Hi,

I have some Focal 165 VR Polyglass comp. speakers and I am looking for an amp to power them. I am also looking for some speakers that will serve as my rear fill. I could really use your guys' input as to which components I should look into. This will be my first system that I will be doing on my own so any help will be much appreciated.

As for the amp, here are a few that I am currently looking at:

Rockford Fosgate T600-4 ---600W RMS
Alpine PDX-F6 or PDX-F4 ---600W/400W RMS
Boston Acoustic GT-4100 ---900W RMS

I am planning on spending around $300 for an amp and I found these three above to be around $300.

I do not have any preference, I just want something that will be suitable for me.

And for the rear fill speakers, I dont know exactly which one to get. I am assuming that I dont have to get something expensive according to what I've read online. I am not even sure if I should replace them or not. If I do, I would only like to spend about $150 or less. Please let me know what you think.

I mostly listen to rock/alternative and R&B, but I do listen to diff. genres.

I have the Bose speakers and HU and the crappy Bose amp.. I will be replacing the Bose HU with a new Pioneer AVH-P4200DVD.

By the way. The Focals are rated at 75W RMS nominal @ 4ohms and 150 RMS max.
Also, I have two old 10" Rockford Fosgate Subs powered by an old Pioneer amp with 150w rms bridged that I will be using.. I just thought that I should mention it if it makes a diff.

Thanks for you help!

 

Amp for the Focals - http://www.woofersetc.com/p9256/SAX1...-Amplifier.htm
*or* Do this one for both those subs and the Focals, leaving the rears disconnected, or powered from your old Pioneer amp - http://www.woofersetc.com/p9257/SAX1...-Amplifier.htm


Try with the stock rears just disconnected, if you feel the need for them later, connect them to the headunit's speaker-level outs.

It looks like you need to put your money into the subs next, if that's 150w RMS divided into two 10" subs, you're definitely underpowered, but if it's a good ported box, can still give enough bass to fill the cabin. My last car had a pair of ancient MTX Thunder 2000s running off a 200w RMS alpine amp, it still sounded okay after 10 years(!) of ownership.

 

Thanks for the reply! I was hoping that you would chime in

So, these Sundown spears are better than the ones I listed? I like the price of these Sundowns and the specs are great. How do these compare to the amps I listed? I am just curious since you didnt even mention them

When I have the old subs installed in my previous car, it was alright. The subs were wired in parallel.
I kinda like the Idea of running the Focals and the old subs using the 4 channel Sundown and maybe using the Pioneer for the rears.

Also would it be better I run the focals at 2ohms? or there isnt any benefits in sound quality?
Thanks.

 

Well, the PDX series have a reputation for some "hiss" during quiet bits, so with a sound quality speaker like the Focals, probably not a good combination.

The RF, I've never known of RF as a SQ amp, so again I'd say not a great match.

BA might be ok, but that output is highly dependent on your speakers -
RMS Power Rating(14.4V):
4 ohms: 100 watts x 4 chan. 2 ohms: 150 watts x 4 chan.
1 ohm: 225 watts x 4 chan.
Bridged, 4 ohms: 300 watts x 2 chan.
Bridged, 2 ohms: 450 watts x 2 chan.
RMS Power Rating(12V):
4 ohms: 85 watts x 2 chan.

While the Focals run:
Nom. impedance: 4 ohms

So you'd either bridge it, and overpower the speakers, or use the other two channels for your subs or rear speakers, and have the same output as the Sundown amp to the fronts.

Where I'm a fan of D-class amps for subs and AB-class for full-range, having separate amps is worth it to me.

So long as your amp doesn't cause more distortion with the increased load of lower ohms, there shouldn't be any benefits of sound quality one way or the other.

However, since the speakers aren't a dual voice coil design, you have no say in running them at 2ohms or not, short of bridging two of them, anyway (not recommended).

 

if you go with the boston amp, you can wire them in parallel for a 2 ohm load and each speaker will get 150.

Don't know if the amp is 2 ohm stable, though.

 

Does anyone wire in parallel for mono output with full-range speakers though?

The spec sheet I found for it shows it as 1 ohm stable.

 

Some do..depending on the situation.

You lose out on left and right separation..but most don't care about that.

 

If I go with either the BOston acoustic or sundown I could also just wire the front comps. and rears using all four channels feeding each of them with 100w rms?

Then maybe get another amp to power my two old 10" Rockford fosgate subs?

 

If I go with either the BOston acoustic or sundown I could also just wire the front comps. and rears using all four channels feeding each of them with 100w rms?

Then maybe get another amp to power my two old 10" Rockford fosgate subs?

 

If you get the 4-channel sundown, yes, The 2-channel, no.

 

what he said.

 

Cool..
Just for kicks..What do you guys think about this amp?: Soundstream Ref 4.920

http://www.woofersetc.com/p7745/REF4...-Amplifier.htm

 

awesome amp

i'll take that over the alpine and sundown

 

Yep, good amp, but outside your original claimed budget.

 

Yup but I found one for $335 shipped..