other than doing a couple head unit installs, my stereo knowledge is pretty simple.

soon, i'll be wanting to upgrade the sounds in my element. i have a kenwood DNX5120 in the mail right now, and later on, im going to want to bypass the factory amp, and upgrade the stock sub with something better. at this time, im also going to want to find a slim 2 channel amp for the sub, and put it under the passenger seat, so i don't loose any cargo area.

now ohms. what the hell does that mean?

there's RMS, and peak power.. and i assume peak is only avail once you go mono, bridging the amp right?

what happens if you get a 2 ohm amp, and a 4 or 8 ohm speaker? should you always get matching components? what happens if you mix them?

someone please help me.. im lost.

Most car speakers are 4 ohm resistance, so you won't have to worry too much about mixing/matching.

Resistance discussion is really for maximizing the power output of subs and allowing installation flexibility. On some amplifiers, you can vary the power output of the amp by simply changing the resistance of the speaker. You change the resistance either by configuring the voice coils, or by adding more subs/speakers and wiring them together.

The thing you just want to be sure of is that your sub isn't driving your amp too hard. Even if your subwoofer is rated at 1 ohm, if your amp can't go that low it don't matter. :)

For your situation you might want to consider hooking up a Sony XM-1s slimline mono amp to a sub like the JL Audio sub that's popular around here. The Sony amp is capable of 250 watts RMS at a mono 4 ohm, or 500 watts at 2 ohm.

You can mount your amp under the seat and run a single RCA cable and power underneath the door sill.

(ps: If you shop around you can find that Sony amp super cheap.)

i also asked in the JL W3 topic right under this post......

the element's stock enclosure is prolly horribly wrong for a aftermarket sub. but since i can't give up my cargo space, and build a real box, im stuck with that stock enclosure.

now, even though i can fit either a W0 or a W3.. is the same theory bigger is better? if the W3 is going to sound like **** in that box, would it make more sense to downsize my dream and go with a W0 and a smaller output amp?

my audio goal in my 2007, is the DNX5120. on order.. then when i do my sub swap, i want to run that sub from a well matched amp under the passanger seat. the rest of the speakers in the car will be powered by the aftermarket headunit.

is that a decent setup, or should i be looking into another 4 channel, for the rest of the car's speakers like its setup from honda with the integrated amp?

a JL 250/1 is pushing my 6w3. its a switching amp that will do 2 or 4 ohm. its also resides under my passengeer seat. the 6w3 should go louder and stay cleaner than the 6w0. not sure if you will notice it though. depends on how you use it. The factory box is ported and leaky. you can seal this. but the 6w3 seemed to be refered to as a infinite baffle sub from the research i did. so i left the box unsealed. I belive this gives me more range but not as hard or tight of a hit. you could seal and fiberglass the inside of the stock inclosure to get a stronger hit. the stock enclosure is the proper size in cubic feet for the 6w3 so either way is an option for you. I have been considering sealing my box to see the difference. but recently broke my hand so my wrenching and typing will not be much for the next 6 weeks.
I would say my 6w3 currntly is as loud as a 10 muffled in a trunk. you just don't get quite as much air pushed so it doesn't feel as big.

hope this helps.

i also asked in the JL W3 topic right under this post......

the element's stock enclosure is prolly horribly wrong for a aftermarket sub. but since i can't give up my cargo space, and build a real box, im stuck with that stock enclosure.

now, even though i can fit either a W0 or a W3.. is the same theory bigger is better? if the W3 is going to sound like **** in that box, would it make more sense to downsize my dream and go with a W0 and a smaller output amp?

my audio goal in my 2007, is the DNX5120. on order.. then when i do my sub swap, i want to run that sub from a well matched amp under the passanger seat. the rest of the speakers in the car will be powered by the aftermarket headunit.

is that a decent setup, or should i be looking into another 4 channel, for the rest of the car's speakers like its setup from honda with the integrated amp?

Looks OK to me. Keep it simple, as far as powering a sub and amp, and just be realistic in your expectations. A 6.5 inch sub, no matter how good an enclosure it's in, isn't ever going to sound like a pair of 12's--but it'll be tons better than stock.

I don't know the JL stuff too well but it looks like snowdreams1080 does.

no, i can understand that... and im not shooting for the fence..

but i want something in the stock sub enclosure, so i do'nt have to add a box to the trunk, and loose cargo space.

so i think im going to end up bypassing my factory amp, and run all my 6 components off the aftermarket headunit, and then later on, run the upgraded sub, off a small amp under the pass. seat.

so i should be ok if i match my ohms right? get 1 6.5" 4 ohm JL W3, and a 4ohm capable amp to run that 1 sub.. thats it only purpose.

so i should be ok if i match my ohms right? get 1 6.5" 4 ohm JL W3, and a 4ohm capable amp to run that 1 sub.. thats it only purpose.
It sounds like you're on the right track.

To answer your question, ohms are the electrical resistance (impedance) of the voicecoil of a speaker. Most basic speakers are 4ohms altough you will find some with 2ohms, 8ohms ( house speaker), or some have dual voice coils which allow you to hook it up a couple of different ways. When you wire up multiple speakers, the total ohm value "seen" by the amp changes, depending on how you wire it up. This site might help you more: http://www.bcae1.com/ look at article 58 to see series versus parallel wiring.
As far as the amp ratings go, consider RMS as "clean" sounding power and peak as the most an amp will do. Most good companies rate their amps with the RMS value when hooked up to a certain ohm load. Crappy flea market companies rate their equipment as peak "just before it blows up" power. Stay away from this.

Hopefully I helped more than confused. :cool:

no, i can understand that... and im not shooting for the fence..

but i want something in the stock sub enclosure, so i do'nt have to add a box to the trunk, and loose cargo space.

so i think im going to end up bypassing my factory amp, and run all my 6 components off the aftermarket headunit, and then later on, run the upgraded sub, off a small amp under the pass. seat.

so i should be ok if i match my ohms right? get 1 6.5" 4 ohm JL W3, and a 4ohm capable amp to run that 1 sub.. thats it only purpose.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've got a little Alpine sub box in the cargo area, but decided it's too ghetto-tastic :D, and will be going back to shoving something in the stock location.

The JL sub is rated at 150 watts RMS, so you don't even need to go overkill on amps. A small Alpine mono sub amp like the MRP-M450 will do 220 watts, and I think it's small enough to fit under the seat.

Crappy flea market companies rate their equipment as peak "just before it blows up" power. Stay away from this.

Hopefully I helped more than confused. :cool:

That's real good info in your last post, and a good tip. That "good deal" you might score on the streets might not be too good a deal if it doesn't work, or ends up blowing everything up.:D

I have been considering sealing my box to see the difference. but recently broke my hand so my wrenching and typing will not be much for the next 6 weeks.

I'd definitely recommend sealing that enclosure up. Even with a "free-air", or, infinite baffle sub (usually used in car trunks mounted on a baffle board directly behind the rear seats and uses the truck itself as the enclosure), the front waves and the rear waves produced by the speaker shouldn't be able to interfere with each other. The best "free-air" subs I've heard have had every effort to seal the trunk space from the interior of the car.

I think you'd hear an improvement after sealing it up.

Sorry to hear about your hand - I hope you're back to normal soon!

went to the specialist. the radiologist miscalled it. just tore up soft tissue, no break so hopefully in two to three weeks I can pull the sub back out and seal up the box. was thinking to go extreme and put a layer of fiberglass and resin on the inside to give the box some rigidity.

went to the specialist. the radiologist miscalled it. just tore up soft tissue, no break so hopefully in two to three weeks I can pull the sub back out and seal up the box. was thinking to go extreme and put a layer of fiberglass and resin on the inside to give the box some rigidity.


Well, if it was broke, you could have just taken your sub box with you and when they casted your hand they could of threw a roll of casting tape inside the sub enclosure to help you out :D Honeslty, you would have been better off breaking the bone. I know from experience, the soft tissue injuries take longer to heal and rehab and often cause problems later. Good luck with that.

I actually asked in another thread if you sealed the enclosure when you installed the JL sub, now I know the answer. I would love to hear this sub or the Elemental Designs unit before I make the purchase. I really love what my Digital Designs sub can do for a single 8" and it only requires .80 cubic foot enclosure, but the box still gets in my way when camping and I don't want to remove it all together during the trip because I like to bump while I am traveling.

if you are ever in va beach you are welcome for a listen. I will be in the columbus area next july also.