7 speakers on a 5-Channel Amp - makes my head hurt!

I'm a complete noob at this so need some help. I'm looking to do a speaker/system upgrade keeping the head unit and stock wiring for ease of install if possible. I already took the first step and upgraded the speakers and did extensive soundproofing. Here are my speakers:

• Tweeters are Infinity Kappa at 50 watts RMS
• Fronts are Infinity Reference 2-way 6x9s at 100 watts RMS
• Rears are Infinity Reference 2-way 6.5s at 55 watts RMS

I'm looking to run the Audiocontrol D-5.1300 (100 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms) with the integrated digital signal processor. I'll also be adding a Skar box or Stealthbox for a subwoofer in the large cubby and the amp somehow rigged in the smaller driver side cubby. Reason for that amp location is I also want to upgrade my seats to Katskins with the Heated and Cooled feature and I'm concerned about space for the cooling fans under the front seat if the amp were placed there. I only want to do this once so figured the small cubby is the place to go. I'd love some pointers on rigging the amp in the small cubby.

I also learned that the stock speaker wiring is likely good so long as you don't exceed 75 watts. Which if fine, I'm 54 and looking for clean sound not teenage level neighbor annoying levels and bass.

So here I am with a conundrum, 7 speakers on a 5-channel amp.

If Audiocontrol made a D-7.1300 I'd be golden and just rewire everything and have complete control of all speakers independently with amplification in one unit. That said I've seen installs with other 5-channel amps and people seem happy.

The initial speaker upgrade is much better than stock but lacks bass. I upgraded my wife's Ford Escape with Kickers and she has much more bass which has me on this path to begin with. I had thought about replacing my Infinity's with Kickers but after doing some research discovered the issues with factory equalizing to work with factory speakers and then heard about rolloff. I figure that is the culprit and rather than replace the HU, a nice DSP will surely fix all that.

Question 1 - Maybe I should have gotten component speakers for the Fronts? However, every component set I've seen includes a crossover. I want to use the existing wiring which seems difficult to figure out. Next, the component speakers I've seen only list one RMS rating for the set. The Infinity Kappa component set is rated at 145 RMS. My Kappa tweeters, purchased separately, are only rated to 50 RMS? Isn't it the same tweeter? So if the components are capable of 145 at the woofer and only 50 at the tweeter does that mean the component crossover is dialing back the signal strength to the tweeter and just requires less juice for a balanced sound?

Question 2 - Channels 1&2 - My assumption is that the stock wiring somehow has the tweeters and fronts sharing channels 1 & 2. Correct? How do I handle the differences in RMS between the fronts and tweeters with this setup? Am I over thinking this? Are there inline crossovers that can be soldered behind the tweeter to the stock wiring setup? Does the stock wiring already contain a crossover or did I remove it when I upgraded? This one question has me all twisted up and very confusing for a noob!

So is there a way to wire this up and keep the stock wiring or do I need to go with a component set, ditch the stock wiring, and use the included crossovers for channels 1&2? That seems like a PITA.

Appreciate the feedback!

 

You are overthinking a bit, but in a good healthy way. Your setup will work just fine. I’ll have a longer reply in a bit

 

Should you have gotten components up front instead of separates? Yes, unless you want to buy a smaller 2ch amp like the ACM 2.300. I don’t think that’s necessary, but your ears will need to be the judge

a speaker set is rated at a certain power, but that power handling is dependent on the frequency being played. And the frequency being played is determined by the crossover.

in the Kappa component set, the rating is 145w rms across the whole audio spectrum. But most of that power is being used to play bass frequencies, and the woofer can handle it. The crossover is only allowing high frequencies to get to the tweeter, and those frequencies make up a lot less of the power.

If you were to hook the tweeter straight to an amp and only play the frequencies it is meant to play and then push the amp to 50w, you’d have hearing damage long before the tweeter was at risk.

For the stock wiring, it will depend on if you have the JBL system or not. That will determine how to move forward

 

Another option for a 5 channel amp are the JL Audio VX line they have built in DSP accept high level so no LOC needed. This would save space with only 1 amp/device to mount.

VX700/5i - 75 W x 4 @ 4 Ω + 300 W x 1 @ 2 Ω - 14.4V

VX1000/5i - 100 W x 4 @ 2 Ω + 600 W x 1 @ 2 Ω - 14.4V

 

The AudioControl doesn’t need a LOC either

 

Personally, I'd take back the fronts and tweeters and get components. Just a little bit of work to integrate components with the stock wiring, and there are some adapters out there available for sale.

 

i would definitely suggest you return the 6x9 and tweeter and go with the component set if possible. it really comes down to a few options here.
a: you need to separately purchase crossovers--there are numerous units available, but generally will cost more than the component set.
b: you need an additional 2 channel amp.
c: return the coaxial 6x9's,as well as the tweeters and get the package component speaker deal.

and of course, i'd be remiss without mentioning option d, which is my personal preference: entirely skip the rear speakers, return the 6.5's, and run only front door speakers and in-dash tweeters. i haven't ran rear speakers in my vehicles since 2014. in older vehicles with 6x9's mounted on the rear parcel shelf, they made a difference, but most newer vehicles have the rear speakers as a different/smaller size, and in least-optimal enclosures, which makes them only beneficial for rear passengers, and detrimental to imaging the stereo signal in front of the listener.

as far as connection layout with the factory wiring, i have a diagram for that. you don't have to worry about damaging or losing anything removing the factory speakers, but you will require an aftermarket tweeter adapter harness to plug into the factory tweeter plug. in this diagram, the center of the picture is the 4-wire plug located behind the tweeter. the way the plug wires, it gets a full range signal from the radio(or amp if you interrupt the signal behind the radio), and the tweeter taps off it, while the connections within the tweeter-side of the plug complete the circuit to send the same signal to the front door speakers. fortunately, this makes adding a component set easier, and fully reversible.




beyond that, something that's not talked about, but if you really desire to keep the rear speakers operational, the benefit to a fully-programmable amp like the audiocontrol, is that you can route the audio signals to your liking. this opens up an opportunity where you could feasibly run the front and rear doors as 2 separate mono-summed channels, with only the tweeters getting a stereo signal. some detail in the music will be less focused, but much of the stereo imaging is in the higher frequency material, so this method would maintain a mostly-accurate sound stage, while also allowing you to run additional speakers.

 

Thanks for the explanation on the tweeter and to know that 50 RMS is ear splitting. Looks like I won't really be taxing the amp that much, but understand its better to have more power than to max out an amp.

 

I looked at those as well. Fairly spendy compared to the Audiocontrol and since I'm not looking to scare the wildlife in the area, probably won't need the extra bass amps. Still wish either company made a 7-channel DSP Amp.

 

A big question is

how long have you had the tweeters and coaxial? Are they beyond return policy? If so, the suggestions above are moot

 

I disagree with the comment on hearing damage. The sensitivity is 93db. At max volume where the tweeters are getting the full 50w fed to them, they aren’t going to get over 110db and that’s being very generous on efficiency. I really doubt OP is going to be driving around at max volume all day, then I’d agree with you.

 

You may have misunderstood what I said.

What I said was if you ran the speakers at 50w, you would get hearing damage before the speaker was at risk. I was explaining that he would likely not ever damage the tweeter with his amp of choice.
I agree that he won’t drive around at full volume so hearing damage OR speaker damage shouldn’t be a problem.

side note: you need to factor that there are 6 speakers in total, not just the one tweeter. So if all 6 speakers are getting 50w, you’re looking at about 125db in the cab.
Prolonged exposure to 110db will definitely cause hearing damage, but even just short exposure to 125db will cause it.

 

Ah I see what you’re saying, my b

 

All good! We all just want what’s best!

 

I did the upgrade in 2022, way beyond warranty. It was my wife's Kicker speaker upgrade in her Ford Escape that had me really missing the bass since I had a comparison.

Soundman98 had some great suggestions too. As it is I'm probably looking at $1500 to $2500 for this upgrade unless I can save some bucks on FB Marketplace.

Funny thing is, I settled for this SR5 truck as I was going to order the TRD Pro with heater leather seats, JBL and LED headlights but the packages to get to that level were like $8k more. This build should sound better than the JBL, and I'm looking at Katskins leather seats with Heated and Cooled technology were quoted at $3,700. This is starting to make the TRD Pro look like a bargain with the improvements in crawl control, suspension etc.

 

the headlights would've nearly been worth it, but many come here to also change out their jbl system, as it's not all that much better than the stock sr5 or 'entune' sound system.

the way i'd look at it, you're really spending about the same, but your insurance rates are lower, and you're spending it in the specific area's you really want, instead of getting a whole bunch of other features that would never be used, or drive you nuts.