Upgraded and powered rear door speakers?

Well I'm back to trying to figure out if I should replace my rear
door speakers with good ones. Either run a five channel amp
Or run two separate apps. I would rather run a single four channel amp with the rear channel bridged to run the subs. Just wondering what most of you guys are running thanks

 

I prefer to have my sub amp separate from my 4 channel amp. Alpine PDX 5 channel amp is a great amp for the cost if you are looking at 5ch amps.

 

my sub has it's own amp. Which speakers are you planning on using? I put RE's in mine and I love them.

 

I currently have 2 Memphis PR10V2 powered by a about 700 watts. And JL C2 6.5 separates in the front doors and stock speakers in the rear door. My 4 channel amp went out. Now I am trying need a new amp or amps. Keeping the C2's but am thinking of trying out a JL12W1 in a ported box to see how that sounds.

 

You're going to get opinions that are all over the map on this one but in my experience both historically and in my current truck the difference in output and sound quality is negligible upgrading the rear speakers. They are there for fill so upgrading them is up to personal preference.

As far as amps are concerned - there are a couple of very high quality 5 channel amps on the market that will provide you very adequate power for almost any system configuration. With the current amplifier technology there is almost no need to run two amplifiers unless an excess of 700W rms dedicated to the subwoofers is desired. You are currently running that so in your case you may notice a slight drop in SPL but it depends on what you do with your subwoofer setup. The W1 will struggle to handle that much power rms (from a thermal standpoint - the voice coil just isn't designed to dissipate that much heat). I would strongly suggest you research the TW3 series subs from JL Audio...I just installed one in my truck (12TW3) and couldn't believe the sound quality of a subwoofer with such a shallow mounting depth...it's staggering. The output capability is something to be heard as well....and I was coming from a 12W6V2. For what it's worth I have it running off 550w rms from an Alpine PDX-V9....

 

If I were to run the the JL 12W1 I would run it off a 4 channel amp and bridge it in the 300 watt RMS range, But have it in a ported encloser. To try and get the SPL up a lil more then I already have. Do you have any pics of your set up. I would like to try the new TW line but out of my budget right this moment.

 

Another option, assuming you have a reasonably powered aftermarket HU, is to power the rear speakers off of HU power, since they are rear fill. Does depend on what you like and the passengers you have though. I have a Kenwood five channel that runs the front comps off of two channels and the sub off of the sub channel, but I run the rear speakers off of the HU, made wiring easier. Usually have the rear speakers turned off though unless I have passengers in there for a significant time. Doing this you can get away with a 4 channel if you can find the appropriate power levels you want.

BTW, I have run 2 amps before and am now using a single amp just for the simplicity of wiring and space mgmt. You do need to balance that with the desire to adjust or upgrade your sub/main speaker power levels over time.

 

That's a very solid and straightforward approach, and should serve you very well in application. That is a perfect application of amp/power and sub. I only have a few pictures of it as it is installed now - waiting for time to build a better box for it - I went up to the car audio shop with my 12W6V2 sitting in the back seat to listen to as a reference against the new sub. I liked it so much I bought it as is so I could have it to listen to before I built a box for it (my original plan was just to purchase the sub but they had them in loaded enclosures already at the shop as well the subs by themselves). In the preloaded JL enclosure it fits behind the seats with the plastic backing off of the rear of the seat. It's tight but it's just in there.

The stealthbox I sold, the 12W6, and the new loaded TW3 enclosure;



The enclosure;



Here it is sitting behind the back seat - believe it or not, it does not contact the seat at all! Anyway, you can clearly see how a custom enclosure would free up all that room and get it away from the seat entirely - but, it's worth noting, it does fit as is without issue in the preloaded JL box.

 

The TW just kills the old stealth box or just a nice upgrade? What do you listen to?

 

go custom i am currently building a consloe box with 3 8s on 3k im also doing door panels with 2 super tweets and 2 8inch pa mids in each door on 2 ct 125.4...... its all in how loud you want to be..

 

That is how I have it curently and cant really complain, but I also never sit in the back..... I have a Kenwood DNX7180 that is powering my rears. Space and SPL are the 2 things Im battling with. Since I have to buy a new amp/amps want to stuff them out of the way so can use the back wall for more air space.

 

Ahhh, now I see. I never sat in the back either, until I had a son with a learner's permit. Then spent quite a bit of time in the back seat when the family went somewhere. Before then, I didn't have the rears hooked up at all, but after spending some time there, that's when I decided to add them for the times when I had someone back there. Anyway, just a data point.

 

You are running the stock speakers off the HU then? Or did you replace the rear speakers also?

 

To say it kills it would be an understatement, there is simply no comparison. And to be clear - I am building a custom enclosure for this sub but it sounded too good to wait so I took it as is, and it fits as is.

As far as music I listen to it's funny, the standard answer is "everything" (I did car audio retail for many years - that's the standard answer) but I do have lots of music on my iphone. I keep a CD case in my truck still with some good reference material to "retune" my ears every so often but lately my son has been listening to a LOT of Macklemore, I've been playing the new Skrillex album, but mostly I put my stuff on shuffle in my rock folder. Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam, mostly 90's alternative and rock stuff. Contemporary Blues stuff, etc. so you can see it varies wildly. I listened to Pantera yesterday and Craig David this morning on the way into work lol. The TW has the output but most importantly the taught, controlled and super fast accuracy I was used to with my 12W6.

Back on topic though - your headunit is fine to power the factory rear speakers as fill - again, it's personal preference. I think very often people insist they be changed to match the front and be amplifier powered "just because". In full disclosure - I have mine powered but it was a footprint/cost compromise. The Alpine I chose for the system had 4 powered channels and the sub channel so I amplified them simply because. I am contemplating when I get around to building out my front doors and installing my components, bridging the 4 channels to two and slapping the components around a little

 

Aftermarket speakers with HU power for the rears. Just some cheap Pioneer 2-ways back there. Focal comps powered from the amp in the front.