ok this is the deal. i have a 4 channel amp and i want to run the sail panles speakers and 1 subwoofer off of this amp. i know i have everything wired correctly but i cant figure out the rca cables. on the back of my cd player it has 6 different spots to plug cables into. the top row is labled "R" and has a red and white plug in. The middle row says "F" and also has the plug ins and the bottom row says "SW" with a red and white plug in. and on my amp it has 4 rca inputs simply labeled 1,2,3,4....so where do i plug in the cables for the subwoofer and speakers..thanks!

 

OK. The 'F', 'R', and 'SW' stand for FRONT, REAR, and SUB-WOOFER outputs. The red connector is the right channel, white is left channel. on your amplifier, you have four input RCA channels 1, 2, 3, and 4. They should correspond with speaker output channels also labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4.

You would want to run your RCA's from the R channel outputs on your HU to inputs 1 & 2 on your amp, and the SW outputs to amp inputs 3 & 4. On the outputs, wire channels 1 & 2 to your sail speakers, and bridge channels 3 & 4 to drive your subwoofer.

I assume you already have a second amplifier to drive your front speakers.

 

no i dont have an amplifier to drive the front two. i was just gonna try it like this and see how it sounds..btw thanks. im fixin to go see if i can get it to work

 

You typically see systems configured with a 4chan amp driving the front and rear full-range speakers. And a seperate Class-D mono-amplifier to drive the subwoofer. Subs take alot more power simply due to the mass of the air it has to move.

 

also, you will get crappy sound if you are feeding the frequency from that 4 channel amp to the sub if you bridge it in some way, not to mention running the risk of putting freq's that don't belong in that speaker there...

 

I'm not following what you are trying to say Junkster. Can you clarify your comment please?

 

Don't try to ghetto rig it. Do it right the first time. As stated before, get a good 4-channel amp for your 4 speakers and a d-class amp for your sub. Too much crossing over and splitting ohms and you can fry your amp and your speakers.

 

Yea i finally got everything wired up. i bridged the subwoofer to channels 1 and 2 and im running my sail panels off 3 and 4 and it sounds very good. I think im gonna get components for the front doors and run them off a 2 channel amp. i know what your thinking. i should just run all the door speakers off my current 4 channel amp and get a mono amp for the subwoofer but i have an extra two channel amp layin around so i can just use it instead of buying a new mono amp.

 

I would get a 1-2 channel amp to run the Sub. Look into a nice Class D amplifier. They are smaller, run alot cooler and are extremely efficient. Then use the 4 channel for the fronts and rears.

You already have the 4 channel. It won't be hard at all to switch over to the 1-2 and then add the fronts to the 4 ch.

 

I know nobody asked this, but just for general information:

There are basically 2 types of amplifiers; Wide band or full-range (class A/B) and narrow band (class D). The actually 'class' designation refers to the type of transistor circuit used.

Class A/B typically has a flat frequency response from about 5Hz to 30,000 Hz (varies by specific model). This means it amplifies all frequencies pretty much equally making it excellent for full range speakers. The trade off is that it is an inefficient circuit. Only 60%-75% of the power it's sucking from your car's electrical system gets turn into amplified audio output for your speakers. The rest is wasted heat.

Class D amplifiers are tuned to a specific frequency and have a very narrow bandwidth (<500Hz) making them nearly useless for anything other than sub-woofer use. Their main advantage is that electrically it is very efficient circuit. There is very little wasted power. This means for the same output power to your sub, the Class D amp draws less current, requires significantly less cooling and therefore can take up less room and weight.

 

I'm translating that as don't run full spectrum input.
Hawk

 

Some multichannels Class A/B amps have crossovers built into them, so you can run subs from them. If not, you'd want to use an external crossover.

But generally it's not a good idea to send a full range signal to a driver designed for 0 - 250Hz.