Since no one is in the audio threads.

[SUPERSUB87]

i'm trying to figure out what to buy for a system for my suburban.
can someone school me on the different amps (mono, 2, multichannel) and what the channels are for. Also whats with the watt craze. i thought db's and ohms measured sound and watts were just power? also how the speakers watts, headunits watts, amps watts, and the subs watts correlate.

 

[gator688]

Ok here are the basics----
Mono- is most used for driving one subwoofer.
2- I am not sure what you are talking about here? 2ohm is what I think you mean so for that case, some sub woofer's are designed to be run at 2 ohm's or you can use a combination of wiring and either 4ohm speakers or 8ohm speakers to accomplish this(I dont recomend this for a beginner to install because of its complexity get a speaker shop to help with this).
Multichanel- means multiple channel amp, most are 2, 3, or 4 channels and can be used in a variety of ways such as 2 channels for mids or highs and 2 channels for subs or 4 for mids or highs, or 2 for mids and highs and the 3rd for subs, and so on and so on.....

If you can tell me what you are trying to accomplish I can help you out a lot more.

 

[kp texan]

By 2, I think he means two channel amps. Like supersub said, mono is for a sub, two channel can be bridged to run a sub or two separate speakers (maybe your front 2), and 4 channel amps can be used to run all 4 of your main speakers. If you dont want a subwoofer but still wan't good sound quality, I would just run a single 4 channel amp to power your speakers. If you want a sub also, you would be better off running 2 amps: one mono or 2 channel for the sub and one 4 channel amp for your speakers. The most economical setup would be to just run 4 speakers straight from your head unit although best sound quality would be achieved by running both external amps for your speakers and sub. Just keep in mind that it's always better to use an external amplifier than it is to use the amplifier within your headunit.

Dbs or decibels are an actual measure of sound but with more wattage you can produce more decibels (of course this depends on your speaker sensitivity as well). Wattage is normally measured in 2 ways: RMS or peak. RMS is the better measurement and that's what you want to look for when comparing amps. I dont really pay attention to the wattage rating on a speaker because its better to over drive them with power than to under drive them. I don't really pay attention to wattage ratings on head units either because as far as I'm concerned any amp in such a small space isn't that great. A 25x4 watt headunit is never as good as running a 25x4 watt external amp off that same headunit. Head units have gotten better than they used to be and if you just want basic sound and don't need a crazy system you'll be fine with a head unit and no external amps.

Another thing to note is that GM used some pretty sorry speaker designs throughout the '80s. To get really good sound you'll also need to get away from the stock 3.5" speakers and 4"x10" speakers (who came up with that speaker design anyway???).

Hopefully this cleared up a few things.

-Wes

 

[SUPERSUB87]

yeah. thanks to the both of you. what i was planning on doing is kinda hacking up the holes in the dash to fit some better speakers. say a 6x9 in the middle and some 4 or 4 1/2's to replace the 3 1/2's. and for the back some 6x9's. for the subs i was thinking of having just one 12" sub. the headunit is most likely going to be one of the boss head units (4x80w) with the 3.5" screen (getting a good deal on it from a friend). i was looking at the rms's and im not quite sure on how it all works. do i want to find a multi channel amp that is bridgeable so i could use 2 channels for the sub and 1 for each 6x9 in the back??? and up front just find a small amp that could fit say in the glove box for the front speakers?

 

[gator688]

If you plan on running two amps anyway just get a 4 channel to run both the front and back speakers and get either a mono amp for the sub, you might want to think about this though, if you get say a 2 channel amp for the sub then you can bridge it to run the sub or for future use if you had a 2 channel amp you could use it for something else. Not much price difference in between a mono amp and a two channel(speaking of same brandname). You will also have better sound control using this setup, you want to try and balance the sound the same way you would without an amp, I dont know about you but I always run the rear speakers just a little bit louder than the fronts.
In my daily driver I only have a head unit for my mids and highs, I replaced the stock with a high end speaker though and that makes a lot of difference, I have a 2 channel amp on my two tens(I ran 1 channel per subs just because I like it that way). I have a little over a $1200 in this setup in just the cd, one 2 channel amp, 2 10" speakers, and 4 replcaement speakers, I also built my own box which save about $200.
Also make sure that there is a good crossover built into the amp or you will need to get one of those to control the frequency going to your speakers.
You can spend a lot of money on this stereo stuff before you know it, what I mean to say is that if you want a good sound you dont have to spend a fortune if you spend it right, on the other hand if you plan on going competition with it then you better have some really deep pockets, a lot of your competitors dont even own there stuff, it is more like a demo from there local sound shop that they are advertising for.
Sorry for the long post but hope that it helps you.

 

[kp texan]

Gator is exactly right. You can spend a ton of money or you can do it relatively economically. I really don't see the need to spend big bucks on a expensive sound quality setup for a vehicle that has poor acoustics and a ton of road noise anyway. Now if you want to dynomat all the body panels in your K5 thats something that would help, but thats just more money on top of it all. I also agree with Gator in using a 2-channel amp bridged versus a mono amp due to versatility.

-Wes

 

[SUPERSUB87]

thats exactly what i was thinking (bout the amps.) i was just going to replace the speakers (maybe add a kick panel speaker box to get rid of the 3 1/2's) and since i already have a good box im just going to buy a replacement 12'' (anybody use the rockford fosgate p2's?) and later throw two more 8" in the box (big box for one sub).

HAS anyone ever owned the bazooka tubes? the 8" ones would fit on the fenderwells (and they are cheap).

 

[gator688]

I have used them but I dont think the sound quality is as good, you get what you pay for like I said earlier. If you want something that sounds good for not a lot of money then spend more money on your replacement speakers and just buy a cheaper amp. I personally am more about sound quality than being loud(if it is distorted and sounds like s**t then what is the point).
Try and find a good namebrand speaker that has a wide frequency range. I personally like the speakers with built in tweeters just so I dont have a bunch of little 1" pods everywhere and more wires to try to hide. Do a lot of shopping around too, unless you are in a hurry you can find stuff on sale or even on E-bay. I found my mid range speakers there- spent $40 shipping and all for 4 6x9's that were brand new, still in the box with the factory seal. Now I have 2 left over for a future project and I have some 4x6's that I did the same way.

 

[Thunder]

This is just my opinnion but...... Dont buy a Boss Hu. They are cheap crap and sound like it too. They are almost unusable off road because they skip on the smallest bumps.
Get a Pioneer DEH-P47 DH. They are a very good HU. Lots of power. Direct fit to the GM mounting. With the wireing adapter kit install is simple.
Almost have to get airborne to make it skip.
That way you will have a good base to start from with what ever else you want to do.