I am an audio newb, please learn me!

[CatDaddysBBQ]

I have 150w going to an 8" and it is quite a bit of sound for such a tiny cabin in our cars. I absolutely see wanting more (I want it loud inside but don't want to annoy anybody more than 5y away), but 1000w for sub is overkill.

I second the questioning for 2x8 instead of one 10" as well. I can't imagine a 2x8 enclosure will take unless than a single 10". Maybe two small fiberglass enclosures that plug the pockets in the rear corners of the trunk but again, a 10" wouldn't take much more room than one of those and you'd have more cargo space and less weight added.

And you don't have to pull the seats down for more sound. It makes no discernible difference up or down with my little setup, let alone your 1000w plan.

[CatDaddysBBQ]

Originally Posted by Superchan

The what Now?

Yeah, that awful looking pioneer stock HU in the first year cars have an rca out for a sub, and the stock stereo has sub level control and on/off switching for the amp. It looks ghetto in the car but is pretty cool that it's reasonably well equipped as standard.

[OverSpent]

Originally Posted by CatDaddysBBQ

Yeah, that awful looking pioneer stock HU in the first year cars have an rca out for a sub, and the stock stereo has sub level control and on/off switching for the amp. It looks ghetto in the car but is pretty cool that it's reasonably well equipped as standard.

I have a single 10" sub using the 2013 base head unit RCAs. Super convenient.

More on topic; I drive the sub with a 400 watt amp and I can't imagine having more power. The car would rattle to pieces. Plus without an aftermarket head unit and speakers there just aren't enough mids & highs to keep up with what the Sub is capable of.

[Superchan]

Originally Posted by OverSpent

I have a single 10" sub using the 2013 base head unit RCAs. Super convenient.

More on topic; I drive the sub with a 400 watt amp and I can't imagine having more power. The car would rattle to pieces. Plus without an aftermarket head unit and speakers there just aren't enough mids & highs to keep up with what the Sub is capable of.

Say I wanted to up grade the head united and speakers later on down the road, which would be an obvious thing to do, but for now I just wanted to get the speakers. I'm pretty determined to get the 208's because they seem to be a really good unit for my needs now, and my foreseeable needs in the future.

Edit: Quick googling on RMS vs Peak power educated me.

Any amp recommendations?

Combined Power Handling: Peak: 1000 watts / RMS: 500 watts
Final Impedance: 2 Ohm mono

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/JL-Audio-CP208LG-W3v3-Subwoofer-Subwoofers/dp/B0082DIYBO"]Amazon.com : JL Audio CP208LG-W3v3 Dual 8" Subwoofer Enclosure w/ (2) 8W3v3-4 Subwoofers : Vehicle Subwoofer Systems : Car Electronics[/ame]

[babydriver]

The FR-S has an amp, a little one, located in the trunk area. Remove the spare tire cover and you'll see it on the left side. It's a white box, not very big.

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by Chimera

making your own enclosure will be an adventure. Some people like adventure. for those that don't might want to look at integrity concepts if you want enclosures for 2 8s.

1000W is going to be too much for those speakers I think.

You want to match the amp to the speakers used. 1000W is sort of equivalent to putting a 1000 hp motor in the FR-S. The transmission and rear end won't take the power in stock form.

Too much power will cause failure by pushing the voice coil(s) completely out of the gap, which will usually cause the coil to jam permanently. The other failure mode is thermal failure of the voice coil itself, but usually the VC has been mechanically damaged before that occurs.

Also, power is not continuously at peak level; most of the time you will be kicking out less than 10 watts. It is only on the dynamic peaks (and for only a moment) that the full power of the amp is used.

You can match the efficiency of the speaker with the amp. If the typical car loudspeaker is 90 db efficient at 1 watt, then you would need 1000W (in open air) to produce 120 db. However, with cabin gain you really need far less than this. Anyway, 120 db would literally damage your hearing. For 110db in open air, you would need only about 250 watts. That is plenty loud. Again, it will be higher than that due to cabin gain (enclosed space).

So unless you plan to be deaf, I doubt you'll need more than about 250 watts.

[Chimera]

For that box the JL JX500 would be the clearest matched amp.

Originally Posted by Superchan

Say I wanted to up grade the head united and speakers later on down the road, which would be an obvious thing to do, but for now I just wanted to get the speakers. I'm pretty determined to get the 208's because they seem to be a really good unit for my needs now, and my foreseeable needs in the future.

Edit: Quick googling on RMS vs Peak power educated me.

Any amp recommendations?

Combined Power Handling: Peak: 1000 watts / RMS: 500 watts
Final Impedance: 2 Ohm mono

Amazon.com : JL Audio CP208LG-W3v3 Dual 8" Subwoofer Enclosure w/ (2) 8W3v3-4 Subwoofers : Vehicle Subwoofer Systems : Car Electronics

[Superchan]

Originally Posted by babydriver

The FR-S has an amp, a little one, located in the trunk area. Remove the spare tire cover and you'll see it on the left side. It's a white box, not very big.

Would I remove that amp and replace them with the new one?

[gramicci101]

Originally Posted by Superchan

Would I remove that amp and replace them with the new one?

The amp behind the back seat is for the door speakers. I wouldn't remove it unless you don't care about having door speakers. I wouldn't replace it unless you're also replacing the door speakers, because the existing speakers are 2 ohms. I wouldn't replace the speakers without replacing the amp because the amp runs at 2 ohms and will make significantly less power at 4 ohms, which is what most aftermarket speakers run at.


What you CAN do is tap its connectors for the audio signal. That's what I did. I've got a tiny little Kicker sub amp squeezed in right next to the door speaker amp, and I pulled l/r audio and remote turn-on from the existing amp to feed mine.

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by Superchan

Would I remove that amp and replace them with the new one?

Yes. The small amp has RCA inputs so it should be a snap to switch it out. Just use the existing connectors.

[CatDaddysBBQ]

Originally Posted by OverSpent

I have a single 10" sub using the 2013 base head unit RCAs. Super convenient.

More on topic; I drive the sub with a 400 watt amp and I can't imagine having more power. The car would rattle to pieces. Plus without an aftermarket head unit and speakers there just aren't enough mids & highs to keep up with what the Sub is capable of.

I know. I run less than half that through an 8" and only OCCASIONALLY could argue that I would ever use any more.

[Chimera]

no, the stock amp is used to power the door speakers, removing it would disable the doors.

there are guides on how to replace it with better amps though. I am using the wiring and location of the stock amp for a 4ch ktp-445u
gives you more power and options, and its conveniently located.

check the audio directory for OEM amp for a thread with loads of info on it.

Originally Posted by Superchan

Would I remove that amp and replace them with the new one?

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

The amp behind the back seat is for the door speakers.

That's the only amp I'm aware of; where is the one to drive the dashboard speakers and the ones near the rear passenger "seat"?

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by babydriver

That's the only amp I'm aware of; where is the one to drive the dashboard speakers and the ones near the rear passenger "seat"?

stock config has all those driven off the HU
stock config has the dash as 2 4 ohms wired in parallel for 2 ohm load