I know NOTHING about car audio. Humbly sorry for the kindergarten level questions, but any info I can find assumes a slight level of expertise, which is slightly more than I have.

If a knowledgeable audiophile would take pity on me, I have a couple questions which would start me on my search knowing a little more than I do now.

1 I assume from what I've read if I want four individual speakers plus a small subwoofer I need a five channel amp?

2 IF, if I need a five channel amp, does the head unit need five RCA outputs to plug into the amp inputs? (I like the Custom Autosounds unit that bolts into the stock opening, it offers a MP3 aux input but it only has 4 RCAs out)

3 I don't want or need a ground shaking bass system. My '04 Siennas stock, but has in my opinion a fantastic sounding system with plenty of bass. I can comfortably get a 10" sub into my C-3. Is bass a "buy all you can afford" type of thing, or would a certain level of watts be more than enough for my underwhelming demands?

I'm sure there's a lot more info I'll need, but this would let me start comparing a few items and know just what I'm looking at.

Thanks!
John

 

or a 4 chan and a mono amp
a lot of us decide against rear speakers in our cars, in that case you'd need either a 4 chan amp that allows you to combine (bridge) the output of two channels for the sub. or you could go with a 2 chan and mono for the woofer

you either need a y-adapter or you amp may be able distribute 2 chans across multiple outputs. if your amp has a 'pre out' on it, it could pass the signal onto the subwoofer amp. last but not least you could get an external 'active' x-over... but that would probably be more then what you'd need. in either case, you'll need to use the amp's internal x-over to isolate the sub bass frequencies to the sub. (except with the active x-over route)

bass is all in the eye of the beholder. if you're not into earth shattering bass.. or as we like to say '******** smashing oompn', you can take advantage of what is revered to as a 'sq' type of sub (where focus is on the sound quality and accurate reproduction, rather then the spl (sound pressure level... 'volume'). look into the peerless xls or xxls subs or for a budget friendly sub, check out the image dynnamic's id10v3. great bang for the buck for both of them and try to give the sub around 300-500 wrms.


one thing to keep in mind, don't feel tied down to manufactures specs when it comes to power handling. as long as you set your gains you'll never blow a 10w speaker with a 100 watt amp. you wont be getting 100 watts tot he speaker but you'll gain what is referred to as 'headroom'

 

I believe scott said it all.

 

Scott, thank you! I'll be able to understand a little more of the lexicon and specs I read now. I'll definately be looking for the sq type of sub.



Like slipping off the bicycle pegs!

John