Hey there!

 

I recently bought an amp in order to experience some good sounnds, however I'm completely useless when it comes to audio setups.

 

As of current I installed and wired up the amp (Hertz HCP 4D 4ch) I have 4" type S in the front dash, and 6x9 Type R's in my parcel shelf in the boot. My head unit is an alpine CDE121-E, and the setup i have at the moment is my rears are wired up to the amp (according to the manual producing 290W at 4Ohms) and the fronts wired up to the headunit.

 

Is this the best setup i can do with my current products or is there a better way? all i want really is a clear sound at higher volumes, not to worried about bass - i plan to put a small sub in just to help out the 6x9's to push out even more clarity. Also best methods to get the best sound out the amp via tuning.

 

Any advice is much appreciated

How does it sound at the moment?

 

It's all very subjective, as everyone has a different idea of what sounds good.

it sounds good. but most of the sound comes from the rear as thats where all the power is at. the fronts produce highs so it sounds kind of unbalanced.

If you have a 4 channel amp why are you not running the front speakers off it?

For the fronts its good to get a set of splits, then you can mount the tweeters up high for treble and the mains low in the doors for bass.

I have a similar set up to you. Splits in front, 6x9 in parcel shelf, all running off a 4 channel amp. (I also have a 12 sub running off a 2 channel amp).

Edited July 3, 201313 yr by B.L.Z.BUB

I'm unfamiliar with setups, i was told this would be better for my current as the 4" couldnt handle the amp, also i'd only get 75Watt per speaker at 4ohm if i run 4 speakers off it

You're better off running each speaker off a channel of the amp. An amp is designed to boost the power output, so only amplifying one speaker set isn't effective. You might as well amplify fronts and rears, then play with the setting on the amp and the headunit to adjust the sound properly.

 

Even without as much power coming from the amp, it's still better than the headunit itself and the sound will be much more evenly distributed. I had an AE92 Hatch and before I sold it had 4" in the front stock position, six's in a custom parcel shelf and a 12" active subwoofer for a bit more kick.

 

It went nearly as good as the setup I've got in my commodore and was a fraction of the price. Upshot to a small car is that it doesn't require an arseload of audio to create a nice sound platform. Tinker with the speaker settings and see what you like.

I don't think you appreciate how much 75wrms is.

 

http://www.abt.com/product/67394/Hertz-HCP4D.html

 

75watts rms is a bucket load of power.

 

remember that power is measured at absoluate full gain, you will never run it anywhere near that.

 

and your only trying to run 2 small 4" speakers which have an power handling rating of 45wrms anyway

 

http://www.alpine.com.au/showItem.php?item_id=232

 

if you have decent 6x9's, if you amplify them nicely, they should give stacks of bass without the need for a subwoofer.

 

and if you do get a subwoofer, make sure you run a high pass filter on the 6x9s to get rid of the bass, else the sub and 6x9's can interfer wtih each other (i had this once, sounds very weird)

 

so in short, for the moment, i reckon run the 4 speakers off the amp. you'll probably need to run a high pass on those 4" they wont handle high volume bass at all. dial it in nicely using minimal gain on the amp. you want to drive your headunit reasonably hard, so you can keep the gain low on your amp. you don't want to have the headunit very low with the amplifier cranked.

The only issue I ran into when i wanted to amp all 4 was that there are only 2 RCA ports on the back of my HU, is this normal? if so how do i wire it up?

You can get RCA double adapters, pretty cheap.

Then you only run two channels. Id be more inclined to upgrade the hu to one with four preouts. They're pretty cheap. Then when you want to run an amp you can split the rear RCAs.

yeah I guess it is the better option, though I ran with a double adaptor for years (front speakers and sub on 2 chanels), once you set the gains on the amp you don't need to touch it again really.

Okay thanks :) any recommendations in the $150-$250range?

Dude for that you can get some good gear. Mine was $150 Kenwood , some cool features, practical, solid.

 

Personally if I was going for another one Id get something without a CD player and better MP3/docking/iPod options. I havent used a CD in years.

Or even get a cheapie, as you wont need to worry about the power output running the amp, and spend the rest on some good cables or splits. Id suggest losing the 4" and getting splits, made such an awesome improvement in my set up when I swapped. The bad bit is mounting them but its doable.

Where would you mount them? i really don't want to cut my doors for 6.5 + splits.