Simple System Question

[Ricky A.]

yeah ull be completely fine at 2 ohms. and ok ur speaker inputs look like this right + - + - hook the back to up to the far left positive and far right negative skipping the middle 2. so its + (unused) - and itll bridge it. and do the same for the front.

[Joshslvl4xl]

i have the alpine power pack on my alpine ixa-w404 and it works great. way better than gettin a 4 channel. and its easy to install

[jonathancullen89]

the speaker ohm is how much resistance the amp is seeing. if your speakers are 4 ohm then even tho your amp says it can take a 2 ohm speaker it will only see 4 ohms because of the speaker. higher the ohm the less power your amp will make.

[DJ_BigC]

yeah ull be completely fine at 2 ohms. and ok ur speaker inputs look like this right + - + - hook the back to up to the far left positive and far right negative skipping the middle 2. so its + (unused) - and itll bridge it. and do the same for the front.

Thank you very much, your help is greatly appreciated, this clarifies a lot. Can I run the amp on only my fronts until I get my rears or should I get my rears and the amp at the same time to save myself a headache.

EDIT: The Type S speakers are 3.6 ohm impedance, so i will run them at 4 ohms.

I have the alpine power pack on my alpine ixa-w404 and it works great. way better than getting a 4 channel. and its easy to install

How good is it? How easy is it to adjust and what kind of speakers are you running off it if you don't mind me asking. What size and whats your RMS rating on each.

At this point, it will honestly depend on what kind of deal I get get on either. Since the cap is no longer in my budget I think I can afford the amp, but then again depending on how good that power pack is, from one of the posters comments, I might give it a shot for a good price. Because the amp price varies from 140-160+ shipping plus the cost of wires and the pack is something like 130-140+shipping, but the amp is something I can use anywhere, anytime, with no matter what kind of deck I'm using which to me makes more sense.

Edit: You guys convinced me enough to buy the 4 channel so I did haha.

Edited May 28, 2010 by DJ_BigC

[DJ_BigC]

So I was reading up the amps (Alpine MRP-F300) owners manual, everything seems to be alright, nothing to complicated here.

What kind of had my confused was this whole Cross Over, Gain, HP filter stuff.

Crossover: "Permits adjustment of crossover frequency, by rotating the knob to select any frequency between 50-400hz as the crossover point."

What the hell is a crossover and what does it do. To me, this means leave it in the middle, so the fronts and rears play evenly?

Gain: "Set the amplifiers gain knobs to the minimum (4v) position. Using a loud cassette or CD as a source, turn up the head units volume until it distorts, then reduce the volume by 1 set. You can then increase amplifier gain until the sound from the speakers becomes distorted."

So technically you turn it up until the speakers distort, the adjust the gain up or down? What does it do exactly?

HP Filter: Has three adjustments on the amp. LP,HP,OFF.

HP: Highs and the Midrange.

LP: Subwoofer

Off: Full Range speakers.

Are type S speakers full range?

I thought they were for highs and midrange, or does it really matter? I'm running 2 10" subs, so technically i don't need these to put out some bass so id be better off setting them up as highs and mids with no bass right, and let the subs take care of that?

[DigitalDeath]

"What the hell is a crossover and what does it do. To me, this means leave it in the middle, so the fronts and rears play evenly? " - A Crossover "filters" out sounds the speaker doesn't need. For example, if your crossover to the lower number, say the 50hz, it will filter out everything above that range. The lower the number, the lower the sound filtering. So at 50hz, you would basically filter out all instrumentation and vocals with the exception of certain percussion and bass.

This leads to the HP Filter settings. OFF allows all sound from the HU to reach the speakers, while HP or HIGH PASS allows only the higher frequency sounds though, basically eliminating the bass and LP does the opposite in allowing only bass sound to the speaker. It's a preset crossover built into the HU

GAIN: This is kind of a "Volume" - to put it generically. What it actually does is change the voltage level of the output. The higher the voltage, the louder it gets. However, the louder it gets, the higher possibility for distortion. Turn the Head Unit up to the LOUDEST volume you want while at a level preventing distortion. Then, turn the gain up for the sub until you get distortion or the volume you want that matches the mids and tweets.

Are type S speakers full range? Type S speakers are NOT full range. Full range speakers are either dual cone or have a tweeter attached.

[DJ_BigC]

So technically I'd be better off leaving the crossover setting in the middle, or just fine tuning it a bit when a song is playing, but will the difference be audible to my ears or do i have to be a pro to notice the adjustment difference.

Now for the gain setting, do I turn the setting right down on the amp, then turn up the volume until it distorts, then turn the gain up slowly until it doesn't distort anymore. If this is how you do it, I'm OK from here, if not well, can you explain to me the simplest way to adjust it without costing me another set of speakers. And how to you adjust this with a multimeter, I have no problem using one, so if its simple enough let me know and ill give it a shot.

As for the Filter settings, I still want these to pack out a "little" punch, I know I wont be getting any of that with 4X6's but the 6X9's maybe. Because sometimes I find my speakers can emit certain tones that my subs can't. I wanna be able to shut my subs off, and be able to still listen to good sounding music, not just highs or lows, kind of as if i would have no subs installed, is this possible to do or am I in la la land right now haha.

Originally I was gonna set the amp up for highs and mids, and the subs for bass. If you think that's the best way to do it then you have me sold because I ain't no stereo expert.

[DJ_BigC]

What I'll do for the crossover's is play around with the knob, until i find the right balance with the front and rears playing there high and mid tones. Since I'm gonna be setting up the amps HP Filter on the HP setting.

I understand how to set up the gain now with some basic math. Since I'm pretty good in math.

So for my speakers I'd have to do:

Fronts: √ 45 RMS X 4 ohm = √ 180 = 13.4V

Rears : √ 85 RMS X 4 ohm = √ 340 = 18.4V

Subs: 300 RMS X 2subs = √ 600RMS X 2 ohms = √ 1200 = 34.64V

Alright, so now to adjust the gains for the fronts, rears, sub etc... Ex: I put my multimeter on the front {+}{-} speaker terminal and turn up the gain until it reaches 13.4V on the multimeter and voila its done, then double check both fronts and both rears for the same reading, then my gains are perfectly adjusted, right?

I think i have everything down pat, let me know if i did something wrong.