Upgrades, which first.

Corvin · 04-18-2005, 01:32 PM

I just got a 94 Explorer Limited. As far as I can tell everything in it is stock except the head unit, it's a Kenwood deck, can't recall the exact model number. The stock stereo was the "Premium" model with the factory sub in the rear cargo area.

I'm going to install a carputer in the near future. I've been reading lots and have learned a few things. I've got a bid in on a service manual for my truck so I'll be doing as much of the work as I can on my own.

Now, the question that I have is which should I upgrade first assuming that I can only afford one or the other right now. New speakers or install an amp? The kenwood HU puts out 4 x 50 watts. The factory sub/amp is in the back and sounds like it's still working and I'd like to keep that until I can afford to replace that as well.

And I already did

and

the manual on for the kenwood deck.

lgbr · 04-18-2005, 08:10 PM

Amplifier. You don't want to underpower any speakers.

Mad Ad · 04-18-2005, 08:33 PM

both - you dont want to blow up your puny stock speakers and that 50w a channel is only max power, youd be lucky if thats 20w rms

mbuchman · 04-18-2005, 10:16 PM

The way I look at it is you want to do whatever takes the most work first. Like when I get my next car, I will be doing wires and deadening first, along with the door and rear speakers (which will be a good $1,000 for the items listed above), and then when I can afford to put the amps, carputer, and head unit in, itll be plug and play.

So with that said, do the speakers first, because its the most work.

Matt

WhiteRabbit · 04-18-2005, 10:36 PM

the way I see it, I rank everything I could do to my car in how much benefit itll actually improve the fidelity of my sound. I'm sure in your own car, purchasing an EQ is pretty low on the list of things to do!

So if I were in your shoes, I would purchase speakers first.

scott_fx · 04-18-2005, 10:52 PM

speakers first, no questions about it.

Corvin · 04-19-2005, 10:48 AM

Ok, so I'm going to install new speakers shortly.

But that brings a new question, do I need to replace the wire from the HU to the speaker as well, or can I just reuse the existing wiring?

Frankino · 04-19-2005, 10:56 AM

mah, I noticed a big difference with the stock speakers, adding ad amplifier. forget your 50*4w, if you try to check the power drawn by your HU under load you'll probably see not more than 2 amps, roughly 25w. Obviusly you have to split these 25W for each channel... this speaks for all

seanshine · 04-19-2005, 10:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Corvin

Ok, so I'm going to install new speakers shortly.

But that brings a new question, do I need to replace the wire from the HU to the speaker as well, or can I just reuse the existing wiring?

Depends on if you want to sell the vehicle sometime in the future.....if you run new speaker wires alongside your stock ones,it makes it easy to reinstall your stock speakers.
Hopefully,whoever installed the head unit used a harness adapter,so you could reinstall the stock radio as well.

WhiteRabbit · 04-19-2005, 11:43 AM

I wouldnt bother at this time adding new wiring. Despite what some people may say here, you can run a true 50 watt amplifier through your stock wiring. 50 watts to each corner just fine. In fact, shops do it all the time! faster to reuse stock wiring rather than rewire the vehicle from scratch.

do you plan to run a 100x4 amp in your car? Id probably think about rewiring the car. 50 watt four channel amp? youll be fine reusing your stock wiring.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrr

feel free to rewire your car. but theres no point as long as you are running off deck power, for sure. When you buy your amplifier, and have to have the car torn apart anyways to run power wire and RCA cabling, THATS the time I would consider rewiring the car

why have your car apart twice if you dont need to?

scott_fx · 04-19-2005, 12:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

I wouldnt bother at this time adding new wiring. Despite what some people may say here, you can run a true 50 watt amplifier through your stock wiring. 50 watts to each corner just fine. In fact, shops do it all the time! faster to reuse stock wiring rather than rewire the vehicle from scratch.

do you plan to run a 100x4 amp in your car? Id probably think about rewiring the car. 50 watt four channel amp? youll be fine reusing your stock wiring.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrr

feel free to rewire your car. but theres no point as long as you are running off deck power, for sure. When you buy your amplifier, and have to have the car torn apart anyways to run power wire and RCA cabling, THATS the time I would consider rewiring the car

why have your car apart twice if you dont need to?

:iagree:

BenjaminS · 04-19-2005, 01:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by lgbr

Amplifier. You don't want to underpower any speakers.

MYTH!

This is an old trick to get people to by more expensive amplifiers. In the simplest way of explaining this is pose a question, what effect does turning down the volume on you head unit do the the output of the amplifier? OH wait what is that, yes yes, it reduces the output of it.

NOW, there is some truth to this myth though, you can under power a set of speakers, but it is the installers fault. The installers turns up the gains and volumes on the amp/head-unit and that creates clipping which CAN damage speakers.

So in conclusion to this short rant, don't ever worry about under powering speakers, just make sure that you are not creating a clipping condition, very difficult to tell, but as a general guide line, if you gain is up over 75% on the amp, then its probably not on the safe side. But hey I know we all have cranked the gain on our sub amps just to squeeze a little more out of them :P

Anyway back to the main topic at hand. Buy speakers! Your music only sounds as good as what moves the air. It may not be as loud, but that is fixed with a nice amp.

WhiteRabbit · 04-19-2005, 01:49 PM

yikes, what a poor attitude! I hope you dont offend lgbr and start a flame war, it would ruin this thread!

scott_fx · 04-19-2005, 02:08 PM

i didnt find anything wrong with that reply, it was very informative (and correct) It helped the thread. I doubt lgbr is that thin skinned to take offense.

`s

Will Albers · 04-19-2005, 02:09 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by BenjaminS

MYTH!

This is an old trick to get people to by more expensive amplifiers. In the simplest way of explaining this is pose a question, what effect does turning down the volume on you head unit do the the output of the amplifier? OH wait what is that, yes yes, it reduces the output of it.

NOW, there is some truth to this myth though, you can under power a set of speakers, but it is the installers fault. The installers turns up the gains and volumes on the amp/head-unit and that creates clipping which CAN damage speakers.

So in conclusion to this short rant, don't ever worry about under powering speakers, just make sure that you are not creating a clipping condition, very difficult to tell, but as a general guide line, if you gain is up over 75% on the amp, then its probably not on the safe side. But hey I know we all have cranked the gain on our sub amps just to squeeze a little more out of them :P

Anyway back to the main topic at hand. Buy speakers! Your music only sounds as good as what moves the air. It may not be as loud, but that is fixed with a nice amp.

Hmm, I have to disagree, and yet somewhat agree... You almost contradicted your own statement. Clipping is the devil and the point as to why people say its better to overpower than underpower. People want X volume... that X can be whatever gets ya going... people with a small amplifier will try to overdrive the amplifier into clip range to get that volume. Where as, if they had a 250 watt amp on 100 watt speakers, they will find a significant amount of headroom to obtain volume without clipping. Headroom is a wonderful safety cushion to volume freaks

As an installer, I can set the gain to the proper level and still have the user pump the bass up on the HU, turn the loud button on and turn the volume to 30. The gains have a lot to do with it, but its volume that taunts the operator to push things beyond their limits. If you provide enough clean power behind the speaker, volume levels can be obtained without clipping, your only factor becomes overheating. If we discuss pure class A amps, i will alter my statement, but for A/B switching or "D" amplifiers, i maintain overpower is better than underpower.

So yes, i consider a 20 watt amplifer to 100 watt speakers more destructive than a 250 watt amplifer to 100 watt speakers.

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