amping speakers...worth it?
 

well today i replaced my(temporary...10 motnhs lol) 250 watt 4 chanall amp with a 750.. and now i have a 3 channell amp with nothing to do with it. sooo i was wondering how much of a difference it makes you have the speakers amped.. and how to go about this..

run a wire from the head unit>amp>door speakers?

i do believe its that easy, but i may be wrong lol

OMG, it makes a huge difference! My soon-to-be-installed setup uses a Rockford Fosgate headunit that requires you to amp the speakers...and it is so much better than the stock (obviously) and regular headunits...you can really crank the music! Just watch so you don't blow your speakers by using too powerful of an amp!

The way mine works is you run RCAs from the head unit to the amp, then run speaker wire from there to either 1. the speakers themselves, or 2. the wiring harness behind the headunit. I did it the second way in my old car as it was easier than running all new wires to the four doors. I may however do it differently this go-round.

It is pretty easy. Hardest thing about it is running the wire from your doors to your amp. And thats not even hard at all.

Do It! running the wires isnt bad at all! Its sooo worth it! speakers distort without enought wattage whether you notice it or not. about 80% of aftermarket speakers need to be amped in order to produce quality sound. amps are not just for loudness like ppl like to think. if your amp is a little too big then turn the gain down to compensate. so long as the amp isnt overly powerful your speakers will be fine.

yes running it to the existing wiring in the truck is easier but you have to remember that the pre-existing wiring isn't meant to be amplified from an external amp. could create problems down the road possibly melted wires or even a fire. always run heavier gauge wire when dealing with external amps

best damn thing i ever did in my system.
just be careful of where you route ur wires, keep the power away from the speaker wire...other wise u'll get MASSIVE alternator whine lol

I would rather have amplified speakers over a subwoofer any day.

I am looking for an amp for my truck and was wondering how big of an amp i will need. My front's have a peak power of 250w and rear 200w. Therefore would I ideally Want a 900 or 1000 watt amp so each speaker can get it's it's maximum wattage? I am not sure how this works...

You want to match your RMS power ratings of your amp and speakers. Forget about peak power ratings which are an inaccurate rating of the amps true power output. say your speakers are rated for 75 watts RMS to properly power them you would need an amp that produces 65 - 85 watts RMS for best sound. If you are going to buy a 4 channel amp for two different sets of speakers then you would buy the amp that powers the more power hungry set and then use your fade and gain controls to reduce the signals to the lower powered set. buy two separate amps if the RMS rating is radically different between the two sets.

I always think its funny when someone tells me they have a 5,000w amp and a 10,000 watt sub when in reality its a cheap ass 100w RMS amp and a terribly inefficient 300w RMS sub. Im thinking ... 10,000 watts really, how many alternators are you running and how many batteries do you have.

well my rear's are boston acoustic sl80s with an rms power range of 2-60w and my fronts are clarion srq5730c's with an rms of 55w so I will ideally want a 250'ish? watt amp with approximately 55w from each of the 4 channels? It's kind of sad how little I know about audio but im doing what i can to learn...

You gotta start somewhere!

ok... so on a 2 channel amp, i would put my lefts on one channel and rights on another... or fronts and rears? and also, do i need to buy a dual-amp wiring kit since i hanly have one set of RCA's in the back of my head unit

btw, i ahve a MTX thunder amp, which is the one in question
MTX Car Audio - Thunder282 Amplifier

i thought it was 4 channel, oops

It is up to you. If I were you, I'd do fronts-backs.

no, that wouldn't be necessary unless you were going to use (2) 2-channel amps to power all four of your speakers. If you are just gonna use (1) 2-channel to power your 4 speakers, that would only require 1 set of RCAs.

i already have a 700 going to my sub, though. i am clueless on amps, i just got to the point where i know how to install MINE and basically how they work...

Ah, i misread earlier...so you are looking to have two amps: the first running your sub, and the 2nd running your door speakers?

If so, then you need to find some 2->1 RCAs or some kind or RCA splitter I think.

there is normally RCA pass through (Output) on most amps so you won't need that splitter

now that you mention it, i think you are right...i haven't seen an amp in so long, i forgot they have outputs... nice catch!:biggthump

Do you guys know of a good how to for running the wires in a 2 door extended cab? ive been searching but came up with nothing.

i got 3 amps in the truck 1 for the speakers and i have to say i have never once felt regret towards going that way.

Never amp factory speakers. If there aftermarket, findout the power rating in RMS power for the set of speakers. If its all four then obviously add the two together to find out your total RMS rating. An aftermarket head unit will put out anywhere from 45x4 to 54x4Watts Peak power per speaker. That would be about half that in RMS which would be your constant flow of power. If you need more power in a ranger then I would say a 4 channel amp so you can drive each speaker. But, the 6x8 speakers they put in rangers arent a large enough size to really need any extra juice. As for how to wire them. Wire the amp like you would any other speaker. Power to Batt, Ground your negative to somewhere on the chassis and run your remote wire to your deck. Then, depending on how much power your running, you may want to change your wire gauges for both the power, ground, and speaker wire.