heard same speakers as mine on high end kenwood, sounded much better

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

What amp are you using? Don't be scared.

 

[SlickCMRick 10+ year member]

eclipse ea4000

i really dont wanna go active though,seems not for me and too complicated.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

Its most likely how your headunit and his are EQ...he probably spent more time tweaking his EQ and its probably a big ass EQ if his retails at 1700 so theres alot more eq bands he can adjust....thats just my guess cause in my car i have my HPF and LPF and all that set so they flow together VS another kids car where he hasnt set either together and it sounds like **** because theirs too much bass in the components or not enough etc etc etc

his EQ is weird, it has 4 band parametric EQ. also, while i have yet to use an RTA bc i am saving up for a good scope to set my gains at their max unclipped settings first, i have spent a lot of time using my EQ.

he isnt the biggest audiophile. he has 5.1 surround sound in his car. when i was listening to it, i had him turn everything except the morels (including the sub) off so i could judge, but just based on the amp he got, u can tell he isnt a SQ buff. if he was, he would be running the 300/2 at 150W RMS and he wouldnt have gone for surround sound that makes DVDs sound better, but has nothing to do with stereo sound.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

I'm scared now, I was planning on bridging my amp to send 150w to my germs, but now I may have to go the 75w route. Can I go active possibly? Can any Hu go active? I have an eclipse cd3000 and I don't even think it has a crossover in it. What would I need?

read this about 4 or 5 times:

http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

Yes. Bridging a 4-channel amp into 2 channels to run a 4-ohm speaker setup results in each channel of the amp "seeing" 2 ohms, and effectively pushing ~2x the power to the speakers at 2 ohms as it would at 4 ohms. Doubling the output normally (in my experience) results in a degradation in SQ. Most people only bridge sub amps (yes, I am generalizing here), where the slight loss of SQ is not as easily perceived.

so bridging the amp, thereby lowering the impedence, u are doubling the wattage sent but since u are lowering the impedence, arent u also doubling the RMS rating of the components?

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

so bridging the amp, thereby lowering the impedence, u are doubling the wattage sent but since u are lowering the impedence, arent u also doubling the RMS rating of the components?

What? the RMS rating of the speaker never changes, its a fixed number. Bridging in YOUR case will double the power. You're sending more power to the comps. I really think you need a higher end amp.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

What? the RMS rating of the speaker never changes, its a fixed number. Bridging in YOUR case will double the power. You're sending more power to the comps. I really think you need a higher end amp.

sorry, brainfart, however, if an amp puts out 200 W at 4 ohms, and 400 W at 2 ohms, the speakers have to be able to handle more wattage at a lower impedence, correct?

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

sorry, brainfart, however, if an amp puts out 200 W at 4 ohms, and 400 W at 2 ohms, the speakers have to be able to handle more wattage at a lower impedence, correct?

Speaker resistance will not change IE if a speaker is rated at 50wrms it will accept 50wrms at regardless of how the amp is wired. Some speakers when crossed over correctly (most speakers) will handle more power in that situation.

If you had a speaker that was 10wrms, but you decided to put 20wrms to it running bridged from an amp, that speaker would need to be able to handle double the power in that given frequency range that it's seeing.

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

Speaker resistance will not change IE if a speaker is rated at 50wrms it will accept 50wrms at regardless of how the amp is wired. Some speakers when crossed over correctly (most speakers) will handle more power in that situation.
If you had a speaker that was 10wrms, but you decided to put 20wrms to it running bridged from an amp, that speaker would need to be able to handle double the power in that given frequency range that it's seeing.

you lost me there. it can handle 20W bc its bridged?

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

No, 20 watts in a certain frequency range only.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

oops,

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

you lost me there. it can handle 20W bc its bridged?

Ok, first things first. The difference you heard was NOT the amps, nor was it inherently the hu. It may have been the EQ and crossove settings available on the hu, but it wasn't a inherent SQ difference, just the EQ/crossover/ta. If his speakers were in different locations then that will make a huge difference too! Bridging an amp won't affect SQ, it'll simply create more power, hence it'll get louder.

Now with the "dangerous" advice you've been getting dismissed I'll move on to the rest of your questions. First off, remember it's the speaker that decided what impedence the amps see's, the the other way around. If you have a 4 ohm speaker, and an amp a stable at .5 ohms, you can't get the power at .5 ohms out of the amp, simply because the speakers are incapable of showing that little amount of resistance.

Nismo 14, I believe, is referring to the fact speakers can often handle more power when they are bandpassed or high passed vs when they run full range. This is because as we limit the lower frequencies, less power is being sent to the speaker and less excursion is required for high output. Tweets dont' move as far as sub for the same volume level, despite their miniscule size and low amounts of power, why, becuase they dont' have to play 20hz!

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

Ok, first things first. The difference you heard was NOT the amps, nor was it inherently the hu. It may have been the EQ and crossove settings available on the hu, but it wasn't a inherent SQ difference, just the EQ/crossover/ta. If his speakers were in different locations then that will make a huge difference too! Bridging an amp won't affect SQ, it'll simply create more power, hence it'll get louder.
Now with the "dangerous" advice you've been getting dismissed I'll move on to the rest of your questions. First off, remember it's the speaker that decided what impedence the amps see's, the the other way around. If you have a 4 ohm speaker, and an amp a stable at .5 ohms, you can't get the power at .5 ohms out of the amp, simply because the speakers are incapable of showing that little amount of resistance.

the speaker locations are the same...are u saying that this is false?

"Yes. Bridging a 4-channel amp into 2 channels to run a 4-ohm speaker setup results in each channel of the amp "seeing" 2 ohms, and effectively pushing ~2x the power to the speakers at 2 ohms as it would at 4 ohms. Doubling the output normally (in my experience) results in a degradation in SQ. Most people only bridge sub amps (yes, I am generalizing here), where the slight loss of SQ is not as easily perceived."

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

Amps produce more distortion when ran bridged, from what I've seen. Probably not audible though.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

the speaker locations are the same...are u saying that this is false?
"Yes. Bridging a 4-channel amp into 2 channels to run a 4-ohm speaker setup results in each channel of the amp "seeing" 2 ohms, and effectively pushing ~2x the power to the speakers at 2 ohms as it would at 4 ohms. Doubling the output normally (in my experience) results in a degradation in SQ. Most people only bridge sub amps (yes, I am generalizing here), where the slight loss of SQ is not as easily perceived."

Yes, I am. You are doubling distortion when your bridge an amp, however it doesn't matter. Your doubling something that is still FAR from audible, even if it was through headphones on pure tones, let alone music in a car.. Odds are the differences you heard was the processing on the hu. Your amp isnt' "inferior" to his. Both of your amps are known for being "bulletproof", but JL's are known as being current hogs too. If you really want to show him up, get a sx, and use the built in DSP, viola, higher SQ. You'll have no problems replicating his car if you crossover actively.

Ps. they've got a 500.2 in the F/S section right now.

Pss. I just noticed you guys aren't in the same car! That probably has ALOT to do with it. Different cars are very differnet acoustic environments. Simply changing seats from leather to cloth can have an adverse affect on SQ. Let alone the different amount of airspace in the doors, total PLD's, reflective surfaces, etc.