sorry for the noob question,but,meh,

Having completed my rear install of a sub and amp in my 380 ,with the amp driving the sub off two channels bridged and the rears off the other channel..

which i might add,are not the std rears,but a set of three way Kenwood,not that means much to any one,but at least you know then ,i haven't got std rear speakers...

and for the moments the fronts are stock,though i am looking at these....Rockford Fosgate FNX 2614 6.5" Component Speakers
(http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280528079895&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT)

the question now is...how do i set up a system to amp the four factory speakers and power a sub as well..do i need two amps...


thanks..

5 channel amp
6 channel amp
4+2 channel amps
4+1 channel amps

theyre your options :)

I think the best Improvement you could do ( for the least cost), is install better splits up the front and run those of the amp you already have ( Now powering the rears) , and rewire the rears to the H/unit, leaving the Sub as is.
Amping factory speakers will do little for Sound Quality. And you will probably kill them very soon.

I agree 100% with Shoot here. Invest any money you have into your front stage, you wont be disspointed. When i first got into car audio i always though i would get some fully sick 5.1 sound cranking in my car, but if i had done that today i wouldnt have had the money to purchase my Focal Splits. Therefore i wouldnt know what good sound quality is.

Now that you've edited the first post, You can still run rears off the H/U and not install another Amp.
But if you must add another, it could be a mono block, and run the fronts off the channels that are now bridged. You may have to upgade the power cable though. Not sure what you have now.

But Either way. I'd still go with Amped splits and a Sub, with rears off the H/U. For a bit of fill. 4 amped speakers in a small environment will lead to Bass cancellation, timing issues and others if the Head unit has not got the features to compensate or adjust.

Or you could dis the amp you have now and get a 4 + 1, but the Sub channel is usually 250 watts or under until you start spending bigger biccies. But Woob is 100% correct.

Remember she is running the sub bridged off 2 channels therefore ( well hopefully ) it is probably presenting a 4ohm load so a mono block may not be the 'best' option price and feature wise.

If it was me and I was happy with the a$$ of the car, I would leave all as is, and get a new powerful 2 channel amp for your new front splits. Keep it simple :D

4 amped speakers will not lead to bass cancellation as it will allow you to filter front and rear independently. This means you could HP your front's different to your rears. It also gives you a higher range of filtering to work with - 250Hz plus and variable vs stepped ( headunit ).

Help to know what the H/U is, but it if you HP all the bass from the 6x9, there's not much point amping them in the first place, and a stronger mid range would help, So amp the front splits.
But do you need to rewire the power for two amps?

In the end, its all about personal preference. But ask yourself these questions.

Has any played you music in 5.1, and whilst in did sound good, it didn't sound quite right. Was it better in just stereo?

If you like music in plain 2 Channel stereo, or 2.1 do you like it when you can tell where the band members are positioned.

If you heard your favourite drum solo, and the symbals and snare and hard hits are slightly repeated out of time, ahead of and behind you. Will that annoy you?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, I suggest that you amp the splits that you have your eye on. Before shelling out for another Amp.

god i love this forum,so much help,so many opinions and so many banter......

ok..."she " is a he lol....and ,perhaps to clarify things,i should have really put up these details to start with..

Here we go...

std factory head unit that comes with the stacker in the GT/VRX

front stock splits, the rears are Kenwood 200 watt three ways, sub is a Sony eXplod 1300 watt in a box , the amp is an Alpine 3553-4/3/2 ,and a Aepro 4 channel high/low converter with r.c.a outs.

Now,i have left the front std

The rear std feed is fed into the converter and goes into the amp....1 channel goes to channel 1/2 and then goes to the rears

2nd channel goes to channel 3/4 which are bridged to feed the sub.

At the converter,the "sub" lead is joined together with the other two channel's wires to give it signal to the sub channel

on the converter is a set of "dash pots??? " that allow you to adjust the gain/feed/power ?? of the out put...the rears work fine,but here it is the but

When i set the two channels of the sub feed and adjust the pots to the mid level,it cancels out the bass..wtf..the only way to get bass is to turn down one 1 channel ???? so only one rca is used to give feed for the bass at the amp..still works well...bass still thumps,just a bit confusing...

The filters are set for LP on the sub channel and HP on the rears.Bass and treble are still adjustable via the head unit.

so ,this in a jist is my set up,feel free to pick the crap out of it or offer your much valued advise ,and thanks to all so far,its interesting reading.

Personally I only run 5 speakers - front splits and a sub.

I don't see why 6x9's need to play bass when you have a sub? When I had mine they were HP @ 200Hz, 12db/oct. They were just there as fill until I got $$$ splits then didn't need them at all.

Some people like 20 speakers in their car - others don't.

So for good value and sound staging and Imaging and placement. You have rears off the Head Unit, Amped splits and Sub.

I agree, they work well that way. With the limited outputs and control with headunit.

And, a bit more on bass cancellation, limits to a crossover and a speaker themselves, act as a guide to frequencys set, the resonance of the box and room ( or car in this matter) can greatly affect the speakers ability to create frequencies beyond its normal range. Now I am sure that you knew this, but this is an insight to the OP, that all is not what it may seem.

It is interesting though, that the two peole passionate enough about sound with the willingness to help you, have similar set-ups in their cars.

If you should proceed to amp all 5, I would suggest getting amps and possibly new decks to support and control the sound you want. That is a 4 channel with sub out and a 2 channel/mono, or, a 4+1 happy to run off high level inputs or your simple high level to RCA L&R (x2) converter and fade with the Amps.
Or
Get another High level to RCA adaptor and get a 2 channel for the fronts when they are up graded.

I understand that your 6x9's might sound like poo off the Head unit but with Amped splits you wont even know, promise.

Edit.
With out differing opinions the world would be a boring place, But Mr Charisma, I admire your passion for sound.

Lol it is all good mate,

Some people don't like 'less is more' and often go the hard route.

Everyone's opinion is valid, it is the internet. I'm glad other people are civil enough to keep things to a conversation and not turn it into an argument. :D

Agreed about the headunit as well - might be better to get a decent EQ up there.

Yeah! I had a quick peak at your sound processor. A nice way to get pre-out functionality while keeping the factory unit.
Should put a linky up there. But there is a few on the market.

I spent a few bucks too learn some lessons, but I learnt fast and only upgraded once, now I have an awesome system for the money. And really only wasted $100.00 after upgrading amps and selling on the other gear. So I'm happy.

I have my 380 running 4 speakers amped @ 100w RMS. But I want to drop a 10" in the boot, and run the rears off the H/U. Just looking for the right second hand 10" and box for under $100.00.

One thing though, keep the cross overs boxes of the component ( splits ) away from the console centre, Magna's and 380's have way to much interferance from their ECU's it seems.