This is my first post , so be gentle with me as I have not got a clue as to what I'm doing. I have an amplifier, and I am not sure if it can be installed in my car . The amplifier is a Kicker # 06ZX700.5 . The rating on the amp is as follows:
RMS 85w X 4@ 2 ohms
RMS 165w X 2@ 4 ohms bridged mono

I Presently have in my 94 vert, a Panosonic Head unit ,#CQ-VD7001U 7" monitor/DVD player, with 2 - Kenwood Excelon 5 1/4" #KFC-X138 2 way , 160w 4 ohm speakers in the front kick panels and 2 - Infinity Kappa #692.5i 6" X 9" 2 way X 110w 4 ohm speakers for the rear compartment, and hope to install in the near future 2 - 8" subwoofers in the floor of the rear.
Will this amplifier be okay with these components or will I have to make changes?

Thanking all Audio Guys for your comments and advice,
Earl

 

anyone?

 

i'm a little confused. first what is the power rating of the channels at 4 ohms (not bridged) i'm guessing about half of that. that is a little on the low side and if you have a loud car (i.e. headers and exhuast) it may get drown out a bit. you'll also need another amp if you plan on adding woofers

 

The speakers will be running at 4 ohms each so the amps specs through 4 channels @ 4 ohms is the important number. Like scott_fx said the power output at 4 ohm versus 2 will be (theoretically) about half, whick will be better than the headunits output but may not give you the volume you are looking for.

My suggestion for now would be to run this amp on your highs, all 4 channels @ 4 ohms. When you get your subs, find single voice coil 4 ohm subs and run this current amp to the subs (165 x 2 @ 4 ohms) and then purchase a slightly more powerful 4 channel amp to swap to your highs. This would all depend on what subs you are planning to run and if 165 watts would be enough power for them

 

I have a couple of suggestions for you. I'm not familier with this exact model, but I do know kicker amps will handle just about any configuration you can think of. 1st you could run RF & RR in paralel(2ohms) to RF ch, LF &LR in paralel(2ohms) to LR ch. Run the 8's in paralel/series on rear briged. Of course this gives no fade, but should power 8's ok. 2nd, run your 4 ch to each speaker as you have and just run the 8's in series off the rear bridged. This puts your rear ch at 2 ohms in a 3 ch config. Yes this is a 5 channel connection and some people wont do it on a 4 ch., and I'm not saying your amp can handle it. Call me crazy, but I have run this configuration on 2 ohm stable amps. Altec lansing in my 88 runs this right now and doesn't even run hot. Ive also run this on a Zapco(ran warm, but was in rear cubby) and a Concord Digital Reference series. It may run hot at extended high volumes. I think a Kicker will handle it, check around, but as always,,,,Try this at your own risk.

 

adown makes a good suggestion but you are going to lose sound quality running your mid/highs at 2 ohm (where youd notice it most) apon rethinking this; when you get your subs, I'd power the fronts off of chans 1 and 2, power the subs off chans 3 and 4, and the rears off of the deck power or better yet unhook them.

edit:

wait wait wait....the rears are 2 ohm versions...dont think your head unit will be happy with that. just take them out and make your life easier and your sound stage better :-)

 

Those speaker ratings are max right. Nominal power prob 45-60 wt. You wont notice any sound diff between 2 or 4 ohms. They will play louder at 2 ohms, but im sure you wont play them to distortion. Your amp is proly only 45 wt/ch. Should actully sound pretty nice. Your subs wont shake the car, but I dont think they'll clip the amp either. Im gonna have to stick by my orig post. good luck

 

have you ever tested that? I find that hard to believe especially on a lower end amp. they science behind that statement doesnt back it up. I can not attribute any first hand experience because i've never had a 2 and 4 ohm speaker that i could test it off so i'm looking for some facts behind your statement. oh and you seem new here, welcome to the forum

 

It is simple physics that an amplifier is working harder to provide power at 2 ohms than it works providing power at 4 ohms. More work = more heat to displace = less efficiency = declining quality of watt provided to drive your speaker = sound quality degredation.

It is true you MAY not drive your speaker into distortion but your amp is more likely to operate much closer to the clipping level at 2 ohms in stereo. And big transients in music would almost guarantee a clipped signal because the amp is working much closer to its maximum at 2 ohms than it is at 4.

There is a reason the base rating for amps is 4 ohms and not 2 ohms. And why most speakers come with 4 ohm ratings. Infinity makes their 2 ohm speakers for dual component set ups running 2 sets per side so that you could wire in a 4 ohm load (for the most part, also because hardly anyone else does which sells them more units).

Audio is just like anything else, there are many ways to do things, and for most people you can "get away" with a lot of them, but doing things the right way gives the best results.

You would be hard pressed to find a 2 ohm driver in a competition level vehicle or any amp outside of a sub amp operating at 2 ohms. There is a reason for that.

Fej

 

Hi and thanks for the welcome. You dont need a 2ohm speaker. Hook up 2 4ohm speakers in paralel to one channel. Or better yet hook up a car speaker to your home stereo( 4ohm on 8ohm). Less resistance will flow more electrons. Yes, 2ohm configurations( not drivers) are quite common now days with all the high tech amps. When Kicker first came out, thier big claim to fame was 2ohm stability. Phoenix gold and a small # of others are 1ohm stable. This is for competition. Yes it will generate more heat, but you will never hear a diff in sound quality unless as I said you drive it to distortion or clipping. If you can, stay away from silent dog whistles. Besides these amps are designed to opperate at 2ohms, no? As far as doing things right. Whos to say whats right. Their selling point is 2ohm stability, it must be right. Read my post above, I am currently running a 5 ch mode on a 4 ch amp(6years now). Im not just pulling ideas out of my---. I know all about electron flow causing heat. I have a degree in electronics as well as NARTE certified technician with an FCC license. As I said " I have a couple suggestions I think will work" and stated my facts with the systems I have and have had. The sound diff between 2 and 4 ohms is going to be louder at lower volumes against the same vloume at 4ohm. If it plays louder, you will be closer to distortion with less move of the volume ***. This can be controlled with the gain setting. About the transients, come on quite bustin my *****. You talking about a car stereo system running with a rotating alternator as the biggest noise generator not to mention most people run thier seaker wires right next to the power cable. this is not a studio. Amps proly at 90db s-t-n rat,speakers proly 90db sens. and who knows what wow and flutter from the cd player. More stuff that you would never hear. Sorry about the book, but I wanted to explain it more clearly.

 

oh, i think we all agree that it can be done, we..well 'i' was just looking for someone with experience with hearing both of the configuration side by side. For what it's worth when i had my pg amp pushing my id12v3, it was doing it at 2 ohms bridged. but that was a sub.

 

Well thankx guys , I think you have given me the answer I was hoping for. Shoud be able to get this together for next weekend. (With the exception of the subs.) I shall let you know the results. Again , I thank you all for your help and thoughts.
Earl.

 

Over the last 20 years I've tried running speakers at a variety of loads and on a sub, you can get away with lots 'o slop.
Step up to 1kHz (where the human ear is most sensitive) and I promise you that you WILL hear an appreciable difference.
Unless.....
1. You listen to poorly recorded rap at high volumes anyway
2. Have hearing damage from years of concerts
Scott

 

I am certainly in agreement with most of your post adown, however the fact still remains that a 2 ohm load is NOT the base load for a single amp in the marketplace. Every amp is designed with a 4 ohm load in mind unless you want to talk about class D or T or other hybrid versions of "mono" type amps.

Orion and US amps were making 1/4 ohm stable amps back in the day, around the same time Soundstream came about and started playing with their high current/high load stuff with similar ohm loads. But these amps were built FOR SUBS, IE much higher THD and no where near as clean as a class A, B, or class A/B amp. The human ear cannot hear up to 10% distortion in the sub bass frequency range so it flat did not matter. These were built with single 4 ohm voice coils in mind where guys were running 16 10"s in the back of a mini truck. Things have changed. Notice how very few middle grade amps will even handle a 2 ohm load bridged anymore?

Take a cruise over to Talkaudio.co.uk or elite car audio forums and ask the guys that compete how many of them run their STEREO speakers, the ones playing actual music at 2 ohms or less. I cannot for certain say you will get zero, but you wont hear many running that way.

Given enough watts, enough headroom, and a quality voltage signal to begin with you will have plenty of room to tune a system with 2 ohm drivers. However you take a 40x4 amp and run that to mids and tweets at 2 ohms I can guarantee that a crash of symbols or a fast kickdrum will be clipping no matter what the gains are at when the volume is up.

Tune how you want bro, run things how you like, and I am certainly impressed with your credentials, but I still disagree that a 2 ohm loaded amp channel and a 4 ohm amp channel will sound the same when pushed identically. I don't need a degree to tell me this, my ears tell me all I need to know. And they have listened and built a few systems in their day.

Fej

 

Mmmmm old school Orion ......

 

I had the kicker kx700.5 in my Trans Am. I was impressed with it and got it on ebay for 375.00 I used it to power 2 MB Quart 6.5" component sets and 2 MB 6.5" coaxials. The sub section of the amp, a 400W mono class D powered 2 infinity kappa 12's. The stereo kicked a$$; plain and simple. Use your sub channel bridged on (1) high quality 10" and you should be rocking out in the vette.