In my Honda, I have a JVC head unit that supposedly provides 19 watts per
channel RMS. I have added a subwoofer... A single 12" Alpine Type R in a
vented enclosure, powered by 400 watts RMS. I just replaced the stock
speakers up front with a set of Polk DB6500 components which sound many many
times better than the stocks. But of course at louder volumes the HU amp
clips and the speakers badly distort, while the sub is able to play very
cleanly as I continue to turn up the volume. I have decided I definately
want to add a second amp to power the front speakers. The Polks handle 100
watts RMS, so a good 100 watt RMS per channel amp is in
order................. Anyway, what I'm not sure about is this............
Should I just get a 2 channel amp for the fronts, or get a 4 channel amp and
power the rears as well? The rears, by the way, are still stock, and so far
I have no plans to replace them. I normally have the fader set so I mostly
hear the front speakers and just use the rears for some nice fill. If i
power the fronts with 100 watts per channel and just power the rears with
the head unit, will I even hear the rears? I would hate to get a 2 channel
amp for now and then decide the rears need more amplification and end up
adding a 3rd amp to my car. Space is not exactly a premium. On the other
hand, I would hate to spend a good bit extra right off the bat for a 4
channel amp and end up not needing the other 2 channels. Any advice here
would be awesome. With 400 watts going to the sub and 200 watts total going
to the front speakers, would I even hear the rear speakers being powered by
only 38 watts total? Thanks for any help and advice!

Yes, you would hear the speakers being driven by the stock head, even after
the fronts are amplified. If you got a 100x4 amp, you'd be doubling the
price of the amp and the stock speakers probably couldn't handle it anyway.
Just leave them running off the head.

--
Mark
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"zoostation1965" wrote in message
news:Uv7bc.58153$w54.364544@attbi_s01...
In my Honda, I have a JVC head unit that supposedly provides 19 watts per
channel RMS. I have added a subwoofer... A single 12" Alpine Type R in a
vented enclosure, powered by 400 watts RMS. I just replaced the stock
speakers up front with a set of Polk DB6500 components which sound many
many
times better than the stocks. But of course at louder volumes the HU amp
clips and the speakers badly distort, while the sub is able to play very
cleanly as I continue to turn up the volume. I have decided I definately
want to add a second amp to power the front speakers. The Polks handle 100
watts RMS, so a good 100 watt RMS per channel amp is in
order................. Anyway, what I'm not sure about is
this............
Should I just get a 2 channel amp for the fronts, or get a 4 channel amp
and
power the rears as well? The rears, by the way, are still stock, and so
far
I have no plans to replace them. I normally have the fader set so I mostly
hear the front speakers and just use the rears for some nice fill. If i
power the fronts with 100 watts per channel and just power the rears with
the head unit, will I even hear the rears? I would hate to get a 2 channel
amp for now and then decide the rears need more amplification and end up
adding a 3rd amp to my car. Space is not exactly a premium. On the other
hand, I would hate to spend a good bit extra right off the bat for a 4
channel amp and end up not needing the other 2 channels. Any advice here
would be awesome. With 400 watts going to the sub and 200 watts total
going
to the front speakers, would I even hear the rear speakers being powered
by
only 38 watts total? Thanks for any help and advice!

zoostation1965 wrote:
In my Honda, I have a JVC head unit that supposedly provides 19 watts per
channel RMS. I have added a subwoofer... A single 12" Alpine Type R in a
vented enclosure, powered by 400 watts RMS. I just replaced the stock
speakers up front with a set of Polk DB6500 components which sound many many
times better than the stocks. But of course at louder volumes the HU amp
clips and the speakers badly distort, while the sub is able to play very
cleanly as I continue to turn up the volume. I have decided I definately
want to add a second amp to power the front speakers. The Polks handle 100
watts RMS, so a good 100 watt RMS per channel amp is in
order................. Anyway, what I'm not sure about is this............
Should I just get a 2 channel amp for the fronts, or get a 4 channel amp and
power the rears as well? The rears, by the way, are still stock, and so far
I have no plans to replace them. I normally have the fader set so I mostly
hear the front speakers and just use the rears for some nice fill. If i
power the fronts with 100 watts per channel and just power the rears with
the head unit, will I even hear the rears? I would hate to get a 2 channel
amp for now and then decide the rears need more amplification and end up
adding a 3rd amp to my car. Space is not exactly a premium. On the other
hand, I would hate to spend a good bit extra right off the bat for a 4
channel amp and end up not needing the other 2 channels. Any advice here
would be awesome. With 400 watts going to the sub and 200 watts total going
to the front speakers, would I even hear the rear speakers being powered by
only 38 watts total? Thanks for any help and advice!



I would buy a 4 channel just in case down the road you do decide to
upgrade. Even if you dont, you can always bridge the other two channels
and increase power to the fronts and power the rear off of deck power (I
personally dont reccomend using deck power) I have a JVC KD-SH55 deck in
another vehicle that I was pretty disappointed with the power output
until I upgraded to a 4 channel amp. Additionally, after upgrading to
external amps, and not using the decks internal amp the sound quality
when playing CDs increased. Most likely you will find that after
increasing the power to the fronts you will not hear the rears as well.
I like a good balance between both so the rear passengers get better
volume. If you decide to go with a 4 channel you can turn the gain down
to a lower setting for the rear speakers so that you are not
overpowering them. It takes a bit of tuning to get that right. You will
find that it isnt much more money for a 4 channel amp compared to a 2
channel amp. You would think 2 more channels would double the cost but
most often that isnt the case. What amps have you looked at so far or
are considering. Im sure you could get some good reccomendations here if
you need them.

EFFENDI