First off, im new to car audio. i recently began plannin out my system for a ford expedtion. so far i have planned-
2 12" RSD subs
6.5" RSD components
1200.1 amp for the subs
as for the door speaker amps, ive heard multiple times that a strong front stage is the most important part. ive debated using the 500.4 amp, but if the 85w of power or so is not neccesary, saving a little bit of money would be great. would a 250.2 for the front components and the rears running off the hu be efficient?? this would always leave me the option of adding another 250.2 for the rears down the road open correct?? or....could i use a 300.1 and wire the front components in parralel for a 2ohm load?? that would give me about 150 watts to the front and from what i hear these speakers are very underrated on the amount of power they are capable of holding.
thanks in advance for all the help and sorry for all the questions
Looks like you've selected some great equipment for your components, subs and sub amp. They will give you good performance and great value for your dollar. As for the amp choice for your components there are a lot of different ways you can go. The RSD250.2 is precisely half of what you would get with the 500.4 so you may decide to get one or the other without sacrificing power to your front speakers, as it is true to be the most important part of quality stereo reproduction. One thing you may consider though is future flexibility of your equipment in other systems. For instance, a 250.2 may be better due to size constraints and where the amp needs to be placed. The 500.4 would obviously be bigger and more expensive, but would also allow you the potential of bridging the amp for more powerful components (or even the RSD6.5's!) down the road or simply amplifying a rear set. The 500.4 is also shares the same chassis as the 1200.1 if you want to make a symetrical amp rack design. One thing is for sure though, you do NOT want to get a 300.1 for your components as one of them would never give you STEREO sound if you connected it as you described.
thanks for your help. as of now, im leaning towards the 250.2 and the 6.5s upfront just because the cost of buying everything at once is gonna be very high. it wouldnt sound TOO bad if i kept the stock rears in for a month or two before i added another amp and components would it??
on another topic, im confused on the impedance of the 12" rsd. i understand it is a 4ohm dvc, but does that mean 4 ohm on each coil for a total of 8ohms? or 2ohm on each coil for a total of 4ohms a sub??
97eXpo wrote: it wouldnt sound TOO bad if i kept the stock rears in for a month or two before i added another amp and components would it??
No, don't worry about it, in fact many people don't run rear speakers at all. The only problem I could see would be if your factory speakers currently sound bad or can't keep up with the rest of the system, but if so just fade them out of the system.
97eXpo wrote:
on another topic, im confused on the impedance of the 12" rsd. i understand it is a 4ohm dvc, but does that mean 4 ohm on each coil for a total of 8ohms? or 2ohm on each coil for a total of 4ohms a sub??
thanks in advance
RSD subs only come with 4 ohm voice coils. How they vary is whether it's a single or dual coil sub. So with one dvc sub you could hook it up to an 8 ohm load (series) or a 2 ohm load (parallel). If you're running the RSD1200.1 it makes maximum power at a 2 ohm load. In order to run two RSD 12's on that amp while maximizing output you would want a pair of svc subs.
thank you very much for your help...also, i know there is a range for box size that the subs will sound best, but is there a specific number that will give me the best sound?? or will anything in that range be good.
i havnt had any experience with the rsd amps but many people regard the octane range as the worst amps made by pg and in my experience they are, personally wouldnt buy one again.
the octane 15:0.1 will drive a rsd12 just fine, They actually sound fine on as little as 300 watts. the rsd will offer more power, more headroom, and better crossovers. IMO its worth it to step up to the rsd, but if you come by a steal of a deal on an octane 15.0:1, don't be afraid to jump on it.
only other consideration is that the rsd 2 channels blow the octane 2 channels away, so if matching amps is a concern....dont go Octane
my ex-girlfriend said "its car audio or me"
i've had tougher choices at a soda machine...
Bfowler wrote:the octane 15:0.1 will drive a rsd12 just fine, They actually sound fine on as little as 300 watts.
I run two on less than 300 watts and they blow me away. It's definitely not SPL, but they don't seem starved for power. A single IDMax would laugh at 250 watts, but the RSD12's are soaking up and loving every single watt.
Bfowler wrote:the octane 15:0.1 will drive a rsd12 just fine, They actually sound fine on as little as 300 watts.
I run two on less than 300 watts and they blow me away. It's definitely not SPL, but they don't seem starved for power. A single IDMax would laugh at 250 watts, but the RSD12's are soaking up and loving every single watt.
Too bad you're not bringing the Saab out this weekend. I'd love to hear 'em off your Ti500.4.
thanks for all your input, its been a great help...so far my plan is to start off with the 2 12" rsds with the 1200.1 for the lows. and then for mids and highs the 6.5" components set with the 250.2 running the fronts. im gonna keep the rears stock and run them off the head unit to start off with then possibly after a few months get another set of components and a 300.4, bridge the channels and power the fronts by the 300 and the rears by the 250....does this sound like a decent setup to start off with??
That sounds like complete overkill. If you really NEED to run rear fill (which you probably don't), then deck power will be more than sufficient for them.
Like most of the people here, I basically have zero to very low rear fill.
I run my rear fill off my Alpine deck and it's more than enough since most of the time, I don't want it anyways. I upgraded my rear speakers to $20 Dayton Audio Reference Series 5" which I do prefer over the stocks but really it doesn't matter since my RSd comps are blaring far, far, far louder than the rears ever do. The DA's sound decent off the deck, enough for me not to care about amping them externally for SQ purposes.
If you're feeling good about the 250.2 for the fronts (I'm sure it will sound great) you can pretty much be set with that and not really worry about "upgrading" the rear fill.
well thats good to hear then, saves me money for things like amp kit, wiring, dist. blocks, etc. would u guys suggest running a capacitor for the 1200.1?? also am i gonna need to run a deep cycle and a ho alternator??
97eXpo wrote:well thats good to hear then, saves me money for things like amp kit, wiring, dist. blocks, etc. would u guys suggest running a capacitor for the 1200.1?? also am i gonna need to run a deep cycle and a ho alternator??
You won't need a deep cycle, but a good battery goes a long way.
As for the alt, it all depends on how much the stock is putting out and what the 1200.1 and the 250.2 are fuse rated at together. If the combined fuse rating is higher than you alt output (minus some amps for the car's electronics other than the stereo), it's always a good idea to upgrade.
I think WV337 has posted a good guide regarding these things in the HOWTO forum.
