I'd like to bi-amp my four 2-way speakers with one 4 channel amp. My idea is to parallel left front and rear tweeters, left front and rear woofers, right front and rear tweeters and right front and rear woofers. This would give me four 2ohms loads to drive.
The amp I'd like to use is Orion Cobalt 430. It's a 4 channel amp, bridgeable to 2 channels. I assume since it's bridgeable, each of the bridged channels would see 2ohms with a 4ohms speaker. So am ok to use each of 4 channels with 2 ohms load then?
Another question is: with 4 ohm load at a power X amp provides Y ammount of current, but with a 2 ohm load at power X it would be approx 2*Y. Is it ok to assume with 2 ohm load at power 1/2X i'll have Y ammout of current? Thus making 2 ohm load a safe load for the amp as long as I don't drive the amp pass power X?
The amp I'd like to use is Orion Cobalt 430. It's a 4 channel amp, bridgeable to 2 channels. I assume since it's bridgeable, each of the bridged channels would see 2ohms with a 4ohms speaker. So am ok to use each of 4 channels with 2 ohms load then?
Another question is: with 4 ohm load at a power X amp provides Y ammount of current, but with a 2 ohm load at power X it would be approx 2*Y. Is it ok to assume with 2 ohm load at power 1/2X i'll have Y ammout of current? Thus making 2 ohm load a safe load for the amp as long as I don't drive the amp pass power X?
yes you should be fine
However I recommend you use that amp to bi-amp your front speakers and leave the rears on the headunit. Rears are pretty much useless, provided you have some decent front speakers in an adequate install, rears will only drag the soundstage backwards and cause a bunch of cancellation that you don't need. What speakers do you have anyway?
However I recommend you use that amp to bi-amp your front speakers and leave the rears on the headunit. Rears are pretty much useless, provided you have some decent front speakers in an adequate install, rears will only drag the soundstage backwards and cause a bunch of cancellation that you don't need. What speakers do you have anyway?
Front: 3.5", rear 6"x9". They are Clif Designs phaxials
I needed an inexpensive replacement to the factory equipped ones, so I bought them in a surplus store. My car is falling apart, so there is no need to invest in high end speakers.
Anyway, I need the rear 6"x9"s, there was't much bass coming from 3.5"s, and now they have 1st order HP @ 600 Hz (were distorting a lot).
I'd like to improve the sound quality if possible. I have 4 channel amp doing nothing, so why not buy "a sort of decent" electronic crossover and bi-amp those to see what will happen.
I've tried that, I need them for bass ( 80Hz and above ), bottom is taken care by the sub.
I was thinking about putting 6.5" components in front door panels, but this car is not worth it.
ah alright, yeah with 3.5's in the front, rears are pretty much a necessity.
I don't see anything wrong with what you're planning, that amp should do 2ohm stereo fine, just make sure it's well ventilated to avoid thermal problems.
How exactly are you planning the bi-amp though? When you first posted I assumed you had 2-way components that had a pair of inputs so you could bi-amp relatively easily, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I don't see anything wrong with what you're planning, that amp should do 2ohm stereo fine, just make sure it's well ventilated to avoid thermal problems.
How exactly are you planning the bi-amp though? When you first posted I assumed you had 2-way components that had a pair of inputs so you could bi-amp relatively easily, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I'm not sure, but looking at the pictures in that link, the speakers only have one set of inputs, so they would be difficult to biamp without mutilation. Actually, I can't tell clearly from the pictures, but they look like they might only have one voice coil - the "tweeter" could be directly connected to the voicecoil, with the main "woofer" being connected to the voicecoil by a slightly springy junction - a take on the old single voice coil wide range driver with "whizzer" cone.
The amp should be fine into 2 ohms per channel. bridging into 4 ohms would look like 2 ohms stereo. Most car amps (even cheap ones) are 2 ohm stabel, or 4 ohms if bridged.
I don't like the idea of simply paralleling the front and rear speakers. You typically want to lower the level of the reat speaker. It's not suposed to overpowe the fronts, just provide a bit of depth and to fill in the rear of the vehicle (especially in minivans). I would either run it off the headunit, or....
what I would do would be to get a cheap variable crossover, connect the front and rears to the amp (full range, no biamping), and use the crossover to send the low-midbass to the rear speakers, and the midrange and trebble to the fronts. A popular crossover unit has an adjustable stereo 2 way crossover, and a single (adjustable) subwoofer out. I would recomend getting a unit like this, bypassing the sub options in the headunit (unless it's real good), and bypassing the crossovers in the amplifiers. the crossovers in the amps generally suck, and are only useful for budget instals where the head unit doesn't have a decent subwoofer support, etc.
The amp should be fine into 2 ohms per channel. bridging into 4 ohms would look like 2 ohms stereo. Most car amps (even cheap ones) are 2 ohm stabel, or 4 ohms if bridged.
I don't like the idea of simply paralleling the front and rear speakers. You typically want to lower the level of the reat speaker. It's not suposed to overpowe the fronts, just provide a bit of depth and to fill in the rear of the vehicle (especially in minivans). I would either run it off the headunit, or....
what I would do would be to get a cheap variable crossover, connect the front and rears to the amp (full range, no biamping), and use the crossover to send the low-midbass to the rear speakers, and the midrange and trebble to the fronts. A popular crossover unit has an adjustable stereo 2 way crossover, and a single (adjustable) subwoofer out. I would recomend getting a unit like this, bypassing the sub options in the headunit (unless it's real good), and bypassing the crossovers in the amplifiers. the crossovers in the amps generally suck, and are only useful for budget instals where the head unit doesn't have a decent subwoofer support, etc.
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