Being a past jaycar employee I managed to get my hands on alot of random cheap speakers. The problem is I'm not sure how to best arrange what I have and what extra to buy for best sound. I'm willing to spend about $250 for an amp and anything extra, second hand is my only option really. This is what I have:

Kevlar 6.5" Coaxials with adjustable titanium tweeters. (These sound good and plan to mount in front doors. If I do this do you really think I need tweeters in the A pillars or under windshield? I can sort of aim them.)

Kevlar 5" Coxials with adjustable titanium tweeters. These small cones have dissappointing bass but sound quality is quite good. I can either mount them on the parcel shelf with baffles, but I think they might make better bass in the doors due to smaller volume of the enclosure?

Response titanium finish 10" subwoofer. This is the best subwoofer jaycar has ever made in terms of sound quality and flat frequency response. This is definitely staying. Current handling is 150W RMS.

Because I'm on such a tight ass budget I was thinking I would buy a 4x100W RMS Response amp second hand for $100ish. But I'm left with the problem that I have more speakers than channels. I would need to bridge 2 for the sub and then I'm left with only 2 for 4 speakers. I could run the 2 speakers on each channel but then the 5" will be more sensitive and need attenuation.

Anyone have ideas would I could do amp-wise? Do you think I should opt for separate tweeters at the front? Am I better off not using the 5" and buying 6x9's for the back? Maybe I'm better of spending some money deadening doors?

6.5"s in the front and 10" sub off the 4x100w Response amp. 5"s in the parcel shelf as rear fill only. Your front speakers and your sub are your priorities. To be honest I think it should be a pretty beasty budget system.

What Red said sounds good.

The rear doesn't matter too much, so try the 5" coax there - you may prefer the factory speakers, test and see.

Amplify your fronts and sub and run the rear from the head unit.

Jaycar's 4x100 might even be overkill or just good headroom.
It's rated at 4x100 @ 4 Ohms, 4x150 @ 2 Ohms or bridged into 4Ohms = 2x300W RMS.
So just be aware that it has more than enough grunt for your sub if the sub is 4Ohms.

Don't forget you'll need wiring, fuse, connectors, or whatever. 8 gauge minimum power & earth cable for the amp and make sure you fuse the power line as close to the battery as possible.

Fun times ahead if you're doing the install yourself ! trust me, I know hehe.

i would forget the 5 inch in the back, just go to wow and get some mtx 6x9 for $70 (if budget permits)

the only place you would put those 5 inch is for sq in the back doors, and run them off the hu, but if you have non elec windows, you will be very hard pressed to get them in, i can just fit the 4 inch rockford components in mine and they are quite small, as they have a dome-shape cover. if you look out, you can get some really decent 6x9's at wow, or at the discount tables at auto barn, and these running off an amp will make alot of noise, and if treated right, do last a fair while.

i would spend 70-100 on the 6x9's, run them off the amp with the sub, and run the fronts off the hu, because they don't have a crossover, its not necessary for them to be running off and amp, 50watts peak should be fine.

I have to Say the Same as Red.

6.5's in the front doors Amped, 5 inches on the rear shelf fed from the Deck and the Sub Amped off the remaining 2 channels on the amp.

My Suggestion would be invest in a Head unit with Sub Out..
They can be sourced for under $250..

i dont think that the 5 inch speakers will be any better than the 6x9's that are already inthere.

Similar set-up to mine really. Get that front stage right, amp the coaxials up front.


If you can be motivated enough, I would remove the stock 6x9's as they have no high end ( if they are the single cone paper stock speakers ) and the little bass that they output will be overruled by the sub woofer. I think the 5" off the head unit, and the 10 off a bridged pair of channels, all coming from the rear will be rewarding for the rear passenger. Lots of bass ( amped sub) and a little bit of quality mid and treble fill. (5" two way co-axials). This could be easily done with under mounted MDF with the accomaditing 5" holes mounted on top.

The amp is big, but at least the 6.5's and the sub can be driven cleanly without much effort, lenghtening the life of your system.

IMO, Whatever you do, dont run the 6.5's off the head unit, they are the nicest speakers you have, and sending 20 watts to a 60 watts speaker will see no reward in front end mid's and mid to low freq bass response i.e. 100-250Hz. You're the driver, you get the best sound in the front.



Or Ebay all the small speakers and get yo'self some splits.

Or set it up now, and get splits in the future.

i pretty much did what shoot said today. Bought a 4x50W response amp on staffies for nothing and also bought some venom splits for the back doors. I'm putting the woofers in the door and removing the stock 6x9's and putting the tweeters in there. It's a bit of an unsual setup but I think it should work well. The venoms use the same silk dome tweeters as in the response kevlars. Only thing that bothers me if bridged 100W will be enough for the 150W sub. Apparently jaycar amps put out the same if not more than their rating so I'll have to see. I considered running the front and rear speakers of the same channels. In parallel the impedance will drop to something like 5 ohms meaning that the amp will put out roughly twice the power, hopefully enough for the extra speaker. Any thoughts?

Standard speakers are 4 ohm, so if you are going to wire the front and rear speakers on a side of the car in parallel to the amp, then that will be 2 Ohms.
Typically, an amp that is bridgeable will run 2 Ohms on a channel so that aspect should work.

Your issues might be that you have no ability to fade the sound to the front or rear. So if those Venom speakers in the back door are more sensitive than your front speakers, then they'll be a lot louder in the back.

It certainly seems a very unconventional plan, and there's normally reasons for not doing things in unusual ways :)


Assuming the 4x50 works similarly to the 4x100 then it should be good for 150W RMS bridged - but even if it wasn't it would still run your sub well enough.

Put those splits up front, it'll be way more rewarding.

Running subs on lower watttage can destroy the sub, they need to move properly to allow air to move over the voice coil.

I'd put the splits in the front, coaxials in the back all off the 4 x 50 watt amp. and get a mono for the sub.
I can't think of member here with splits in the rear doors (WOFTAM). If they have, they would have better splits in the front!!

You need to get some advice, and get a plan happening, and get down to a magna meet and listen to the different set-ups around.

Put those splits up front, it'll be way more rewarding.

Running subs on lower watttage can destroy the sub, they need to move properly to allow air to move over the voice coil.
.

Not 100% the reason why, but a small part..

The main reason not to under power a sub is the chance of sending a clipped signal is higher..


Clipped signals are more likely to be generated with less power..
A clipped signal can turn into DC current from the amp which will roast the coils..

Over Driving the amp is more likely to kill your sub. So this is why having an amp more powerful then your Sub can handle is a better option.
Running a 100W RMS amplifier at full ball into a 250W RMS sub is more dangerous then running a 100W RMS Amp @ 3/4 max gain.



Distortion is a good definition of a clipped signal..
Yes, Subwoofers can distort..
If your subwoofer sounds like some one pounding on an empty cardboard box... its distorting...
The Subwoofer should sound low and clear... not wooly and muddy..

Mate as Red and Magnat have said - keep it simple.

Front speakers amped off the front 2 channels of the amp @ 50WRMSea
Rear speakers off the deck - hopefully your deck has an inbuilt HPF otherwise an inline cap will help.
Sub bridged off the rear 2 channels for 160WRMS.

Tune the gains correctly and you will have no issues with power.