Lyricman

Advice pls. I have a STI 2003 and was looking to put Infinity 6000's components in the front and Infinity 6x9 in the rear parcel shelf. If I drive them from my pioneer 6300 4x 50watt head unit would that be adequate. If not would a 4 x 60watt Alpine 9312 be sufficient. Would I be able to tell a significant difference if I powered them from a 4x75 watt rms amp. I don't particularly want to go down the sub route if I can help it. Will the 6 x 9's give a reasonable bass or would you recommend something else.
Thanks

chiark

A decent amp makes a lot of difference.

Ignore the rating, as there's no way that a head unit amp crammed in with the rest of the electronics can possibly make the same amount of power as something external.

The difference between 50 and 75W in terms of loudness is not huge. To get a 3dB increase you need to double the power. It's generally acknowledged that a 10dB increase relates to a perceived doubling of loudness...

Personally, I'd buy a second hand amp. You'll find a lot on here, or on talkaudio.co.uk, or on ebay...

Cheers,
Nick.

Lyricman

Thanks Nick

I will install an amp. What about the 6 x 9's in the back parcel shelf. People seem to poo poo 6 x 9's and recommend good 17cm's. From the specs it seems they can go down to 35hz which would indicate reasonable Bass. In practice is this not the case and should I stick to 17cm speakers

Mike

chiark

This depends on whether you're really wanting to get true bass or are happy with a bit more loudness

I don't bother with rear speakers as they knacker your soundstage unless they're faded out to non-existence. Spend the money on the fronts.

Ignore specs that say stuff plays down to 35Hz, it's meaningless as the speaker will need to be boxed etc to think about going that low.

I would personally fit a pair of Genesis 6x9 subs, which are true subs not full range speakers. Everyone I know who has them is very pleased...

This assumes that you're not going to turn into an out an out basshead, in which case fit either 17cm or 6x9 and lose your boot to a massive box

Cheers,
Nick.

dr_ming

Agree. Amp is definately best. No way is the head unit 4x50W RMS either, this will be a music power rating. 4x22W RMS is about tops for a head unit without some clever electronics that has to fit into a very small space and dump a lot of heat!

chiark

Dr_Ming, have u not heard that the H/U manufacturers have perfected a small black hole in their devices in which to dump heat?

dr_ming

Heat pipe into the Driver's seat wouldn't have been such a bad idea this morning brrrr...

Lyricman

Thanks guys for the advice. One last question, are the Focals £200 17cm component Speakers woth the £100 extra money over a set of Infinity components when driven by a rwasonable amp.

Mike

chiark

The only person who can answer that is you - music is highly subjective. I personally find the infinities bright, but that may be just what you like. Also, the focals are quite "bright" on a scale of dull to bright IMHO.

For me, I would pay the extra.