Yes, I know. I'm a very uneducated girl who knows very little about car audio. I just have a few questions that I'm sure everyone knows, but just school me on Audio 101, k guys?

1) Component speakers...it looks like two tweeters, two square looking things, a woofer and another speaker-like...thing. Do component speakers all go in the front, back, both? I only have four speakers right now...the two in the door and two next to the back seats.

2) I'm thoroughly confused on amps. Looking through a audio catalog I see 250W x 1, 75W x 4 or 200W x 2. 1,2,4 channels.
Ummm...

3) I've been reading and I have read a lot on leaving the two rear seat speakers alone...or just putting in 2-way speakers. So the components go just in the front two slots and the sub goes in the trunk along with the amp...?

See...lost and confused. Trying to read Crutchfield's little "info" and getting MORE confused. I'd take it to a audio shop but I'm sure it would be something like "Hey...girl in a Z...$$$"

Thanks guys! If there is a website that explains this stuff, I'm sure it would be easier than typing everything out.

 

www.crutchfield.com You will learn everytjhing you need to know there!

 

1. - Components - Generally a set of components will come with one woofer or mid-bass speaker which can range in size from 4inch up to 8inches. For our cars, you will need an oversized 6.5, sometimes called '6.5 S'. A '6.5 S' is actually 6.75 inches, which is the size of the speaker holes in our cars. The set will also come with a tweeter, and a crossover (the square things). What the crossover does is make sure the midbass plays the frequencies that it can play best (usually about 70Hz up to 2 or 2.5kHz), and makes sure the tweeter plays what it does best(usually 2.5kHz to around 20kHz).

2. - Amps - The most common amps are 4ch, 2ch, and 1ch mono amps. There are also 5ch and 6ch amps, but don't worry about those. Each channel plays one speaker, or in the case of a component set normally it will be one channel per midbass and tweeter set. So you would need at least a 2ch amp for a component set. The 1ch mono amps are for subs only. You will only need one of these whether you decide to have 1 or 2 subs in your car.

3. - Rear speakers - The best thing to do with the rear speakers as far as sound quality goes is to just take them out and forget you have holes for them back there. Think about this; when you go to a concert, where are the speakers? In a movie theatre, where are the speakers (forget about the surrounds that are all along the walls)? When you go somewhere to hear something, the speakers are always in front of you, never behind. The reason to use only the fronts is to maintain a proper soundstage and keep proper imaging. Think of the soundstage like this. If you go to a large auditorium with two stories of seats and you sit on the bottom, the sound will appear to come from in front of you. If you sit on the second floor, it would appear to come from below you. In a car, in a perfect set up, the music should sound like it's coming from over the dash. You might not be able to get the soundstage that high, but with a good component set you should get a good soundtage. Imaging is much more important. Imagine a symphony on a large stage. Violins on the left, cellos and bassist on the right, violas in the middle, and all the brass and drums behind that. When listening in person, if one instrument had a solo, you would be able to tell where it was coming from, (further up left, further up right, further up middle, further back left, further back right, further back middle). With proper imaging and soundstage in a car, you should be able to guess just the same where something is the same as you would guess if you were listening in person. Do you now understand why rear speakers would mess this up?


There is a whole lot more that could be explained, but it's better not to get in to it all at once. If you have a question, just post here and someone will answer. It will most likely be a better answer than you could read on Crutchfield. By the way, don't buy from them. They are overpriced. A good web site to look at is http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm However, a lot of that is more technical related, there's only a few articles for the beginning user. Like I said, your best bet is just to ask here.

 

every recording artist, every producer, director, etc... everyone that has anything to do with producing sound, listens to the sound they are working with, with HEADPHONES.

where is the sound coming from with headphones?

that right, in front of y..................

oh no wait, it isnt coming from in front of you... its coming from the sides...... just like in a 4 speaker car system........ weird

 

Well I used to be in your same position so I will try to help you out as best I can in terms you will understand because I know how it feels to be confused.

First, the component speakers come with a tweeter which is the really small one, and a mid range speaker for all your mid range sounds. The square box looking thing is a crossover which basically tells the audio where to go between the two. The tweeter and the mid range connect to the crossover and the crossover connects to the amp.

Rear speakers are the same thing basically, with the Camaros it seems ALOT of people usually don't hook up rear speakers. They just buy a nice set of components up front. I have all four speakers and only notice a small difference compared to having just two up front. It's your preference! I have NOT had a problem buying 6.5" speakers and fitting them. That is the size for both the front and rear. If you check out the electronics section on the ls1.com forums there is a nice faq there explaining alot of audio questions for your Camaro. Remember with components you have to find a place to mount the tweeter on a camaro. There is a guy named SSHevy who frequents the forums who sells custom made tweeter pods that fit behind the side mirrors. The tweeters also come with double sided sticky tape to mount to your dash if you need.

Talk to a guy named megabass, he owns subthump.com he can hook you up with a nice box for your Camaro at a GREAT price!

Now, amps. The channel thing is pretty easy, look at the RMS rating of the amp per channel to find out how much power it has or how loud it will be.

Think of it as each channel for each speaker. Remember, your components are hooked into a crossover ( that square thing ) and one wire going to your amp. So technically, if you had two component sets in front and two speakers in the back you would have four speakers and use a four channel amp.

Check the max RMS output of the speaker to see what kind of amp you need.

I have 4 Alpine Type R speakers in my car, they handle 50W RMS, so I have a 45W x 4 channel amp to power them. Seems simple eh?

As for your subs, usually it's best to go with a seperate amp for them. So if you have 2 10" subwoofers, I would look into a 2 channel amp. Remember that subs need much more power. In my ride I have 2 10" Alpine Type R subs that can handle 500W of power, I have a 450W x 2 amp powering them giving 450W to each speaker. This is just basic info, there are other things you can do like bridging and getting a large 1 channel amp to power two subs but I kept it basic, there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple.

I posted a thread over here with pictures of my install, you can see what I used in my Camaro. I would link the pics here but these forums don't support inline pictures and I hate to retype it all.

http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread...hreadid=155099

 

uhhhh I have listened to systems with really good soundstage and it still sounds like sound is missing from the back. I love the surround sound feel. I would have to agree to disagree about rear speakers not being important. They are great for midbass.

 

PERSONALLY I think the rears help complete the sound stage, and not filling them is just wrong to do, and sounds like crap. I build all my systems to certain specs and T's, and if you are making a full system you need a good set of compnents up front, and a nice strong mid-bass/2-way in back, and then a pair of good quik hit tight loud subs. bottom line.

 

Thank you so much guys for your replies! The amp channels and watts really helped. I think I'm pretty close to being up to speed now thanks to you all. I'm still a little unclear though on the component speakers though.

The component speaker set that I read about on another post was on the Alpine component set . I looked it up and its six pieces...two tweeters, two crossovers, and the other two I'm not sure of...maybe two woofers? If I go with the component set up front, the two speakers go into the holes where the stock speakers are, I'd have to find a place to mount the tweeters and I have no clue about the crossovers.


If I have it all correct, I have an amp powering the components and an amp powering the sub...rears aren't amped? BTW, is all this going to drain the power supply? I think I may just go with one sub...

 

Yes, the two other (bigger) speakers are woofers. They are not SUB-woofers like every body has, but they play in a "lower" frequency range then other speakers... so they are called woofers. Most people call them mids. Yes, you will have to find a spot for the tweeters. Most people say it is best to keep the tweet and mid as close together as possible, but I prefer them up higher. I drilled a hole in the plastic panel that runs from the windshield..up on the roof... to behind the drivers head. Put them up by the windshield. Love em' there. I have heard of people putting them in the sail panels too. (The triangle shaped pieces opposite the side mirrors) The crossovers you can just stuff under the dash. Then get a pair of co-axils for the back.
If you are just going to get one 10" or 12" subwoofer, then I would suggest getting a 5 or 6 channel amp. Use the 4 lower powered channels to power your 4 speakers inside (you power the crossover, which in turn powers the mid/tweet.... so you have "2" speakers up front) and use the other 1 channel (or 2 bridged) to power the sub. This will be the most cost effective way and the easiest on your electrical system. Although, you should have no worries with that. Our cars have a rather beefy alternators compared to a lot others.
Post back with your thoughts and I will help more.

 

In your case, since you don't have factory component speakers like in a Firebird, you might want to look into component speakers that have the tweeter mounted co-axially. These look a little like inexpensive co-axial speakers but are actually separates that are mounted co-axially with separate crossovers. This will eliminate the need to cut a hole in your door to mount the tweeters.

I wouldn't bother with rear speakers. Rear fill is NOT the same as surround sound. The rear channels need to have delay added to them for them to be truely surround sound. Just go with a sub and front speakers for now. Later on if you decide that you absolutely have to have rear speakers you can add them later and run them off of the power from the HU. No need to get another amp. If you do this I would recommend a mid-woofer only in back. No tweeters. Rear mounted tweeters will ruin a good front image by pulling that image toward the rear of the car. Band passing (blocking the bass and the treble) the rear mid-woofers will help to keep your imaging up front.

 

many HU's don't put out power after you have amps hooked up... so you couldn't really fill the back with the hu. I agree, get mids only in back, treb. in back is kinda useless.

 

Remember that even though components have a tweeter and a woofer they act as one speaker. I mounted my crossover inside the door, there is a lot of space in there to work with.

So if you have 2 components up front, 2 rear speakers and 2 subs you can do it with 2 amp.

A 4 channel amp for your four speakers and a 2 channel amp for your subs.

Here is a simple diagram on how you would wire them...

Say you have two amps,

Amp 1 is four channel
Amp 2 is two channel

Left Tweeter + Left Woofer ---> Left Crossover
Right Tweeter + Right Woofer ----> Right Crossover

Left Crossover to Amp1 channel 1
Right Crossover to Amp1 channel 2

Left rear speaker to Amp1 channel 3
Right rear speaker to Amp1 channel 4

Now your subs would go to Amp2

Left Subwoofer --> amp2 channel 1
Right Subwoofer --> amp2 channel 2

I have 2 alpine v12 expert amps on a stock battery and alternator, I have no problems.

 

You can do PLENTY with one sub. I have heard a 10" JL AUDIO (Dual Voice Coils is the KEY) hit like you would NOT believe. It's good that you are putting alot of thought into this.

Unless you want to compete in soundoff's 1 sub will be fine.

 

yeah... don't mount tweeters in the rear

 

I agree 100% with not putting tweeters in the back. Tweeter are VERY directional and WILL easily pull your sound stage back. However, I strongly am a firm believer in having rear speakers. Just a pair of 6.5" mid range speakers. I have tried both ways before and I personally like having some rear fill. You may not.
Also, if you plan on going with only 1 sub, I would STRONGLY recommend getting a 5 or 6 channel amp. Then you will need only one amp and will save some $$$. This will still give you plenty of power for your speakers. But if you plan on getting more then one sub, the two amp configuration would be the way to go because the 5 or 6 channel amp will probably not put out enough power to power both subs to way one would like.