Stereo Gurus......question

[doghauler]

What is the best way to hook up 6 speakers? I have a Pioneer head unit hooked to an Alpine 4 channel amp using the RCA connectors. I currently run 4 speakers, 2 under the dash, 2 right behind the seats, and I am considering putting 2 more in back by the tailgate. Currentyl, I run the front and rear RCA's from the head unit to the amp, then the 4 speakers out of the amp. I talked to a guy at the stereo shop and he said I should run the four rear speakers out of the amp and drive the two front speakers with the head unit. Not sure how to do this. With the 4 channel amp it is set up for 4 speakers, 2 front, 2 rear. To drive the addition 2 speakers would I run them directly off the head unit speaker output (non-RCA)?

Here's what I'm thinking. Leave the head unit connected to the amp with both the front and rear RCA outputs. Run the 4 rear speakers off the amp, essentially the amp would consider the 2 tailgate speakers as "rear" and the 2 behind the seats as "front". Then I would connect the two front speakers directly off the head unit utilizing the head unit's internal amp only, bypassing the auxilliary amp. This would essentially give me 4 "front" speakers and 2 "rear". I know the under dash front speakers would have less power since they would not be driven by the amp.

To the best I can tell, this is what the guys at the shop were telling me to do, does this sound correct?

Thanks!

 

[Heus33]

Leave the head unit connected to the amp with both the front and rear RCA outputs. Run the 4 rear speakers off the amp, essentially the amp would consider the 2 tailgate speakers as "rear" and the 2 behind the seats as "front". Then I would connect the two front speakers directly off the head unit utilizing the head unit's internal amp only, bypassing the auxilliary amp. This would essentially give me 4 "front" speakers and 2 "rear". I know the under dash front speakers would have less power since they would not be driven by the amp.

Yes, that will work just fine. Your head unit will most likely have less power than your 4 channel amp but you might not notice much of a difference. If you want to get really tricky you can do the following using the speaker outputs from the head unit: Take the negative speaker wire for the front left and the positive speaker wire from the rear left and run that to one speaker (pos to pos and neg to neg) Then take the neg wire from the front right and the pos wire from the rear right and run that to the other. This should 'double' the output from the head unit and increase your wattage. Make sure your speakers are up to the task though.

 

[JMP]

I would not recommend "Bridging" the front and rear on a head unit as described above. It is a great way to increase power but most head units are not rated to carry that load. It is common play on Amps, but not Head unit amps.

Josh

 

[rawill]

If your amp is rated for two ohm stereo you could run the two up front and the two behind you off of the front channels of the amp. You would do this by running the speakers in parallel, this would only work as long as the speakers are rated 4 ohm or above. Then run the two that you want to put in the tailgate off of the rear channels of the amp.

 

[jpopsbronco]

everything you said sounds right head unit powers dash speakers and amp powers the rest

 

[22213evl]

everything you said sounds right head unit powers dash speakers and amp powers the rest

x2 then control the rear speaker output via the amp

 

[clkwrkorg36]

you could run the 4 rear speakers on two channels of the amp, and the front 2 on the other 2 channels.