6-speaker system for trike

[mimoose]

Hello! I am an building a cargo trike and want to build a 6 speaker audio system into the design.
I want to design/build a system that will give me good quality sound in my personal space, if you follow me. I am not interested in bass that people in their houses can hear as I ride by like so many cars have,. just a 3-6 foot radius of sound around my bike is what i would like.

I learned something about basic electronics back in the nineties, otherwise I know nothing about hi-fi audio. I am posting this in car audio forum because i figured i am using 12 volts. a li-po battery. the battery will have other accessories on it as well, ie headlight, horn, computer, etc. I a
other features
+ since its a trike/bicycle it will have to be water resistant/marine type speakers
+2 woofers, 2 midrange, 2 tweeters.( i guess that will give me a good range of sound.)
+ I thought i could embed a couple of speakers in fiberglass seat I am building.


where do I start? do I need a channel for each speaker? can i make waterproof speaker cones? all i know is that speakers need a amplifier. thanks!

[Cr@sh]

You can run a single four channel amp or even get a 5-channel amp and it can run up to two speakers on each channel. Something like THIS will work just fine. A good deep cycle battery like THISwill last a lot longer then normal car batteries. just make sure you get 4ohm voice coil speakers and your good to go.

[caraudiobum]

Any particular reason why you want 2 subs? If you like the looks, ok, but for your purposes I would suggest spending the money on one sub. Just a suggestion.

That seller on ebay doesn't appear to be trustworthy. At one point they claim it is an 1800 watt amp... then later it says 900w RMS, then 1200w, then later 1100 MAX, then after that it says 1100 RMS. On top of that, it is a 12v amp with 3x 30 amp fuses (90 amps), for a total maximum theoretical output (at 100% efficiency, which is impossible) of 1060 watts, so it wont get near its stated output power, whichever the intended value is. All that screams cheap amp and a seller who is obviously trying to mislead buyers. I strongly suggest that you don't purchase that.

You'll be much better off buying a quality amp from a reputable reseller. A quality 1200w RMS amp will cost much more than that (2x+), without any wires and whatnot. Always look to see if the rated wattage is CEA2006 certified. That is the baseline for an amp that will at least meet its stated specs. High quality amps, however, come with birth sheets, which prove that the amp you just bought not only meets stated specs, but shows you by how much it exceeds them.

Just be careful. There is a lot of blatantly false advertising when it comes to amplifiers. Pay no attention at all to "MAX", "Peak" or other similar wattage ratings (often printed on boxes, faceplates, or heatsinks). These values are meaningless "fluffery". Only RMS ratings matter. Even then, only CEA certified or birthsheet-proven RMS ratings are reliable. Otherwise, the RMS ratings are just as meaningless as MAX ratings. Whatever you decide on, remember that you get what you pay for.

OK, that aside. You don't need a channel for each speaker, and you don't sound like you want a loud system. I would suggest that you get component speakers. That way you don't need an external crossover, and would only need a 2.1 channel amp, or a 2 channel amp and a monoblock sub amp.

[Cr@sh]

Originally Posted by caraudiobum

Any particular reason why you want 2 subs? If you like the looks, ok, but for your purposes I would suggest spending the money on one sub. Just a suggestion.

That seller on ebay doesn't appear to be trustworthy. At one point they claim it is an 1800 watt amp... then later it says 900w RMS, then 1200w, then later 1100 MAX, then after that it says 1100 RMS. On top of that, it is a 12v amp with 3x 30 amp fuses (90 amps), for a total maximum theoretical output (at 100% efficiency, which is impossible) of 1060 watts, so it wont get near its stated output power, whichever the intended value is. All that screams cheap amp and a seller who is obviously trying to mislead buyers. I strongly suggest that you don't purchase that.

You'll be much better off buying a quality amp from a reputable reseller. A quality 1200w RMS amp will cost much more than that (2x+), without any wires and whatnot. Always look to see if the rated wattage is CEA2006 certified. That is the baseline for an amp that will at least meet its stated specs. High quality amps, however, come with birth sheets, which prove that the amp you just bought not only meets stated specs, but shows you by how much it exceeds them.

Just be careful. There is a lot of blatantly false advertising when it comes to amplifiers. Pay no attention at all to "MAX", "Peak" or other similar wattage ratings (often printed on boxes, faceplates, or heatsinks). These values are meaningless "fluffery". Only RMS ratings matter. Even then, only CEA certified or birthsheet-proven RMS ratings are reliable. Otherwise, the RMS ratings are just as meaningless as MAX ratings. Whatever you decide on, remember that you get what you pay for.

OK, that aside. You don't need a channel for each speaker, and you don't sound like you want a loud system. I would suggest that you get component speakers. That way you don't need an external crossover, and would only need a 2.1 channel amp, or a 2 channel amp and a monoblock sub amp.

So you suggest he spend 1200 on a Sundown amp? it's for a trike, he's not competing with it. He doesn't need 1200rms. I used those sellers as examples. He can buy from Woofersetc.com the online car audio super store, the largest selection at the lowest prices! Car Audio Stereo - Car Subwoofers - Car Amplifiers and Speakers and plenty of others.

[caraudiobum]

1. No. 2. I used that wattage range as an example because you suggested it.

He can buy good quality used amps instead of crap new ones. My post was mostly geared toward informing him. Knowledge is power. If you don't respect that, very well. If he spends $200 on a new amp expecting 1800w, and only gets 500, would he not be better off buying a better quality used 2.1 channel amp with more watts for the same price? I purchased my last 1200w rms jbl amp from ebay used for $200 shipped, so yeah, it is doable. There is a huge supply off high quality used amps out there. And that is if price is an issue. He can always buy new. But I never recommend anyone to consider anything that has false or misleading advertising.

And I understand that you were not recommending the seller, but only suggesting a type of amp. My only suggestions about his setup were using a single sub (instead of two), and two component speakers, instead of having separate mids and tweets. I don't know enough about 'trikes' to really go further without pics and more info.

[Cr@sh]

Originally Posted by caraudiobum

1. No. 2. I used that wattage range as an example because you suggested it.

He can buy good quality used amps instead of crap new ones. My post was mostly geared toward informing him. Knowledge is power. If you don't respect that, very well. If he spends $200 on a new amp expecting 1800w, and only gets 500, would he not be better off buying a better quality used 2.1 channel amp with more watts for the same price? I purchased my last 1200w rms jbl amp from ebay used for $200 shipped, so yeah, it is doable. There is a huge supply off high quality used amps out there. And that is if price is an issue. He can always buy new. But I never recommend anyone to consider anything that has false or misleading advertising.

And I understand that you were not recommending the seller, but only suggesting a type of amp. My only suggestions about his setup were using a single sub (instead of two), and two component speakers, instead of having separate mids and tweets. I don't know enough about 'trikes' to really go further without pics and more info.

If he buys a used amp as you suggest, he gets no warranty with. Bad idea. Once again, I used those sellers and amps for that matter as an example. I do know enough about trikes as I have been lowriding for twenty years and I know exactly what he's looking to do. Most if not all newer amps come from korea/china and yes people on ebay used peak ratings which are useless. Again- Example.

[mimoose]

thank you very much for responding! every sentence has given me new insights and information on a field i know nothing about. what i really want to do is find good circuit design and build, test and design as much of my system as possible instead of simply buying components. i really dont know what i am doing and want to learn to make as good as system as possible with as little time as money as possible, but i also want to learn the basic principles of audio design. learning is as important to my project as the final result. i am hoping i can build quality if i cant pay for it.
is its so difficult to build from scratch your own amp and speakers?i will do the research, if it's too complicated and expensive to build I will just buy the components. right now I dont understand 2.1 channel amp, or a monoblock sub amps

thanks for explaining the importance of RMS ratings- i am completely lost with the what is a good wattage rating.
you are right, i dont want a really loud system and the 26lb battery listed might be too heavy for my trike, which will be about 150lbs as it is.

Originally Posted by Cr@sh

You can run a single four channel amp or even get a 5-channel amp and it can run up to two speakers on each channel. Something like THIS will work just fine. A good deep cycle battery like THIS will last a lot longer then normal car batteries. just make sure you get 4ohm voice coil speakers and your good to go.

Originally Posted by caraudiobum

Any particular reason why you want 2 subs? If you like the looks, ok, but for your purposes I would suggest spending the money on one sub. Just a suggestion.

That seller on ebay doesn't appear to be trustworthy. At one point they claim it is an 1800 watt amp... then later it says 900w RMS, then 1200w, then later 1100 MAX, then after that it says 1100 RMS. On top of that, it is a 12v amp with 3x 30 amp fuses (90 amps), for a total maximum theoretical output (at 100% efficiency, which is impossible) of 1060 watts, so it wont get near its stated output power, whichever the intended value is. All that screams cheap amp and a seller who is obviously trying to mislead buyers. I strongly suggest that you don't purchase that.

You'll be much better off buying a quality amp from a reputable reseller. A quality 1200w RMS amp will cost much more than that (2x+), without any wires and whatnot. Always look to see if the rated wattage is CEA2006 certified. That is the baseline for an amp that will at least meet its stated specs. High quality amps, however, come with birth sheets, which prove that the amp you just bought not only meets stated specs, but shows you by how much it exceeds them.

Just be careful. There is a lot of blatantly false advertising when it comes to amplifiers. Pay no attention at all to "MAX", "Peak" or other similar wattage ratings (often printed on boxes, faceplates, or heatsinks). These values are meaningless "fluffery". Only RMS ratings matter. Even then, only CEA certified or birthsheet-proven RMS ratings are reliable. Otherwise, the RMS ratings are just as meaningless as MAX ratings. Whatever you decide on, remember that you get what you pay for.

OK, that aside. You don't need a channel for each speaker, and you don't sound like you want a loud system. I would suggest that you get component speakers. That way you don't need an external crossover, and would only need a 2.1 channel amp, or a 2 channel amp and a monoblock sub amp.

[Cr@sh]

Car Alarm, Car Stereo, Mobile Video, and Cruise Control Info for Installers can help a lot. Also Perry Babin's website Basic Car Audio Electronics

[Cr@sh]

Also I'm sorry I didn't go into to detail as far as RMS and the like. I get tired of posting all that stuff only to have the OP say they just wanted suggestions and didn't want to learn anything. Good luck to ya

[caraudiobum]

By 2.1 channel I mean a full-range stereo amplifier that also has a powered sub output, with a built-in variable crossover. A monoblock amplifier is just a single channel amplifier for subwoofers. They often have built-in crossovers, but many prefer to bypass it and use an external crossover.

If you are considering building your own amplifiers, I won't be able to help, as I am also clueless. However, you will probably be better off deciding what you want in a system, then researching what it would take to design and build the components. Once that's done you should be able to make your make or buy decision. I imagine speakers would be much harder than amplifiers and crossovers, though, and you might decide to buy some parts and build others. With electronics, you buy components and put them together... with speaker building, there would probably be some manufacturing involved. Building a single amplifier might be too daunting... you may want to consider building a separate amplifier (3 total) and whatnot for each speaker.