Hello I was reading a post you had awhile back about connecting a amp and speakers under your seat of the Countryman...I bought the speakers just curious if I need an amp as allot of posts on here say yes for sure...and...how do I do that? I am very tech savy but not with wires if that makes snese! Can I tap in to a "line connector?' all I want is for the underwear speakers to punch a little harder that's all I like the rest of the sysytem... If you want help I understand but anything would be greatly appreciated thanks for your time and keep Motoring!!!
Kyle

 

You can do this. You would cut the wires to the speakers and then splice in extensions to run them to your amp's speaker inputs. Then run wires from the amp's output to your new speakers.

You may want to get an amp which will let you set a low-pass filter on audio to your new woofers, so they don't waste effort trying to reproduce really high frequencies. But, the 3.5" door speakers really can't do much south of 400 Hz, so the woofers still need to handle a lot of the mid-bass reproduction. So you'll want to be able to adjust the filter point to sound good; don't get an amp with a fixed point crossover if you can avoid it.

That all said… see how the speakers sound to your ear just hooked to the factory stereo. You might be perfectly happy with their performance. If you are, then you'll have saved yourself a lot of work.

 

Okay can someone just literally draw this out for me lol!!! Send me a pic please!!!
Find the existing speaker wires from the old speaker...cut them or splice them to a 'line connector...correct..
Plug in a amp...and connect the new speakers to the amp...correct...
Again any kind of walk me thru this help is much appreciated..
I am def going to just replace the speakers first to see if I like how the sound with no amp..
Also...would I need two amps??
What kind any inputs? Thanks again

 

I'm going to make two suggestions:

First, spend some time reading. Check out Crutchfield's car amp FAQ:
http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/learningcenter/car/amplifiers_faq.html?pg=4&c=3

And do some more reading on their site, and on NAM's audio sub-forums. Plan to spend a few hours reading and learning.

Second, if you don't find this starts to answer a lot of basic questions about choosing and installing equipment, then pay someone else to do it for you. Installing these speakers isn't hard, a couple hours labor should cover it.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the quick answers and all the help for real!! I will do my research and keep reading love to learn new stuff just very excited to get it done!!! Thanks again

 

After a couple of months with my current audio build, a few observations:

I'd bought a Behringer mic and ran pink noise from my iPhone through my system (iPhone > wireless (not Bluetooth) > AppleTV > Helix > Amp > speakers) and calibrated using RTA.

It's taken many hours to get the high end where it needs to be, focusing on achieving a curve(s) ideal for car audio /small enclosed spaces. The Focals are pretty bright, and require a good bit of shaping to avoid fatigue when listening for 30 min or more. I think I'm done there, as it sounds excellent!

HOWEVER...there are still some challenges in the mid-bass / low end. Between the Focals and the SWS8's, there is a -3/-5dB trough in the 200-400Hz range. It's just an area that neither of those speakers can capably perform in. Nothing I do with EQ/slopes/crossovers on the Helix can fill this gap.

This really is not that big of a deal, as the system sounds pretty phenomenal as it is now. There's just some source material that does lean heavily on this range, and when it does, I notice the gap. I bring this to the thread just to go on record to say it might be something you'll have to live with if your build is similar. As mentioned by others, it's really a limitation of the 4" drivers---no matter how much you spend on them (note: the cheaper IC100's actually did better 100-200Hz, but way too harsh on the high end, and NO comparison with the resolution / imaging of the Focals). This hole has always been there, and what I've been trying to correct for two years. The SWS8's took care of about 75% of it (originally a 100-400Hz problem), which has been awesome.

There is also a small matter of the stock underseat enclosures that do color the sound a bit. They are, after all, plastic, and ported into the door pillars, so there is a resonant quality to the sound. Not noticed on all material, but is there 40-50% of the time. They also probably need a bit more than the 100w RMS my JL XD200 feeds them. But this would likely result in an even more pronounced resonant spike than they exhibit now.

Anyone that has read my posts up until now likely realizes how particular I've been about this whole process, so take that into consideration if you choose to follow suit. I'm in for $3000+ at this point, and there is certainly an element of diminishing returns here, and as always, YMMV.

Famous last words, but I think...I'm finally....DONE.