ohmage levels and amplifiers

[napapacoda]

I currently have Orion HCCA 6s component speakers in the front and boston acoustics RM9's in the rear of my civic (not an EP). The Orion HCCA 6s speakers run the woofers at 2 ohms and the tweeters at 4 ohms and the RM9's run at 4 ohms. My main question is that has anyone else dealt with a difference in ohmage when making a system similar to this. Currently I have 3 amplifiers (one for fronts, rears and sub) and I set it up so the fronts have about 100 watts at 2 ohms with the tweeters I assume at only 50 watts. Then I have the rears at 80 watts at 4 ohms so they can have basically equal power. The problem with this setup is that I do not have a high powered alternator and cannot turn the gain up on my subwoofer amp to my liking. I really want to reduce my setup to two amps to make things easier on my alternator and consequently have more power to give to my subwoofer. Will my fronts become greatly overbearing if I put a 40x4 amp (which would do the woofers in the HCCA's at 80 watts) or a 50x4 or 60x4, not sure which brand I would buy just yet. If anyone has any insight on this, please let me know.

[Jpax]

3 amps running in your car.....lol no wonder you can't turn the gain up on the subs.... BUY A CAP. problem solved.

try a 1 farried.

[civicpimp]

Caps are a waste of money unless you have some big power draws. If you had a 800watt amplifier and you hit a really deep bass note then you would draw a ton from your battery for that moment causing the rest of the things in your car (headlights) to go low for a moment. For a small 3 amp set up I would suggest getting a battery and running it in parralel with the battery under your hood. Everything will get drawn from that battery and your alternator will charge it also.

[Jpax]

ya a cap is a waste of money. Pssssh buying a 200 dollar batt for the rear and then buying 40 dollars in wire to hook it up.
Or spend 150.00 on a cap for the subs that draw more current then the front speakers...:rolleyes:

[napapacoda]

I have a 1 farad lightning audio capacitor with voltage readout. Even with this, I notice that when my sub pounds as hard as I want it, voltage levels go down greatly on the readout on the capacitor. I originally thought of putting in a few more farads (I did purchase the items necessary to do the install, but would rather keep them in the package and resell them on ebay instead if at all possible).

Paxie, have any ideas on what would happen if I went down to the 2 amp solution I was thinking of? I thought you worked at a shop (not sure) so I figure if anyone, you've seen tons of systems and know all that good stuff.

The only other shortcoming I can see in my system is that I only run 4 gauge wire, but I figure that shouldn't mess shit up that bad seeing that a civic isn't long.

My current setup (160 watt x2 for fronts) (94 watts x2 for rears) (320x1 for sub) (all rms wattage ratings by PPI or Orion amps)

[Jpax]

hahahaha alot of people come into our shop...what we do is try different things, starting with a cap 1 faried them moving up....

then replacing the stock batt with a red cap battery...Problem is that hondas depending on year have that little batt. tray next to the fire wall. its too small for a regular batt. So a manufacture called lighting audio makes one for HONDAS little tray that has better specs then the stock batt. Do you have a local stereo shop that would let you see what a pheniox gold Ti 15 farried cap would do in your system..


I wish you live here in seattle i could drop it in and we could experiment....

My system has 2 amps (1) Front JL Audio 300/4 75wx4 (2)500/1 Subs. I used a 1 farried cap and 4 single guage to the middle of the cab then Split into 2 4guage wires for powering both amps up .The cap is on the sub amp only.

Try a different batt. the last putting a new batt in the back... but dam more weight , oh well you got alot in there allready.:D

[napapacoda]

Pax - Thanks for the advice. Not sure if this is innefficient, but this is how my setup is right now. Its 4 gauge wire goign to the cap and then it does to a distribution block which has 3 8gauge power wires going to three amps. Should I reset this up so the capacitor throws just to the subwoofer amp after the distribution block? If I did that I have no other voltage level indicators so I would be afraid that I would somehow be getting variable voltage pushed out to my amps for my speakers, but then again, I have it high pass crossover set at 125 for my speakers so I doubt there is much of a variance for the speakers.

How did you get your setup to work where you went from 1 4gauge to 2 4gauge power wires to your amps? Did you put both your amps under the seats or did the subwoofer amp have to go in the back trunk area?

I unfortunately live in the north east and live near a local audio shop, but they are idiots and have no clue what they are doing. I do a better install job than they do.

I tried finding a larger battery, but my slot is so small I dont think any battery will fit in there besides the shitty one I bought at sears. Also, I always thought that the battery just works to help out when the car needs to start or when you turn the car off and therefore the alternator isnt running. Am I wrong?

[Jpax]

Yes put the cap on the sub amp after the dis. block


"I would be afraid that I would somehow be getting variable voltage pushed out to my amps for my speakers,"

No matter what you do the voltage will vary, with car running, at high or low rpms, and with accesiorries going too. IE: A/c , headllights/ fans/ You shouldn't, be worried about the output from the amps, because there going to amplify what ever there given.

The amps have there own power supply that is "suppose" to maintaine a consistent power out put.
Now if you have a cheap amp. the amp has a small power supply and your speakers are a big load, so when you turn up the volume the amp power supply can not sub satin a consistent power for the Amplification. the amp power supply will get "hot" because there is not enuf power for it to amplify the signal. it will do it for a while at warm temps, but then Distortion will Eventually take over.

For a system like yours i would put the cap on the Subamp only, and get a new battery. Lighting Aduio like i said before is great, for our Hondas, because they make a small highperformace battery for Hondas.
http://www.lightningaudio.com/2003/products/

" I always thought that the battery just works to help out when the car needs to start or when you turn the car off and therefore the alternator isnt running."

Everyone thinks that. but Yes and NO Yes it dose help with starting because of higher Cold cranking Amperage, but its the Reserve capacity that sets it above the just Cold cranking rating, it has more storied power , so it can drive your system more cleanly and Efficiently, your ALT. won't vary the output to much anymore , because of that "reserve" power.

[Silver '02 Si]

pax, are YOU running the stock batt? as i also have a 300/4 and a 500/1 but the cap is running both amps. i still have alot of dimming...the only thing i can think of is that i am not grounded good enough...but, i know the ground is pretty good...also, when i just had the 300/4 running with cap inline still dimming...i don't really drive the si anymore my mother in-law does so i put off work to the ep. i got a expedition to play with. looking to pull the si's stuff and go 300/4 + 500/1 + 500/1 to boston pro 6.5 +1" x 4 + alumapro alchemy 10" x2 in the expy...whatcha think? anyhow good pointers pax, keep it up

[jaydub]

Caps are a waste of time and money if your current alternator can't even push enough juice to chage it. I'd suggest upgrading the "magic three" wires first (same type of deal as the ones 02BlkSi is selling in the Engine forum (http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5090)). The car audio guys call it the Magic Three because it does wonders for a system with a lot of current draw.

BTW, they also suggest upgrading using the same gauge of wire as your main power cable, so if you run a 4ga cable to your trunk, upgrade the "magic 3" using the same gauge of cable. If you still have problems after all this, then look into an Optima battery, such as a yellow top, and then finally look into the Cap.

[napapacoda]

Thanks for the post. He's selling 8 gauge wire, but either way, I think I can install it make it and install it myself (just by chance I have about 50 feet left of 4gauge wire sitting around). Do you have any links on what exact wires are being replaced and the locations/colors of the wires I would be replacing.






Originally posted by jaydub
Caps are a waste of time and money if your current alternator can't even push enough juice to chage it. I'd suggest upgrading the "magic three" wires first (same type of deal as the ones 02BlkSi is selling in the Engine forum (http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5090)). The car audio guys call it the Magic Three because it does wonders for a system with a lot of current draw.

BTW, they also suggest upgrading using the same gauge of wire as your main power cable, so if you run a 4ga cable to your trunk, upgrade the "magic 3" using the same gauge of cable. If you still have problems after all this, then look into an Optima battery, such as a yellow top, and then finally look into the Cap.

[jaydub]

Originally posted by napapacoda
Thanks for the post. He's selling 8 gauge wire, but either way, I think I can install it make it and install it myself (just by chance I have about 50 feet left of 4gauge wire sitting around). Do you have any links on what exact wires are being replaced and the locations/colors of the wires I would be replacing.







I don't, but I bet 02BlkSi would help you out. I had PM'd him about it and he was real cool about it. Let him know you're doing the same thing, just with larger gauge wire.