Amplification - 4 Channel amp + Bridging 2 channels

[mrpayner]

Howdy folks *hic*

I want to spend some dosh. I want a 4 channel amp to drive my front speakers [JBL GTO 6½" 3 ways] and bridge the other 2 channels to drive an Alpine Type-R 10" sub.. What specs should i be looking for to drive the whole package and not run out of punch?? What's the minimum Watts RMS per channel i should be aiming for??

AP

[twilightprotege]

the question should be, what can your jbl's handle?

no good getting 75wrms x 4 amp if the splits cant handle that

[platypus]

yup he is right... but having said that, 50RMS for those speakers does me just fine!!
and mine also powers the matching 6x9's in the rear...

then the other 4 channel powers the subs bridged, and my rear door speakers

[Zed]

The type Rs are rated at 300W RMS if I recall correctly, so you'd be needing a pretty decent 4 channel amp to get that sort of power to the sub - at least 4x75W RMS.

If your JBLs can't handle 75W RMS, don't worry about it too much. Just be sensible when setting the gains and you'll be fine. You'd very rarely be pushing your amp to the max and a bit of extra power or headroom is actually a good thing - means the amp doesn't have to run as hard, gains can be set lower so technically lower distortion and a lower noise floor.

What sort of budget have you got? And is your sub in a sealed or ported box?

[mrpayner]

OK.. The JBL's are rated at 60W RMS..

I don't have the sub as yet, so i don't know whether i'll need a ported or sealed box. I have no idea with this stuff.

As to my budget, it all depends on how much it's gonna cost me. ;)

AP

[twilightprotege]

check these out : http://www.us-audio.com/car/homeAmp.htm

i have the 4x55w for my splits and the 2x75 (bridged) for my sub. they work great and are pretty cheap. they are sold at autobarn. i'd wait for when they have their 20% off everything sales though.

you could get the 4x50 + 1x220 amp that'd be pretty good i'd say for what you want and you can get some filler speakers for the extra 2 outputs on the 50wrms channels

[CityEnd]

the amp and subs i brought off boyd are great, the amp are perfect for the front speakers, but personally didn't have enough to power the 2 subs.. there wasn't enough bass for my liking.. but it's a decent sound..

let me know if u want to test it out

[mrpayner]

Hey Chris,

Did you buy both Boyd's AMP's? When he had his system setup he was running the four channel plus a monoblock amp..

Well i was having a look around at a couple of different options. I can get a Response 2 channel amp which is bridgeable to 450W @ 4ohm's [i imagine it would be less for 2ohm's as it's harder to drive], then i can get an Alpine V12 4 channel for fairly cheap to run the 4 JBL's i have too.. I was hoping only to get one Amp so i didn't have to stuff around with heaps of cabling and what not, how much power would there be from getting a 4x75W amp and bridging 2 channels? Will it be more than 150W?

What's the go with response? I've heard someone else's setup and it sounded ok [he's running a 10" Type-R also, but he's running a 4x100W Response amp..

Cheers
AP

[Dogo]

no i bought the monoblock.

maybe u can look for a 3 or 5 channel amp ( with the speakers and a stronger sub channel ).

i'm running a Kicker 6ch ( 4 speakers + 2 subs channels ) in Tracey's car and it sounds very nice and very easy to wire up.

[robprice]

im running two response two channel amps (big black ones), each bridged into a 15 inch response precision sub and it thumps (in hindsight one would have been more than enough) and sounds nice too. they cant run a two ohm load bridged but, or so the manual says. Ive also installed heaps of response gear into other peoples cars are it seems to be of good quality.

[CityEnd]

oops, didn't see ur response Adam,

As Dave said, I only got the 4 channel amp from your bro

75w bridge will give you about 180-175w bridged

personally i don't think u'll need to amp the rear, to tell u the truth i don't even use my rear speakers anymore, i just turn them up when i have rear passengers. but then again ur rear speakers are closer to you, then that set up may have a different sound to mine.

i say go with dave's idea of a 5 or 6 channel amp, if you want to amp the rear also.