Rear speakers need em or ditch em?

denis87

I dont know if i should upgrade the rear speakers in my 04 civic since they are a **** to replace. you have to remove the whole rear deck which means removing the rear seats. What do you guys think is it worth the time and $$?

MacLeod

From a strict SQ perspective, you dont need rear speakers at all. They pull your soundstage to the rear and with the same frequencies coming at you from 4 different distances, it can smear the detail slightly. Now your SQ wont suck with rear speakers but using front only will always be better.

exalted512

Originally posted by MacLeod
From a strict SQ perspective, you dont need rear speakers at all. They pull your soundstage to the rear and with the same frequencies coming at you from 4 different distances, it can smear the detail slightly. Now your SQ wont suck with rear speakers but using front only will always be better.

agreed

denis87

yeah in my other thread about an amp for the mm6's i wasn't sure if i wanted a 2ch or a 4ch. it all depended if i need power for the rears. so now i might swap my kicker 4 ch for a new 2ch with more juice and have the stock rears running off deck power only to be used when i got passengers in the rear at odd occasions. yeah you guys are also right about the sq. especially in my civic it sounds really sh*tty with rears on. thanks for the help.

exalted512

whats the rms rating of the 4 channel you already have?
-Cody

denis87

40wx4 rms @ 4ohm

exalted512

oo ok...if it was more in the 75x4 power range youd still be able to use it
go with a new 2 channel that does like 125-150 watts rms:D
-Cody

denis87

what about for my subs? they're two jl 12w0's and i got an rf 200 mono running them. you think i should upgrade that too?

exalted512

what is the impedance and rms power handling of the w0s?
and whats the model number of the amp?
-Cody

denis87

Originally posted by exalted512
what is the impedance and rms power handling of the w0s?
and whats the model number of the amp?
-Cody

http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/12w0.html

rockford fosgate 200M

exalted512

assuming your subs are the 4 ohm version...that amp probably puts out the rated RMS of those subs...id keep it
-Cody

denis87

yeah they are 4 ohm. I've heard they are underrated in power but i think they sound great for my everyday use. although who wouldn't want better gear. if it snowed money i'd buy a new system every year. actually since i have two subs then for optimal performance i should have 300w pushing them right?

exalted512

JL subs are known to be a little underrated, you probably could throw 150 each at em and theyll take it fine
-Cody

AustinKP

Originally posted by denis87
40wx4 rms @ 4ohm

That's exactly what mine's rated at. I just bridge it to 2 channels and get 160Wx2 and it works great. (well, I'm hoping it will. I'm still waiting to GET MINE BACK. DANG!)

denis87

Yeah but my manual for the amp doesn't say anything about hooking it up like that. Wouldn't it sound like crap since the signal is now mono?

MacLeod

Im not a big fan of bridging 4 channel amps for mids/highs. It kicks up the THD quite a bit and makes the amp work at full power all the time. Im not saying its wrong to do so, I just dont prefer it.

And those JL's are way underrated. If you go to the spec page and download the 12W0's data sheet it shows you these things can take over 200 rms.

denis87

right now i'm running the gain on the amp higher than i should so they'll be at a volume i like. not nearly as high as in the older car i had since it was a much bigger car.

MacLeod

Be careful in doing that. Punching the gain up too high could very well result in clipping and burn those JLs. Not to mention a lot more distoriton and the bass generally sounding like crap!

denis87

hmm it's been like that for 2 years now maybe i should do some readjusting. good thing i don't crank up the volume to loud.