USMC850T Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Ok I work for a "high end" home theater and car audio place here in NY and I'm looking to get some opinions on a setup for my wagon. The plan is most likely going to be Focal Polyglass 5.12 components for the fronts. I think with the right tweeter location I should be able to get them to image pretty well and have some depth to the sound stage.The rear door speakers will be deleted along with the trunk tweeters.The interesting part will be mounting the sub. I plan to replace the two doors that cover the spare well with a large baffle. An appropriate box will mount to the bottom of the baffle which will be apropriately sized for my sub. I will more than likely mount the amp to the baffle using some type of vibration isolation material. The sub will either be a J&L audio 10w1 or 10w3.Amps are where I am having trouble. Every single person I work with has a different opinion. One guy likes autotech cause they have lots of power, others say eclipse cause they're supposed to be solid amps. I was thinking the J&L audio 300w/4ch amp. Either way I will use a 4ch amp, 2 channels for the front soundstage and bridge the rear channels into the sub.The options for amps are Autotech 100w per channel /4 Eclipse 85w per channel /4J&L 75w / 4What amp would you use in this situation?What do you guys think about the rest of the situation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPT_BLOTTO Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 i go with either JL or eclipse. Either way its going to sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Word. Any other opinions on the amp? A couple guys from my store are at CES this week and apparently we've picked up Audison as a brand. I would like to see what amps we'll carry since I'll be able to get 75% off retail with them :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 I personally would want a little more power, especially if subs are being involved. I'm currently feeding ~600 watts to my fronts, and while I'm probably not using more than 2/3 that, I need less gain, and have no clipping. I understand the convenience of using one amp, but it may make more sense to use a more SQ-oriented amp for the focals and use a less-expensive but still good amp for the sub. A W3 in the right box could easily take 400W without it being a problem. IIRC, they're 4 ohm SVC, so you're stuck at 4 ohms, which means that those amps would be running your sub at maybe half potential. If you have the $$ for the Audison, I'd go with that - not saying JL and the eclipse are bad, but from what I've read Audison is much more SQ. Either get a higher-end audison with the power to supply a solid 300W to the sub on two bridged channels, or get an Audison for your components and either a JL or Eclipse (whatever you can get for less) for the sub.Either way good luck and take lots of pix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 the W3 comes in 2 ohm also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POOKDIZZLE Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 You have a wagon so you will be able to hear the subs better than us with the sedans, I think the JL 250 for the w1's or the jl 500 for the 10w3's. Any 4 channel from JL would be fine on the components the e-series would be fine and a little less on the wallet. I think the JL 250 w/the 10w1's would be the way to go as I said before you won't need a lot of power to hear the subs in a wagon. If you are hell bent on using one amp for the system then definately go with the 300x4 and use the 10w1's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Friend had a 300.4 and it ran his components fine (6.5" JL XR), but got hot as hell. Don't know how it'l like two ohms bridged, but if it doesn't overheat or clip, should be fine. With you working in a shop, perhaps you could install the speakers and then play with amps, and see what you like best? Running a two-ohm sub on half a 4ch will be tricky, as that's similar to running a one-ohm load per channel. Some amps will do this fine, others will not - that's why I suggested two separate amps, however several of the upper-end audison 4ch amps claim to support 1 ohm per channel, so they just might do it for ya.I think Focal components + JL Sub + separate amps is still the best idea, unless you really need one amp. While pook has a point that the W3 might be overkill, I'd argue it would be better to spend the extra money and turn down the bass a little bit, then have a system you're not quite happy with - you work at an audio place, so I assume you're an enthusiast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Yes I have a high end home system so I'm looking to do the same with the car system. The whole Idea of the baffle is to be able to basically lift out all the extra unecessary weight when I go to the track. I guess I might look into 2 seperate amps but I would definately prefer to use a single amp for weight and simplicity. I am definately going with the w3, I really prefer the sound over the w1 and it is unquestionably a higher quality piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Well, if you have the cash / desire to get an amp that's powerful enough to run a W3 yet good enough to run your components, there's obviously no problem with that. However, to run the W3 you're going to need 150-220 watts per channel, whereas the components simply won't take advantage of that much available power (however, it would give you headroom should you upgrade to kicks). The JL 300.4 (300 watts total) would probably be ok if it's stable to two ohms on the two rear, but it may leave you unsatisfied. I think you'd do best looking at something along the lines of a VRx 4.300 (4x220W) to do true justice to the focal's, while throughly powering the sub. However, that's a $1500 amp (retail), so snagging a SQ amp say along the lines of 2x90W for your components, and a (slightly) lower quality sub amp, with more power, may not be a bad idea. There's a 2-channel Audison on Ebay right now in the $150-$250 range. You could also get two ED amps, use one for your components (9.2), and bridge the other for your sub (9.2x). Good blend of SQ, power, and cost. I just think using two amps will get you more boom for your buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 I get audison at 75% off retail so no need for ebay. The focals don't need anywhere near 200 watts of power, they're kinda delicate. 70-100 will be more than fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Yes, perhaps I didn't articulate that well, but that was my point. While it's unlikely you'll damage them, especially if the amplifier is set up right, that much power would be of waste on them. However, you do need that much power for the sub, and seeing as all 4-channel amps are capable of providing equal power to all channels, you're either wasting potential power on your components, or under powering your sub. Either that, or run two amps. 75% discount is very nice, your job is worth it for that alone, forget pay . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 From what the guys at my shop have said, the focals are delicate, and a few of the guys have popped theirs. Now clean power generally won't kill a speaker, so I should probalby find out what amp they were running. I might just wind up running 2 amps just to simplify things instead of bridging the rear 2 channels on a 4 channel amp. I really don't want a second amp but it seems impractical at this point to attempt what i want to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Overpowering a speaker can definitely kill it, both through mechanical failure, and overheating / melting. That's no myth. However, tuning the amp right (keep the gain low, set your high pass right, etc), and knowing how far you can crank your system will remove much of this danger. Too much power doesn't kill the speaker outright, it just allows YOU to kill it. Keeping the bass off the speakers (especially in the stock location) will do a lot for them, I'd suggest a high-pass of no less than 100Hz, maybe higher, depending on the slope).Using two amps will definitely make life easier in terms of getting the right amount of power to the right places, and will probably cost less. But if the cosmetics are key, one amp can definitely be used. If it were my car, I would run seperate amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted March 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 I think I've settled on the boston GT series amps. GT22 for the fronts, 75w x2 @4ohm rated power, but the power supply is unregulated so it will likely be higher in the car. GT 20 or 22 in the rear bridged for the sub - 225w @2 ohm or 390w @ 2ohm. We recently brought in their new line and I've been really impressed by them. I also have an oppertunity to pick up a set of Focal Utopia components for an unreal price, if my sony spiffs come through sometime soon I just may pick those up. For now, I'll be happy with the boston amps. Audison will have to wait till my next car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmartinlsmith Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 great amps.. you want great amps. crossfire.. make sure they are the amreican made ones, us amps. goodluck finding them, ummm aaha macintosh also,... you want crisp clean highs, go with a class a tube amp for those, yes there are 12 volt tube amps. and ab or d mono with a .05 or less thd will suit your needs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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