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n00b Stereo questions - HELP NEEDED!

Jordan

New member
Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Location
Tacoma, WA
Alright guys I have a new daily driver and the stereo could better. The car in question is a 2000 Saab Viggen 5 door with six speakers.

(2) 3.5" speakers in the dash board
(2) 6.5" speakers in the front door panels
(2) 6x9 speakers in the rear deck/cargo area

I replaced the rear speakers last night with some Kenwood 5-way 6x9s hoping for a bit more thump --- I come to realize after installation that the Saab amp filters out low frequency signals to the rear speakers. They sound better but there is literally NO bass.

I have matching Kenwood speakers for the other locations on the way. I also already have a Kenwood 8" slim subwoofer, Kenwood 720w amp, and a Kenwood x997 deck.

My questions are;

-Is the 720w amp big enough to run six speakers of the listed sizes and the sub?
-Are there any other components that I am missing?
-Is there a better way to run six speakers and a small sub than using what I have?
 
Which kenwood amp is it?
You're going to want to be able to filter all three sets of speakers. That head unit isn't going to let you do more than four speakers so I would get some frequency filters for the 3.5" speakers.

Post pics of the car. I love me some SAAB story action.
 
I would go for a new head unit as well. Spoils the look of the dash...however, tuning the system would be much easier that way.
 
I wouldn't buy that. I have a nice older Alpine 5-channel amp that you would be more than happy with. $100 for you and it will blow the capacitors off that lame Kenwood piece.
 
It's an MRV-F357. I also have a bunch of ancillaries to get rid of along with it (Head unit, speakers, wiring, subs).
 
I take it your ears aren't crazy sensitive and you're on a relative budget so here's what I propose:
Send back the Kenwood amp, use Harald's.
Wire the four main speakers and the sub to the amp.
The Pioneer's are not going to have quite the same sound but that's ok based on my previous statement. Install these: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_127BB600A2/Bass-Blockers-600-Hz-cut-off.html and wire the Pioneers directly to the head unit.
Then setup your Kenwood HU properly. You have time delay, speaker size, etc that you get to set. Put your crossover settings for 100Hz for everything. That should get you going.
All of the crossover settings on the amp should be off. Bass boost, all that BS. You can lookup how to set the gain properly.
 
It's 60W per channel RMS, and only 4 channel. You would need a separate amp and wiring to power a subwoofer...and it's a cheap amp, so the sound quality won't be stellar, despite the advertised output numbers.
 
I take it your ears aren't crazy sensitive and you're on a relative budget so here's what I propose:
Send back the Kenwood amp, use Harald's.
Wire the four main speakers and the sub to the amp.
The Pioneer's are not going to have quite the same sound but that's ok based on my previous statement. Install these: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_127BB600A2/Bass-Blockers-600-Hz-cut-off.html and wire the Pioneers directly to the head unit.
Then setup your Kenwood HU properly. You have time delay, speaker size, etc that you get to set. Put your crossover settings for 100Hz for everything. That should get you going.
All of the crossover settings on the amp should be off. Bass boost, all that BS. You can lookup how to set the gain properly.

Pretty much this

So what exactly makes the amp I have so bad? Not trying to defend it, I am just curious.

The amp is only a 2 channel. It just can't work for an amp and 6 speakers. Idealy you want a 7 channel with some funky surround sound head unit but that doesn't exist. So you wire speakers to left and right and bridge a channel for a sub. Perosnally I'm not a fan of using 1 amp for subs and speakers becuase it can be tricky and you lose fader control. But its cheaper than 2 amps. There's also 5 channel amps out there but they're usually the same price as two amps becuase they just glue two amps together all call it a day.
 
It's 60W per channel RMS, and only 4 channel. You would need a separate amp and wiring to power a subwoofer...and it's a cheap amp, so the sound quality won't be stellar, despite the advertised output numbers.

Well said Harald. Your amp is also 60W RMS but also does 150W RMS @ 4 OHM for the 5th channel which is perfect for the sub.
 
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