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Originally Posted by MikeM7
Thanks for the detailed reply, I went ahead and ordered the NVX MVPA1 for the sub.
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You won't be disappointed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeM7
I'm not willing to pay 500 for the one for the door speakers though..
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??
I'm guessing you mean the JL Audio 3-channel? In that case, it wasn't just for the door speakers, that would have been for door speakers *and* sub. So, a little more than the combined cost for the two individual small amps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeM7
I'll probably swing by and check this place out, see what kind of vibe I get, find out the total price, and take it from there.
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It never hurts to ask to see the actual shop area and take a look at any cars that they have in-progress at that time. You can watch the installer work for a few minutes and get a feel for their level of care (or not). If the shop won't let you watch their guy(s) or look at vehicles being worked on, they're hiding something from you, and that should be taken as a sign. Every quality shop I've ever been in was glad, nay, eager to show me what they were all about. I spoke directly with the installers, rather than funneling everything through a showroom sales guy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeM7
As for the 2nd amp, is it really necessary, or do you think the head unit can handle the front speakers? Keeping in mind I'm not the type to ride around blasting music at obnoxious levels. I'm not looking to show off, just have good quality sound for my own personal DD enjoyment. It will be kept at a reasonable volume 99% of the time.
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Get an amp. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to run quality speakers off of head unit power. It might say 50Wx4, but if you look at the real specs (*edit: the manual shows 22W RMS, but I've seen a few other spec sheets that say it's 17W RMS -- either way, it's not nearly enough). Most quality speakers in a reasonable price range are going to want 60-90W or so RMS.
Remember, power is not necessarily about loud, it's about clean. Yes, volume is a factor, but you want adequate power to drive your speakers efficiently with room to spare (headroom) so that you get a clean, strong signal into your speakers so they can produce clean, quality sound. When an amplifier (whether it's standalone or built into a head unit) is running at or near its limits, distortion goes way up and the amp can start to clip. Clipping is bad, without getting too deep into it, just imagine trying to run a power saw when your electricity keeps stuttering on/off. You're going to get crappy performance since the saw motor can't get constant power to keep the blade spinning correctly, and you're going to burn up the saw's motor because it's working too hard to try to keep up. Distortion and clipping are both very bad in audio, and they will not only cause an audible degradation of quality (in layman's terms, it'll sound like shit), but they can cause permanent damage to your equipment as well.
It's kind of like buying an awesome HDTV and then only ever hooking up your old VCR to it -- you'll not be getting anywhere near the performance out of that TV since the signal coming into it sucks.