amp question.....

[paxton350]

ok im not too much of an audio person but all i have in my car now for tunes is a new eclipse cd2000 deck with pioneer speakers... i can barely hear anything from it and when i turn it up full blast it still sucks... im getting an alarm installed soon and was thinking of grabbing an amp too. i dont want a sub or anthying of the sort, subs are heavy ugly and retarded..... i mean i should be able to hear some nice crisp sound if i wired up an amp right?

[DJ Taso]

ok im not too much of an audio person but all i have in my car now for tunes is a new eclipse cd2000 deck with pioneer speakers... i can barely hear anything from it and when i turn it up full blast it still sucks... im getting an alarm installed soon and was thinking of grabbing an amp too. i dont want a sub or anthying of the sort, subs are heavy ugly and retarded..... i mean i should be able to hear some nice crisp sound if i wired up an amp right?

The stock stereo's on our cars from '93 - '96 came with the standard 300 watt amps. The '97's - '02's came with monsoon (500 watt). When my car was stock, I compared my stereo to my brother's '97 Formula (when he had it at the time) and I could tell the difference. So yeah, bumping those watts up will make a big difference.

[Jeanius]

ok im not too much of an audio person but all i have in my car now for tunes is a new eclipse cd2000 deck with pioneer speakers... i can barely hear anything from it and when i turn it up full blast it still sucks... im getting an alarm installed soon and was thinking of grabbing an amp too. i dont want a sub or anthying of the sort, subs are heavy ugly and retarded..... i mean i should be able to hear some nice crisp sound if i wired up an amp right?

what do you mean by it sucks, its not loud enough or its not clear?

[toddwirges]

Did your car have a bose system? If so then there is some more homework to be done, something might not be hooked up correctly.

But... a 94 Z28 probably just had a simple, straightforward 4 ohm, 4 speaker system with no amp, driven off the old style Delco radio. These were before the times of monsoons. If you didn't have a bose setup, this is what you had.

People are often disappointed with the sound quality of aftermarket speakers when they are driven off of an integrated deck amp, because they expect much better volume and bass, and this is not always the case.

In your case, the sound should be better than stock, if not so much for bass, at least in treble, midrange, and clarity. If it is not, something isn't right.

What pioneer speakers did you get?

[fastTa]

Eclipse makes one of the best head units out there, but the CD 2000 only puts out 14 watts RMS per channel. That is barely enough to drive even factory speakers. That head unit is really designed to be a passive unit to be used with amps for your components and subs.

And even the best head units aren't really designed to utilize their built in amp. It is there just in case people don't use separate amps.

It's got 5V pre-amp outputs, so that will be pretty good with an amp. An external amp will definitely wake up your Pioneer's!

[paxton350]

well it has 4 coaxial speakers as well as a 6x9 in the hatch area... as far as the sound sucking i meant that when i turn it up while the motor is running the sound isnt loud like it needs that extra mmmmfhhhh say from an amp... also im not sure if it had a bose system or not.... as i dont have the factory radio... like i said i dont really know too much about sound lol but if its an amp yall think she needs then what are some of the better/economical choices i could find say at circuit city/best buy? something 4 channelish with like 500 watts decent?

[Jeanius]

Hmm, i think its the amp, when coaxial speakers are amped they are LOUD, What kind of amp is it? Who hooked it up and do you know what size wires they used for the speakers? Check the gain ont he amp, maybe its not up that high. If your lookin to upgrade, for both LOUDness and clarity, I have had nothing but great experiences with alpine component systems speakers, you can get a pair on ebay for 100. Phoenix Gold makes some very good 4 channel amps, but are kinda expensive. Ive learned that in the car audio world, you get what you pay for unless you know someone Be careful if you go into a privatly owned stereo shop, all of them in my area will try to sell your crap and then rape you on the install, a 1000 watt amp for 200 bucks, yea right!

EDIT
I just thought of something, are you running 6 speakers to a 4 channel amp??? If so thats where your problems are

[toddwirges]

If you have a 94 Z28, and you have 6x9's in the hatch area, then your car was originally a Bose system. That means all your wiring is goofy and it's really hard telling what exactly has happened to get to your current state.

I suspect, that improper installation has something to do with why your sound is bad, especially if you are still getting sound out of the 6x9 speakers. That means the head unit is trying to drive too many speakers, and the bose 6x9's are a goofy impedance if I remember correctly. I know the monsoon systems very well but not the bose ones, sorry. I think there is a chance they are very high impedance, meaning having them hooked up to your eclipse deck could literally be killing the amp output. You might see improvement just unhooking them. (the 6x9's).

If you are not on a very tight budget, at this point I'd recommend going to a shop and getting setup with:

- A modest 50rms x4 4 channel amp to power your four pioneer speakers
- Proper install with the RCA's from the Eclipse feeding the amp, and the amp wired new to the speakers.
- Ditch the factory 6x9's alltogether.

This is a very simple job, though the charges might vary alot from shop to shop. The problem is you need to go somewhere you can work with so they don't try to take shortcuts or piggyback on the bose system wiring. You have to trust that they will figure out what the hell has been done to your car and set it up right.

The important part is that you need someone to run fully independent wiring from all of that existing Bose wiring. Think of it as a clean istall.

- Radio install (already done)
- RCA's to new amp (probably not done)
- Power, ground, turn-on to new amp (definitely not done)
- New speaker wires from amp to the 4 new pioneers (definitely not done)

That's what you need to have happen. I'd highly recommend finding a buddy who knows the stuff and have him help you. You can save 40% off the amp by buying it online, and the installation is really not bad. Easily done in an afternoon, if you have someone who knows what needs to happen.

You could do this for well under $200 on your own. Going to a shop your probably looking at $300-400. Cradle to grave, maybe a 4 hour job, even for a newbie. Definitely worth the savings.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

There is a lot is good and bad information here.

I have a 95 with the Bose and it has 4 6 3/4" speakers plus 1 6 3/4" sub in the left rear. The parts list shows the 94 Bose the same way.

The parts lists only shows 4 6 3/4"s on the non Bose system. Were the hatch 6X9s added? If they were they probably have external speaker grills.

All of the Bose systems have remote mounted amps. The door speakers have the amp on the speakers. The rear seat speakers have a single housing with 2 amps plus a crossover and a sub amp. I don't know where the amp is but I think it's built into the sub woofer housing.

I'm not sure if the non Bose system has remote mounted amps.

The question that has to be answered is does it have remote mounted amps or not. My guess is no and that the 14 watts out of the head unit is no where near enough power for the speakers.

My personal opinion is you don't need hundreds of watts to make good sound. I used to run a Kenwood 25 watt per channel 4 channel amp and it would push 110 db. That's more than enough to make my ears ring permanently.

What is the model number or the speaker wattage? Match the amp to that rating. It sounds like you have an unusual setup though. I've never heard of someone running 6 speakers like that. If it were me I would get some 6X9 subs and a 2 channel amp replacing the 6X9s and run the 4 6 3/4s with a 4 channel amp.

Now for the cheaper way you are going to need 6 channels or 4 channels with enough wattage to run one rear parallel with 1 of the 6X9s. You have a lot of options here and it would take forever to go through them all.