Many audio sources I read give the impression that a pair of high-end component speakers are all that is needed and rear fills aren't required. What do you all suggest? These are what I have planned: http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=13469
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=13477. My budget allows for rear speakers but I am starting to really think they aren't neccessary. The amp that I want to power my speakers are rated 4x50 @ 4ohm but I don't feel that's enough power driving my speakers. The amp can also run at 2x200 @ 4ohm, and that is the kicker; that mode is more than enough to power my front speakers. My budget will not allow for a more powerful (costly) amp to run all four channels at 4 ohm. I do not know if I want to use my amp for the rated 4x100 @ 2 ohm. So it all boils down to this. Should I run it at 2x200 @ 4ohm to drive just the front components or settle for the less powerful 4x50 @ 4ohm and get a set or rear speakers, too?

 

For $80 more you can get 120 more watts or 30 more watts per channel.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=12306

 

To find out if you feel that rear-fill is necessary or not is to listen for yourself. First fade all the sound to the front channels, slowing phase in the rare. I usually keep my eyes closed when I do this to make a fair judgement. If you feel that having some rear-fill doesn't improve the sound, then perhaps, you don't need rear channels.

However irrelevant the rear channel might be, I personally feel some rear-fill necessitates a fuller sound, even with high-end front channel component speakers. In one of my cars, the front channel signals are processed through an active crossover and bi-amped to drive a 3 way MB Quart Q-series component speakers, mounted in the kick-panel and tuned for ideal front staging, etc.. They sound phenomenal by themselves, but with some rear fill, it sounded even better. :smile:

For budget conscious, the head unit should have enough juice to power the rear channels.

 

Would the stock rears be adequate for my whole sound stage or do I need aftermarket ones. I was thinking of letting the aftermarket head power the stock rears and fade almost to the front.

 

The OEM speakers should be sufficient for now. In any case, that's something that can be upgraded later.

 

The "rear speakers are unnecessary" idea only came about in the last 20 years or so. When I was a young whipper-snapper, it was the exact opposite: the rears handled the lion's share of the sound, and the fronts were "felt but not heard" (in other words - "fill").

Even back then I preferred an equal balance between the fronts and rears (equal to my ears, not on the head unit), and I still do.

That said, it's all subjective and I agree with Davecsumini - listen for yourself and decide how much rear fill you want. If it's minimal, than the stock speakers should sound ok.

 

I started messing with the stock audio system today. I faded everything to the front and then back to equal front and back. The rear speakers do add more to the mix. I think I will go with front and rear speakers.

Is 4x50 a good amount of power to drive my speakers or should I run 4x100 at 2ohm?

 

There are several factors to consider when purchasing an amp. How loud do you like your music? How efficient and sensitive (dB) are the speakers the amp is driving? Something also to keep in mind is that many high-end amps are often underrated, whereas low-priced units are overrated. That's why there're those mega wattage amplifier claims by some of the inexpensive amps, but usually failed to disclose distortion and noise ratio. I usually ignore the maximum wattage and focus on the continuous power output, which is more relevant for comparison purpose. Again, best way to find out is to listen for yourself at a local audio shop.

When I was choosing an amp for my MINI, the limiting factor was the size of the amp due to the space limitation under the seat. Moreover, I didn't want to further burden the MINI with unnecessary weight, which may compromise the performance. :smile:

 

Some items of note: The component speakers you've choosen are 3 ohm. They will cause the amp to provide more power. You will not be able to run them from a bridged channel as each channel will "see" only 1.5 ohms. This would violate your warranty.

Musical output is as much a factor of sensitivity as it is amp power. A set of 87db/watt speakers requires twice the power as a set of 90db/watt speakers to play at the same level. If you choose your speakers on this basis, you can run with a 25W amp instead of a 50W.

My favorite configuration for rear fill is to run the rears off the head unit power. This will provide less power to the rear for any given volume level since peak is always less from the head compared to most every external amp. The amp should be driven from the front channel RCAs and the rears from the rear speaker connections. This keeps the fader active.

One additional consideration is that when you bridge an amp, you increase the noise in the amplifier. THD+Noise will increase by an order of magnitude. So if normal THD is 0.1%, it will be 1% bridged. Most good amps fall into this range. But remember noise increases with volume level. If you push a bridged amp, it could sound bad quickly and cause damage to the speakers. I reserve bridging to subwoofer powering only. The low frequency noise isn't as noticable as noise thru the tweeter.

My advice would be to select a 2 channel amp and apply the difference in cost toward the components. Pay attention to the sensitivity (db).