Hello,

I'm new here and I’m looking for some insight from some people who are smarter than me about car audio.

I'm going to be putting in an entirely new system in my 2000 Chevrolet Impala LS to replace all the stock speakers, head unit plus 2 10" subs and amp.

This is what I’m going for:

Head unit:
Pioneer Premier DEH-P8MP
60X4
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/p...6829766,00.html
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/p...EH-P8MP_big.jpg


Front door speakers:
Infinity Kappa 63.7i 3-Way 6.5"
75 watts RMS
http://www.cardomain.com/item/INFKAPPA637I
http://images.cardomain.net/product...NFKAPPA637I.jpg

Rear deck speakers:
Infinity Kappa 693.7i 3-way 6"x9"
110 watts RMS
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-G2jjmJ...cs&i=108PER101D
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pr.../h1086937i.jpeg


Subs:
2 X Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1d 10" dual 4-ohm voice coil
350 watts RMS
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-G2jjmJ...cs&i=108PER101D
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/pr...8PER101d-o.jpeg

Amp?

Amp is the hardest thing to buy.

I have a couple questions.

1) I will probably want to run the 6X9's off the amp instead of the head unit in addition to the subs. Does this mean I will need a 2 channel amp, or a 4 channel amp? Will running the 6.5" off the deck be enough power for them, or should I run everything off the amp? Or maybe the only thing I should run off the amp are the subs?

2) The subs are 4 ohm dual voice coil. I have an idea of what this means, but not sure as it relates to an amp. What should I look for in an amp that will satisfy these parameters?

3) I have read that these subs can be overpowered quite easily. Thus the amp RMS should be 25-50 watts below the output of the subs to avoid giving them too much power. If I understand this correctly, the amp I should choose is around 600-700 watts rms to power both subs, correct? How does powering other speakers come into this? Should I go to 800 watts so I can put 100 watts for the rear 6X9's?

Any comments would be appreciated. As you can tell, I’m not totally up to speed on all the audio stuff. Will this setup work well? Does anyone see any potential problems or something that doesn't look right?

Thanks.

[ July 10, 2005, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: ninty ]

If you want to power both your subs and 6x9s, I would get a mono amp for your subs, and a 2 channel amp for your 6x9s. When I was running a pair of kappas, I had them off a kicker kx600.1 which powered them nicely.

i'd probably stay away from the 8p, its got some issues with the face plate mechanisim not opening sometimes.

Wierd.. We've sold a bunch of them and havn't had a single come back with that problem [img]graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

crazy we've had a few go south on us. but i guess that can happen with any product.

None of my accounts have ever informed me of any issues with the DEH-P8MP mechanism.

An amplifier would be preferable to power the main speakers but if you want to use the DEH-P8MP's power, make sure you run it at 60 watts x 4 (10 gauge wire to the battery would be wise) so you'll get about 26 watts RMS per channel out of it. It's one of the strongest amplifiers in any head unit.

^^^^ This is exactly what I would do as it allows you to build on the system in the future. If you are going to amplify the speakers in the system, a amplifier rated at 50w x 4 rms @ 4 ohm is going to be worth looking at (or larger). The advantage here is that the front and rear speakers will not need to struggle (and work the smaller head unit amp near as hard) to keep up with the output of the subs. It will also afford you protection of the speakers by means of a active crossover and allow you to set the gain properly to keep the speakers from seeing a clipped signal. (really bad thing). Remeber though, you can easily build into this at a later date if you must. Do not compromise the integrity of the system by going to other cheaper components in the system.

As far as the amp goes, if these are the subs you are considering, find yourself one of these two types of amps. A 2 channel amplifier rated at between 100 - 200 w rms x 2 into 4 ohms. It will have a bridged power rating of between 400 - 800 w rms @ 4 ohms. The second type of amp (and more than likely the better choice), is the class D mono sub amp. Ensure that it is rated between 600 - 800 w rms x 1 @ 1 ohm.

You can for the amplifiers one of two ways. A amp to drive the subs and a separate one to drive the front and rear speakers or a 5 channel amplifier to drive the works. Finding a 5 channel amplifier this large is difficult, thus door number one is the better choice here. You can over / under power a speaker all day long, provided you do not send them a distorted (clipped) signal and as long as you allow the speakers to cool. This means no mega long hours and hours of play time at full output. Heat is a natural byproduct of producing power and heat is the ultimate killer of many a speaker, especially a sub. Play your system responsibly and allow it to cool and it will treat you with the same respect.