Speaker Questions for AD Truck

[wibas]

I have a KC Harris stereo with 200 watts (4x50). I have new 4 ohm speakers for the front stock location. I'm looking for an amp and sub. Maybe rear speakers also. I have never had this kind of system so I'm not sure where to start. It is out of my build budget to just go have a system installed.
Anybody willing to help?

[Henney]

Are you planning on having the amp run your speakers or just the sub? If you’re going to run just the sub you can get a nice mono amp for pretty cheap. A 10” or 12” sub in that truck should be more than enough bass and with the limited install depth you’ll probably need 250-300 watts RMS max. My wife has a 10” JL audio sub and 250W amp and it’s surprising how good it sounds.

If you are wanting to amp the speakers you’ll want to look at a multi channel amp or two amps; one for the sub and one for speakers. I personally like 5 channel amps when running everything because it’s simple.

Wiring really isn’t that hard either but will depend on what setup you go with. Does the KC Harris head unit have amp pre-outs?

[wibas]

Yes the KC has rca outlets but only 200 watt output(4x50). So I'm thinking I need a 4 channel amp that I can bridge if I want a sub and 2 rear speakers? I do not know if that would be over kill in that small cab?

[Henney]

4x50 isn't horrible. In fact it’s better than most OEM outputs and equal to most aftermarket decks. You could probably run the speakers with just the KC unit and see what you think before spending a bunch of money.

[wibas]

So here is where I get confused. 200 watt (4x50) output but the rear kicker speakers say 150 watts each which is 3 times the KC output. Will I even be able to hear them?

[Henney]

My guess is that’s max power and the head unit rating is RMS (continuous) power. For example look at this JL Audio speaker specifications.

C3-600
Continuous Power Handling (RMS) 75 W
Peak Music Power 225 W
Recommended RMS Amplifier Power (per Ch.) 25 - 150 W

[wibas]

Thanks Henney. I went and check specs and you are right about the watts. I guess I have been trying to figure this out so I know what to build in behind the seat. All I really need to do is build in the 6x9's and make a space for the sub with space under seat for amp and pre wire it all. Than I can add components if needed. Wow that is a lot of planning for me.

[Henney]

you can always add components. honestly if you have a set of RCA cables running from the deck to under the seats and a two sets of speaker wire (+ and-, one for each rear speaker) running from the deck to the back of the cab then any changes in the future will just be to the amp and speaker configuration. your amp will always run your sub so that won't change. if you go with a multi-channel amp in the feature the existing speaker wire will just be converted to run the front speakers from the amp and you'll run new wire to the back speakers which will be really easy.