What kind of amp? Speaker set up?

**NiceLyphe** · 07-26-2011, 11:04 AM

Im going to be putting in a CarPC and going to be running off of a USB sound card. I was wondering what kind of set up is best and convienent..I was told i could use a 5 channel amp and connect my speakers + sub to it. I was also thinking of just doing seperate amps, A four channel to the Front and Rear speakers, then a seperate amp going just to the subs them self. I do think i want to run about 150-250 watts to each door/rear speaker, but i do not know how much watts i want to run for subs..Guess it depends on the subs i go with..Was looking at some 300Watt or some 500Watt kickers..For example, here is the 300Watt one, I'd Most likely run two of these in a single box. Unless a single one at 300 watts will be good enough, but I dont know.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KICKER-10C12-4-C...item5ae1aaf4f7

Below is a diagram I wrote up..Kind of how I can picture all my power running throughout the car. I need to know if this is proper..Stock Alternator is 80AMP, I dont want audio to end up serging the vehicle.

Main question is, what kind of amp set up is better in this situation, for example, a 4 channel at 1k watts + another amp at 300 watts to support the sub or a 5 channel at 1300 watts or somethng of that sort to support all the speakers at once?

**soundman98** · 07-26-2011, 08:13 PM

1.personally, i prefer individual amps over all-in-one models. mostly because it is easier to match stuff then to build the system based on the available power from the amp(most 5 ch amps seem to have minimal wattage for subs..)

though, in a tight install location, a 5ch amp will save precious room.

2. capacitor.
other then something else to spend money on, it is useless. caps are good for the first heavy 'bump' of a system(they are used on large motors--like home air conditioners because of the heavy startup power that a/c units require), and after that, they just become a parasitic load on your charging system. in fact, many spl competitors do not run them because they can get higher spl numbers without. though, i am still looking for data to prove that they could increase the sound quality of a system...

3.invertor.
they are really not recommended because so many introduce noise into the pc system, and cause even more problems. a dc-dc solution will be much quieter.

**NiceLyphe** · 07-26-2011, 09:18 PM

I can def do a dual amp set up, Space is not limited at the moment, I just want it to look clean. Yea I'm going to upgrade my alternator and should be good from there hopefully, going from 80AMP to 125AMP. Inverter is the only thing i have though of at the moment since the unit is a pre-built unit which is AC. Any ideas on fixing that situation?