Two questions for the audio experts...

First scenario: My current subwoofer set up is a single 10" Pioneer shallow mount in a Pioneer truck enclosure. The sub is a single voice coil, 4-ohm driven by 150 watt amp, only stable to 4-ohms. My new amp coming is capable of 2-ohm loads. According to the Crutchfield advisor, I would not gain anything by changing subs because of being limited to shallow mount. If I went to a dual voice coil shallow mount sub and wired parallel to 2-ohms, would I gain anything? What do the experts think?

Second scenario: I have Polk MOMO 6X9 coaxial speakers in my front doors. I now wish I would have done components and here's why. My most comfortable driving position is with my left knee propped up on the driver's door panel. When I do this, I can hear the mids and lows fine from that speaker, but the highs are nonexistant. If I straighten out my leg, then I can hear the tweeters tweeting. If I added a tweeter to the current set up, can I tap into the wiring at the speaker? Keep in mind that these 6x9s in the door have two sets of wires coming from the crossover. One set for the driver and one set for the midrange/tweeter. Wouldn't tapping into the midrange/tweeter wiring drop impedance? Could this cause damage?

 

1st scenario: Partially correct, the current sub would not pull any more power from the amp because it is has a SVC setup. Even if your amp was 1 ohm stable, you would still draw 4 from it unless you got a DVC sub. So yes- try to find a DVC shallow mount sub, you can get more power out of the new amp that way.

2nd: I haven't heard of coax speakers coming with a cross over (except the eclipse point source), so I would definitely not recommend tapping into the wiring, that always messes with impedance. Look into getting a new speaker set up, if you are on a budget, consider these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-NEW-RE-6-5C-A...ViewItemQQptZCar_Speakers?hash=item45ef99d755

 

First off, I dont consider myself and expert, but may offer some help...in your first scenario, you could get another 4-ohm 10" sub and wire it in parallel to gain max power from your new amp (2-ohm load) and have the volume of 2-10" subs. I have run this set-up before with much success. A dual voice coil sub will hit harder because of its ability to handle more power, but how much impact do you think that will have with a shallow mount sub?

In your second scenario, is your speaker set a 3-way? You said your crossover goes to a midrange/tweeter, which means that there should be another crossover to filter frequencies between the two. In that case, you would have to branch from the tweeter signal to add another tweeter in a remote location. Your best bet is to add or replace with a set of component speakers running off an external amp.

 

As for the first case, I'd like to stay with a single sub for the time being. I'm an old fart compared to most of the folks on TW and don't really care to rattle windows. I just like a balanced sound. Does going to a 2-ohm and basically doubling wattage improve volume or clarity?

For the second case, I just bought these speakers last week. I'm not on a budget per se, but don't want to go drop a couple hundred more bucks only two weeks after getting these Momo MMC690. There is nothing wrong with my Polks. They thump good. I just didn't realize that blocking the midrange and tweeter with a leg would be so drastic. If my passenger puts their leg in front of the right speaker, I lose the highs there too. And yes, the crossover sends one lead to the driver and one to the midrange. Then there is a small capacitor (bass blocker) mounted between the tweeter and midrange connectors.

 

Ha, well put. I hear ya on that. Power is the most important part of system, the more power you have the better you are able to tune your system and eliminate distortion. Will it improve volume and clarity, yes, to the extent that your sub will allow(manufacturer quality). Having a dual voice-coil sub will definately increase the thump you are looking for though.

6X9's are great for rear fill speakers, but you'd have to be willing to put in a little work to locate them to the rear. If you do that you could buy a 6.5 component set for the front and not feel like you've wasted anything... Add a nice 4-channel amp to those and you'll have a nice sounding system.

 

get round speakers, try to avoid oval ones.