Upgrading stock amplifier after new speaker install...

[Skuza]

(I moved this post from another thread to gain some traffic)
I am thinking of upgrading the factory amp now after installing the new 6.5" Polk Momo's and 10" sub. 6.5" are rated for 80 watts RMS and sub 300RMS. I know they HAVE to be suffocating on the factory amp but they don't sound too bad.
Here is how our factory setup is wired. The four cockpit 6.5's are paralleled off of channels 1 & 2. The sub is bridged off of channels 4 & 5. Amp is stock 160w clarion.
When I looked up a new higher powered amp on Clarion's website they showed a wiring diagram for our setup and it was not the same. They had the four speakers each on their own seperate channel and the sub bridged off of two of the 6.5 channels. Strange? If I upgraded the amp I would wire it the same way and hope it sounded ok.
I have a question though. Where do you run the new power supply wire if you increase the size of the wire? Is there a large junction box somewhere that you could tie into or do you have to run it all the way to the batteries? Our factory amp has two seperate power and ground wires that look like 10 guage? I don't understand that either!
Tell me why the factory wires the speakers the way they do?
Tell me if the two factory installed 10guage wires would be sufficient for a higher powered amp?
What is the effective overall power wire size if your using 2 10 gauge wires?

 

[HavingFun]

This is from the Crutchfield Site
You must ascertain the approximate current draw (in amperes) of your amplifier (or amplifiers). First, calculate the total power of each amp (multiply the number of channels by the number of RMS watts per channel). If you have multiple amps, add up the total power figures to arrive at a grand total. Second, double your grand total power figure. And, finally, divide by 13.8 — the result is your system's approximate current draw in amperes. Here is a link to their chart to determine the gauge.
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/cable_gauge_chart.html

I am planning a new amp install and would like to hear the answers to your questions. Are you saying that with a 4 channel amp that 2 of the channels are connected to 2 speakers and the sub?

 

[HavingFun]

(I moved this post from another thread to gain some traffic)

Have you got an answer yet?

 

[Dafinman]

Very Helpful website. More than you ever wanted to know and has interactive calulators for determining wire size, fuze size, ohm resistance. WOW! look under wiring for your question on how much you can run on a 10 guage wire. http://www.bcae1.com/

Also bridging the sub of the same channel as two of the mains does not sound like a good idea. Sounds like a 1.5 ohm load and not many amps are capable of that. I may be wrong on the ohms check the website. But even less appealing is the frequency to the sub. High pass, low pass, full range? you would probably have to put an inline filter on both the sub (filter out highs) and the mains(filter out lows). Not a good idea!

 

[Sorrento 25]

I highly recommend a 5 channel amp. Here are some.

 

[Skuza]

I stopped by a local car audio store today and advised them on my setup and they said that parallelling my 4 speakers off of 2 channels is fine. Also he said I should be fine with the factory plumbed dual 10guage wires. I know larger wire will help but for now I should be ok. I'm gonna try it and see what it sounds like before I buy 35ft of 4 guage wire! (pos and neg!)

 

[NateRW21]

I would recommend a 5 channel amp as well. Or if this isn't an option, a 4 channel amp and a mono-block (single channel) or 2-channel bridgeable to 1 channel.

Wiring... I would either remove your old power wire, or unhook it from its supply and leave in place. Depending on amp size, run your power wire directly from your battery; the ground can go to the battery or engine. For what I'm assuming will be the ballpark of wattage you'll be running, I'd install 4ga wire.

Wiring the speakers; 16ga speaker wire is the smallest size you should go. 12 or 10 for your subs. If you set yourself up so you're running a channel for each speaker (in your case, this would be ideal situation), then it's too easy. When you start getting into wiring two speakers on one channel you start dealing with impedance increase or decrease which will not only effect the wattage your amp will put out (higher impedance decreases the watts your amp will supply, lower impedance increases the watts), but also the stability of your amp at a specific load.

 

[douglee25]

4ga wire for a small system on a boat is totally overkill. Totally overkill!! If you were running a competition system in a car then run 4ga. If you're just playing tunes on the weekend and want some reinforced sound, 4ga just isn't necessary.

Doug

 

[Skuza]

How about this idea that I've got for setting up the amps. I was thinking instead of using the new amp to drive all 5 speakers I would use both old and new amp. I would use the new amp 110W x 4 @ 4ohms to drive the 6.5's and then use the old amp 100w x 2 to power the sub only. The only thing is I'm not gaining anything for the sub since it would be set up the same way it is now, just wouldn't have the load of the 4 small speakers running off of it. Or would the sub gain something??

Here are the speakers:
4 6.5" Polk Momos- 80W RMS
1 10" Polk Momo sub- 300W RMS

Here are the amps:
Clarion APA4160 40W x 4 @ 4ohms or 100W x 2 @ 4ohms
Clarion APX490M 110W x 4 @ 4ohms or 150W x 4 @ 2ohms

Anyone think of a better way to set this up and maybe use the old amp?

 

[Water U Lookin' At]

Hey there - just saw this thread - I'm having trouble rewiring my cockpit speakers from the old 2 cv amp to the new 4 ch amp. Can anyone tell me how to wire the speakers in parallel on the 4 ch amp? Which speakers are paralleled with each other. The arch speakers arent shown the schematic in the owners manual. Thanks in advance!!