Dylan Siracusan

I have an 82 GSL I wanted to replace my sound system.. I've been reading around on multiple forums and I can't figure out for the life of me how to match the wattage of my speakers to my amp. I have a 600w amp and I want to replace the 4 speakers and have a subwoofer. Any help is appreciated

Also what size are the front and rear speakers? I measured 3.5 and 6 but I heard 4 and 6.5?

RGHTBrainDesign

Okay, you're pretty confused already, let me try and help.

Your factory sound system is a 4" front speaker in the kickpanels, 6.5" rear speaker in the back hatch area, 2x 2 channel amplifiers, and most likely an equalizer/balancer/fader of some kind.

You have a 600w amplifier? I'm assuming it's some Maxxsonics Chinese thing with 600w MAX rating? Is it a single channel (Mono Block) or 4 channel?

You don't need to match "wattage of your speakers to your amp". More power = less chance of blowing up your setup. Distortion is what kills speakers, not too much power. Your dirty amp isn't ideal, but it's likely a class AB, and WILL work.

Subwoofer needs an amplifier and a signal coming off of the radio (it doesn't have RCAs, so you'll be grabbing it from a dirtier source). What subwoofer do you have? Give me the part # if you don't understand how to read it. :P

Speakers that I would suggest are Hertz, Audison, CDT Audio, Audiofrog, Hybrid-Audio, and Phoenix Gold.

A good rule of thumb in audio system design is to "stage" the system in which the sound protrudes from a singular point in front of you by means of time alignment, speaker positioning, and speaker selection. A 6.5" will overpower your little 4"s in the front, so I'd fade them with 1/3rd the power...just as an idea.

We can go over more details once we figure out your budget and speaker selection.

Are you considering upgrading the headunit as well? It would make the amplifier integration easier. Otherwise, I'd say to skip the subwoofer and amplifier all together and just drop in speakers (the factory amps are pretty good at around 25w RMS of relatively clean power).

Dylan Siracusan

Here is what I have.

Deck: Kenwood KDC-x396
Amp: Rockford Fosgate Punch 201s
Front Speakers: Rockford Fosgate R14X2
Rear Speakers: Pioneer TSD1602R
Subwoofer: Rockford Fosgate Punch P3 P3SD212

If amp and/or deck needs to be upgraded that is fine the rest of the was bought recently and pulled from my old car.

RGHTBrainDesign

So you've already removed the factory headunit, amplifiers, and plan on replacing those speakers.

Gotcha.

The headunit you have has 6ch @ 2V each. Not ideal, but it'll work if you decide to run two amps. The integrated amp on those Excelon units is pretty good. A solid 14-18w RMS and decently clean. I'd run the rear speakers off that power and be plenty happy with that.
The amplifier you have is an old school 2ch x 50w RMS, which could be run on the FRONT channels.

Your front and rear speakers are coaxials. They'll work.

What kind of enclosure were you planning to use with that large of a subwoofer in this car? What amplifiers have you looked at to power that subwoofer? Alpine V-Power should be similar budget to the rest of the system.

Power Wire.
RCAs.
Speaker Wire.

RGHTBrainDesign

Here's the configuration I'd run:

8ga Fused Power setup to your 2ch Amplifier, which will be getting 2 RCAs from your headunit and sending power to the FRONT 4" speakers.

Headunit power (integrated amplifier) to power rear 6.5" speakers.

That amplifier is really limiting you, but I'm not sure you're ready to jump into audiophile grade hardware either. :\

Dylan Siracusan

The amp is a fused 8ga wire already. I would prefer to run the entire system off one amp if u have any affordable recommendations Ill get it. As for the sub box I built a wood box to fit into the spare tire well and be secured by the spare tire bolt (very sturdy)

RGHTBrainDesign

So an up-firing 12" in that configuration? Did you plan on running a grill over the sub? What is the estimated cubic space? Thickness of wood? Did you seal the seams?

I think you should run a mini-amp behind the headunit for the speakers (Alpine KTP-445U) and a dedicated 500w RMS amp for the subwoofer. This should have 4ga to get the most out of it.

Dylan Siracusan

Any recommendation for a dedicated amp for the the sub?

RGHTBrainDesign

Like I already said, Alpine V-Power would be plenty.

Dylan Siracusan

Got both of those waiting on an enclosure to ship in the mail then ill bolt everything up decided to go with a small angled sub box should fit in nicely. Will screw box to a sheet of wood that will be bolted in the hatch.

RGHTBrainDesign

Nice work! Is the wedge style box still going to be top-firing? Or is it going to be back-firing? Both are great!