Thread: Advice on amp

Originally Posted by tanders12

Looking for advice for an amp. My goal is to be able to have direct 3.5mm input. My current system is a stock 2005 Buick LeSabre. The speakers included are 2x5.2in front doors, 2x4in rear doors, and 2x(6inx9in) behind back seats. I also have a Rockford Fosgate Punch P1 amp. I will eventually be upgrading the speakers.

From the reading I've done I think the best way to accomplish this would be with a 5 channel amp. I'm not a huge bass-head; I prefer clarity and accuracy.

I have 2 concerns:
1) In order to continue using all 6 speakers I would need to bridge the rear door speakers with the far back speakers. Is that correct? What specs do I need to look for to make sure this will work?

2) The amps I've seen so far have 3 separate inputs for lows, mids, and highs. The suggested method for connecting to an amp in the FAQ:

http://www.mp3car.com/the-faq-empori...tereo-amp.html

Seems to be simply splitting the stereo output and plugging it into all the inputs on the amp. However, this seems like a bit of a hack to me. I would think that the best way to do this would be some sort of a crossover to filter the stereo signals from the 3.5mm jack to the correct inputs. Does such a thing exist? Perhaps another solution be be to get an amp with built in crossover capabilities.

What recommendations do you guys have for me?

If you have a motherboard with 6ch output, you would be able to continue to use all 6 speakers as separate surround sound. That would likely be your best bet if you really want the most clarity out of the system. Another thing you should look into is either getting a higher quality sound card so it outputs high enough voltage to match the amplifiers input range, or a line-driver/EQ that can do the same.

That being said, if you really want a single 3.5mm input, you're going to have to use spitters, or get a 6ch amp that only has 2ch input (Not sure about that one existing?). Amplifier input impedance is high enough that you don't really lose much if any quality from splitting the signal, but really the best way would be to actually have direct 6 channels of output going into your amp (or amps), then to the speakers.

Originally Posted by malcom2073

If you have a motherboard with 6ch output, you would be able to continue to use all 6 speakers as separate surround sound. That would likely be your best bet if you really want the most clarity out of the system. Another thing you should look into is either getting a higher quality sound card so it outputs high enough voltage to match the amplifiers input range, or a line-driver/EQ that can do the same.

That being said, if you really want a single 3.5mm input, you're going to have to use spitters, or get a 6ch amp that only has 2ch input (Not sure about that one existing?). Amplifier input impedance is high enough that you don't really lose much if any quality from splitting the signal, but really the best way would be to actually have direct 6 channels of output going into your amp (or amps), then to the speakers.

I thought about doing surround sound but in 5.1 systems I've seen all of the speakers are basically the same, whereas car speakers are designed for stereo reproduction, ie the front and rear speakers are different so they can reproduce different frequencies more accurately, which is why full component systems and crossovers are desired for cars audio. I may be misunderstanding that. The other issue i have with that is that I want to be able to use my phone, ipad, etc to drive the amp. The line driver/eq sounds like that might be the way to go. Can you recommend some good ones?