 in the back instead of 110). I really want these speakers to sing at their best, but is the difference in the wattage going to make that much of a difference on loudness and sound quality? I have a feeling the answer's going to be no, but I want to make sure I've made the right decision to get the best out of these, as I've got a lot of driving to do when I drive to university every day in the fall.
Another alternative that I've been told I can go with is to grab the 600w 4ch amp and down the inputs to match the speakers, but to me this sounds like a good way to blow the speakers if I don't tune the amp correctly, and I'm paying for 600w when I'll only be using 440 of it.
Besides going with the 4ch amps, I was thinking of all the different combinations I could come up with. The easiest would be to just match an amp to each pair (a 120w amp for the tweeters, a 120w amp for the 4x6s, and a 220w amp for the 6x9). However, this would mean I'd be running four(!) amps (including my sub amp), which seems stupidly excessive and likely over-expensive for what I'm looking for. On a side note, the guy at the store told me that this was also a bad idea because I'd be running more amps (as in, amperes) into the back of the car. He also told me that it's about the amps (amperes), not the wattage, and as a physics student, I was internally shaking my head as I'm certain he didn't know that watts are derived from amps anyway. And besides, I already know how much wattage I want (2x[60+50+110] = 440), so the whether or not that wattage is divided up between several amps or just one is kind of irrelevant, no? I don't think I'll be paying him to do the install. :P
Anyway, a solution I came up with that seemed a little less excessive would be to run two of the 220w 2ch amps, which would give 110 to each front (and therefore 55w to the tweeter and 55w to the woofer [the RMS is listed at 50w, will this matter?]), and 110 to each back speaker. In total that'd give me three amps including my sub amp (one amp for the front, one for the back, and one for the subs).
So, my questions, summed up in point form for your viewing pleasure:
- Which solution would I be best off with? What'd give me the best performance based on the speakers I've chosen? Will the difference between the 4ch and the dual 2ch amps be that big?
- Is three/four amps a bad idea?
- Will driving the 50w RMS 4x6s with 55w (from half the 110) or 60w (from half the 120) be a bad idea?
- If I really am dead set on matching up the wattages as best I can, is 2 220w amps acceptable?
I apologize for the wall of text, tangents, and general noobie questions, but I want to know that I'm making the right decision before I spend my money. I appreciate any and all input! Thank you.
Last edited by Dave16; 08-15-2011 at 02:37 AM.
08-15-2011, 03:26 PM
#3
0 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5
Well that I already knew (and planned). My old setup had 2 amps, so obviously I want to match it or upgrade from that. Everything else you said (active/passive network) is Greek to me.
08-15-2011, 08:04 PM
#4
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 201
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