I am not an audiophile, I have installed various amps years ago whilst I was a youger kid <--- but nothing special nor as sophisticated as things nowadays. So with that being said, why not a six channel amp? All things being equal speaker wise, why not just install a six channel to power all the speakers available? Add another amp for the aftermarket sub and be done with two more speakers instead of four. Now I know there must be a good reason for this, I say this becuase the majority if not all owners seem to be going with only four speakers and a sub. In addition there is a lot shorter list of six channel amps out there for sale. Is this because there is a smaller demand or because a six channel setup with a sub doesn't sound as good as a four channel setup with a sub? And if so why did BOSE decide on six, admitedly a six channel piece of crap. I know there is a reason for this striking difference but I can't seem to find it. My personal preference would be to power all speakers, but this is obviously not the popular opinion. Anyone?

 

A couple reasons why people don't use 6 channel amps is that they don't produce enough power (usually 50 per channel), amp is usually very long, it's better to have 2 seperate power supplys instead of one, and they're usually very expensive.

 

u telling me that u could tell the difference between the six bose speakers in there compared to powering the front components and either set in back. i couldnt. Just get an aftermarket 4 chnnl and power the front and rear 6.5's, its a lot nicer sounding compared to the stock 6 speakers,and well worth the money.

 

G35Sandiego... Do what satisfies your tastes.... Ultimately its you who has to live with it.

 

The way the bose system is set up is you have two pairs of mids and highs in the front and back in the form of the 6-1/2" speakers and the two 6x9s in the rear deck is only used as subs. The reason most people are getting the 4 ch and mono block amps is to power the 4 6-1/2" speakers and a separate sub since its hard to find a replacement 6x9 sub that sounds good. The process of removing the stock 6x9s also helps vent the sound from the subs into the cabin of the coupe. The rear is fill anyway so it would not help that much to put in a 6 ch amp and 6 new full range speakers. It may end up sounding ok but its not a recommendation I would make to a customer.

Rudy
Sound Advice of Mission Viejo
(949) 364-6464

 

Thanks for the info guys. So is the consesus is that a six channel usually doesn't sound as good because of the lower power ratings they put out because of the multiple channels. Ok now for you audiophiles, everything being equal (watts/channel and speaker quality) would the sound difference between the two be significant? I just feel like its a waste to dump the 6x9's. Anyone listen to the stock HU and Bose amp with a good set of speakers all around? All in all it seems like the understanding is that the 6x9's are only good as paper weights.

 

Have you taken out the stock 6.5 and 6x9s and taken a look at them? Yea they are bose- and bose makes great stuff for the Home Audio but these things they dumped in our G's is trash. Papercone- foam surrounds- tiny earth magnet. Garbage.

 

G35Sandiego, what type of sound are you trying to accomplish? Accurate? Loud? Bass-Heavy?

 

I most important factor would be accuracy then the ability to maintain accuracy at louder levels. As far as bass, not as important being that I am getting to old to rattle the windows and wake the neighbors. I listen to mostly hard rock/punk/latin/hiphop in that order. The Bose is just a real disapointment for me.

I have found a couple 6 channel amps but the only one that looks like it has a little potential is the Infinity REF5760A 560 Watt 6-Channel Power Amplifier. 56watts x 4 and 107 watts x 2. I figure powering a good set of components with the 107watts a piece and setting up with a good pair of speakers in the back to be power by the remaining 224watts at 56watts a piece. As I am not a big bass and still need to carry the golf bag I will wait on the subwoffer and see how it sounds.

What do you guys think? With this amp, stock HU and a good set of speakers all the way around, will it sound justify the money spent? Or should I go with four speakers around with more power? I really am lost here, would the sound be comparable?

 

If I remember, I'll let you know how the Infinity 5760 sounds in a couple weeks.

I just got all the parts together for my system and now am waiting for an opening with my local installer.

I got the amp from Crutchfield along with an Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1 sub that I'm putting into a stealth enclosure like Blksnake built.

I've got two sets of Focal 165 V2's for the cabin. One set I'll put in the front and for the rears I'm just going to use the midrange and crossover in the stock location.

And before anyone asks, I'm a bit of a imaging freak and I find that tweeters in the rear are distracting, so that's why I'm not using coaxes or installing the tweeters. Besides, I got them off Ebay and one of the tweeters was blown, so I got them for a good price.

I choose a 6 channel amp mainly because I only wanted one amp to drive my sub and mains. I also looked at the Alpine 5 channel amp since I'm only planning a single sub. The Infinity was a better deal, in combination with the sub and it has a remote volume control for the sub as well.

I'm sure it'll kill the stock system and it'll be totally stealth which were my two main criteria.

 

If your not going for a sub, you can get great midbass out of a decent set of Components ie. Diamond Audio Hex 6.5's. But run a good amount of power to each one- I recommend atleat 125-150 watts going to each speaker. But then you might need a separate EQ as I don't remember anything decent EQ wise being in the coupe. Best bet- aftermarket HU- some nice amps and a good set of 6.5s all around. It'll sound great. I actually turn my sub gain all the way down at times and mess with the freq going to my Diamond Hex's all around and turn it up. Sounds great.

 

G35SanDiego, How loud do you want it? Its going to be hard to run a set of 6.5" components real loud without running a crossover on them. And if you run a crossover you'll lose a lot of bass. Alright let me just lay it out in terms of what you should do since you're soo lost.

1. I would really consider replacing the factory HU since this is going to be a limiting factor in terms of accuracy at high volumes.
2. Install a good pair of 6.5" Components up front. Diamond is good. Focal is good, but they are too bright for me (makes my ears bleed). JL is good.
3. Would look into getting a good 2 ch amp something like a JL 300/2 to run the front componenets.
4. Look at getting the sub box built by 4080 takes up hardly any space at all and throw in a decent 10" sub like a JL 10W0 or a JL 10W3. and also an amp to run this sub like JL 250/1. You said you want accuracy and music is not accurate if you're not reproducing all frequency ranges.

The above should yield you good accurate sound at loud volumes. If you want to minimize rattles and maximize sound I would use sound deadening material on the doors and in the trunk. Now if this doesn't give you a loud and accurate system you may want to look at a more powerful amp for the fronts and the sub.

You will be amazed at what just a pair of components up front and a powerful amp can do.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. It sounds like a minimum of 120watts is needed for acceptable sound so I guess a six channel is out of the question now.

Out of curiosity, how much power does the Bose amp currently run to the stock speakers?

 

Bose amp- lol- maybe 12watts per channel. I dunno I'm just guessing but it's horribly low.

 

Its not that a minimum of 120watts is needs, its that more power will usually yield more accuracy. Just laws of physics. More power means easier to articulate the cone of the speaker. Especially at higher volumes when there is inertia of the cone involved too.

G35SanDiego,
If you put together a system like the one I described in the last post I made you will get a very good system. Granted this is not an inexpensive route. You can compromise on the amplifer and speakers. Just make sure you put together a balanced system. Don't use a crappy cd player with high end amps and speakers, because the highend amps and speakers will reveal all the flaws of the cheap CD player. And goes the other way, don't buy a real good CD player and buy crappy amps and speakers because you won't be able to hear the advantages of the good CD player.