Is this setup OK?
 

Hey all,
An audio shop recommended a JL HD 600/4 to power 2 speakers/2 tweeters/and a sub. Is this type of setup recommended or should I be getting a 5 channel? Also, he said it would leave 300rms to the 150rms sub. Would this be too much for the sub?

What are the kind of speakers? How much are they charging for install? What warranty are they offering on the JL Amp? The amp will be fine to power the speakers and sub but I would like to know what speakers they are selling you before I give out my advice.

+1 with Matt's statement. We have to know what speakers/tweets you plan on running. Are they components or co-axials. What is the sub? What's it rated at? How much control do you want over your system? Are you planning on running an aftermarket H/U? Then we'll get back to you.

Get the 900/5 You wont regret it! With the 900/5 you can Bi-Amp your fronts. I am running 100Watts rms to each mid-bass and 100Watts Rms to each Tweet. I only use the passive crossover for the Tweeters. The mid bass speakers get the full force of the amp with out any degredation from the passive crossover. My Mids hit so hard you feel them in your chest.

The 900/5 amp has a really high Damping factor of >600. This means extreme control over the sub. This amp is insanely powerful for its size! So far it only gets warm.

Just make sure you get a sub or subs that can take it! Same with the mids!

Now why in the world would you now filter what goes to your mids? Unless you are going a filter on the amp for them.

I do like the idea of going with the extra power the 5 channel HD offers, just make sure if your biamping that your HU has an adjustable lpf so you can bandpass the mids. you really dont wanna play them much lower than 80hz

The speakers are JL Audio C5-650 which includes xovers and tweeters. The sub is this JL Audio CP108LG-W3v3. The sub is a temp until I return to mainland US in a year or less. I would be installing (attempting) myself with asking tons of questions to forum members :) I just never heard of using a 4 channel amp to power 5 items. They said unless I want a bigger sub, the 900/5 JL would be an overkill and I would think fried a 230rms sub or would this not be true? I don't usually listen to my stereo loud to the point of windows shattering and car bouncing from the bass lol.

You would not be running 5 items to say. The crossover splits and filters the power to the woofer and tweeter's. and the sub has it's own channel. So in term you will be running 3 speakers. You do not need to go bigger for an amp the one you have chosen is fine. If you are looking for a nicer set of component speakers look at Image Dynamics or Hertz.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you think you need to ask. If you want to ask them in private for some reasons you can always PM me.

Congrats on the new Prem member man. I see you're military then? What branch? I do all the car audio installs in and around the base now. (I'm a Marine on PI, formerly at Lejeune) Hit me up.

^^ good man here

^^also a good man!

I dont filter anything through the head except for the rear speakers that run off the deck. They are at 160Hz @24/db which is as high as it will go.

I am running all active x-over through the amp except for the tweets. JL Amp wont filter that high so the x-over is turned off on those 2 channels and I run the passive focal x-overs for just the tweets.

The mids are x-ed at 60Hz@24/db from the amp and thats it, they roll the highs off naturally on thier own.

The Sub is x-ed at 60Hz@12/db from the amp.

Passive x-overs eat a lot of power by introducing too much inductance. You get much, much better damping factor by using active x-overs. Its most noticible in the bass region.

For Gray Bullet, the 900/5 would be a bit overkill. The 600/4 would be perfect power outputwise but you loose the option to bi-amp your fronts unless you get another amp.

I originally was going to go with the JL C5's and the 600/4 HD but the C5's didnt suit my tastes and the TW5 would have needed a little more power.

Luckily I know what you are talking about. But I do not think other people do. No offense.

Thanks man

Thanks! This site well worth it for the Prem membership. I'm in the Air Force here in HI. I actually workout all the time at MCBH.

Thanks! You've been more than helpful and thanks for being patience :tup:

Do doubt that it's worth it! Enjoy the site and the people bro. The big audio guys on the forum are Matt, Jeff Smith and myself for the most part. There are aome others out there but we're the "big 3" if you will. Just let us know if you need anything at all.

^^ HAHA nice rreign ya we sort of are the big 3.

Hell, I need some more installs around here. People are broke!! I think this dumbass pres of ours should give everyone an "Upgrade Your Car Audio" stimulus check, lol.

Bigaudiofanat is the best person to help with these things :P

AWW thanks Angie :tiphat::tup:

Very interested in your setup, was thinking about a 900/5 as well and biamping my fronts (jl zr650's). I completely think you're right about passive's reducing power and damping factor by adding inductance. I don't know about just running the mid's with no low pass at all on them though, it seems the higher frequencies going to the midbass driver would negatively impact sound quality and driver performance? no?

^ Yes I agree not having a filter on them could even damage them as well. The bi amping you do have to keep in mind that you can have more distortion by doing so. Just have to watch your gains and set the properly. You should go completely active and not have different kinds of filters on your speakers. This way there is no difference in cleaning of the signal. From electronic to circuit.

Also for people that are getting a head ache from reading this stuff just ignore it.

I have put this to test many times and it doesnt create any audible distortion. The midrange driver cannot physically reproduce frequencies above 6000Hz (in most cases) so it will naturally roll off anything above that at 6db/oct. In a 2 way setup this is fine and it actually can work to your benefit if your tweeter is further than 12" away.

It certainly wont hurt anything to try it and you can always bridge the channels with the passives vs bi-amp and using the actives on the amp and see what sounds best to you. Thats what I did and bi-amping and omitting the passives was a big improvement.

Bi-Amping gives you much more flexibility, I can fine tune the tweeter levels very quickly and easily by adjusting the gains on the amp.

The 900/5 is one sweet amp! If you dont mind spending a grand on amplification its one of the best choices out there (IMHO). Having one really good amp simplifys things dramatically. My experience has been the more simple the system, the better.