[Mk2] [Turbo] New speakers bought, some setup info needed....

[bluesmoke]

Well the speakers I bought some time ago have finally turned up today! I'm going to have music again!!

Here they are:









Really happy with them, so hopefully they will sound great too. They are 120w RMS, 360w Max. I'm just going to have to figure out:

1. Whether to run my 600w amp as 150w channels or 300w channels. The speakers say 360w max, but as they are 120w RMS I'm not sure running them at 300w constantly would be very good for them? I do want the best sound quality I can get though.

2. How to fit the bloody things! I have got a pair of MDF spacer rings, which are 12mm thick. Obviously I'm going to need very short screws to mount the speakers to the rings aren't I? They I must find a way of fitting the tweeters, hopefully in the stock location, and the crossovers, which I don't want just rattling around inside the door. Any suggestions?

[toxo]

What resistance is the amp running at when you set it to run at 150w or 300w? Or is that switching it between 4 channel and 2 channel? Remember even if you've got your amp set to 300W per channel, that is its theoretical limit, it will only be producing near that when the source and amp are turned up to full.

How many ohms are the speakers? I'm gonna guess at 4.

Put the crossovers inside the car. I've shaken mine to pieces several times from repeated opening and closing of the doors. What it will cost you in extra speaker cable it will save you in repeatedly having to take the fecking doors apart.

The stock tweeters are mounted on brackets, it shouldn't be rocket science to attach your new tweeters to the same brackets - it looks like they've come with plenty of fixing straps etc which you may be able to bend into a similar shape to the stock brackets.

And yes you just want some short selftappers to fix the speakers to the MDF rings. Check to see if you need them first though, my Focals fit in the door fine without spacers. If your speakers have a bulky lip on them and your spacers are large you'll start getting problems fitting it all inside the doorcard.

[bluesmoke]

Cheers buddy, I will see how I get on.

So those thin strips with all the holes in are to be bent into the shape I want and attached to the tweeters? Hmm.... interesting. Will have to get stuck into them.

With the amp I am talking about running individual 150w channels, or bridged 300w channels. I don't want to run 300w though if it will lead to the speakers being ruined? I just need to know if that's going to happen or if I should be OK to run at 300w?

As for resistance, I've absolutely no idea. Not sure where/how to mount the crossovers either. Maybe try and shoehorn in under the dash and use some no more nails strips or something....

[toxo]

The amp will be 300w @ so-and-so ohms. The speakers will be 120W @ so-and-so ohms. You need to know this to size one to the other!

You haven't answered my question, is it a 4 channel amp with all 4 channels running at 150w per channel, bridgeable into a 2 channel 300w per channel setup?

The problem with putting them in the doors (aside from the fact that both my Alpine and Focal crossovers have broken internally from doors slamming) is that there's limited space. The only place you can really fit them in is towards the rear of the door, where the armrest bit is on the doorcard. That's fine for short rectangular crossovers but yours look a bit bigger and round.

[bluesmoke]

Sorry, I thought I had clarified that the amp is a 4 channel 600w amp. It can be bridged into two 300w channels or it can be run as 4 150w channels. It's a JBL jobbie. I will find the specs.

With putting the crossovers inside the door, I meant right inside the actual door itself, and stick them onto the inside of the door skin, not put them somewhere ont he door card, if that helps?

[toxo]

Sorry, I thought I had clarified that the amp is a 4 channel 600w amp. It can be bridged into two 300w channels or it can be run as 4 150w channels. It's a JBL jobbie. I will find the specs.

You hadn't (or I'd missed it) but that makes sense

With putting the crossovers inside the door, I meant right inside the actual door itself, and stick them onto the inside of the door skin, not put them somewhere ont he door card, if that helps?

Yeah I mean inside the doors too, I was just trying to describe whereabouts inside the door relative to the position of things on the doorcard.

[bluesmoke]

Righto. I will see what I can do then.

More confused now.... manufacturer's specs for the amp:

JBL GTO 4000 4/3/2 Channel 600W Car Audio Amplifier

* JBL GTO4000 600W Amp
* 4/3/2 Channel Amplifier
* 4 x 50w RMS or tri-mode: 2 x 50W RMS + 150W for sub
* 4 x 100W max or tri-mode: 2 x 100W + 300W for sub
* Variable cross-over. Variable Bass Boost
* Overload protection

I've used it in the past as two bridged channels and it ran nicely, but those figures above don't seem to tally upw ith what I thought?

[toxo]

From those numbers I'd definitely be running it bridged into 2 channels.

Oh btw depending on the size of your crossovers I'm pretty sure sticking them to the outer skin will get in the way of the window!

[bluesmoke]

Well I am digging like a crazed mole at the moment, and have found the actual manual for the amp.

Here it says:


Mine's the 4000. So bridged it's 220w RMS? Speakers are 120w RMS, but 360w max. So what do you reckon?

[SonicSW20]

Yes, thats correct.

Run it bridged.

[toxo]

What he said.

From the manual it *looks* like it bridges the 'rear' pair together as 1 channel and the 'front' pair together as another channel. However these channels have separate inputs. I don't see a switch or anything for linking the two together, did you have to run two sets of RCA cables to it before?

[bluesmoke]

Can't remember exact setup but I do believe I was only using 2 of the RCA sockets.

[toxo]

Fair enough. I was going by the pictures in here:

https://www.hci-services.com//tech_doc/ ... 20amps.pdf

If you zoom in, you can see it says to use L+ and R- when bridged, which would leave rear as 1 speaker and front as the other speaker. But on the input side of the amp there's separate inputs for front and rear. That was my thinking

[bluesmoke]

Can't fully remember now, but will figure it out Can't remember how it was now, whether I plugged into front and rear at the same side or if I did both fronts, or front one side and rear the other etc.

[bluesmoke]

Sorry one last quick Q: Do I need to drill holes in the MDF for the screws or can I just screw them into it and not worry about it splitting?

[toxo]

Always best to pilot drill a mm or 2 smaller than the screws you're fitting

[bluesmoke]

Ta!