car stereo newb

[89IROC&RS]

Lookin for some help here. i apologize in advance for how long this is. ive got my IROC stripped down on the intereor and ripped out the scary wiring job that was in there on the previous sound system. I am looking to wire in a new system while i am there and take advantage of the situation. Im lookin to wire an 8 speaker system off a sony xplod head unit and am trying to figure out if i can do this without an amp. Now, i have heard that sony is crap for car audio, but im not really a competition system kinda person, no subs, just a system to handle the music i throw at it. thats al i need. plus my car is black and red, so the system matches the car, and looks great. so heres what ive learned so far. if i wire the speakers, two per channel in series i will increase resistance from 4 ohms to 8 ohms, and cut my power in half. so ill have to crank up the volume to hear anything. If i wire the speakers in paralell i wil cut resistance from 4 ohms to 2 ohms, and get twice (est) the power but will fry the head unit. so what ive been looking at is wiring the speakers in paralell but increasing the resistance back up to 4 ohms by putting a high wattage 2 ohm resistor in the circuit. i am a chevy tech, driveability and electronics diagnostics repairs, and an engineering major, so lay it on me ill probly get it, but i just dont know alot of specifics about car audio. any help on this would be greatly appriciated. and any pitfalls or obvious problems with this system, id like to know about. id rather not get an amp if i dont have to, but i suppose its always an option. below are the components im looking to use.

headunit - Sony Xplod CDX-MP80 - rated 23.5W RMS/52W Max 4 channel
dash speakers - Sony 4x6in speakers 20W RMS/ 120W max 4 ohm
door speakers - Sony 6.5in speakers ??W RMS/ 220W max 4 ohm
sail panel speakers - Sony 6x9in 60W RMS/300W max 4 ohm
rear cargo cover - Sony 6.5in speakers ?? RMS/ 220W max 4 ohm

[sr20de4evr]

People say Sony car audio is junk for a reason, it is. It's not that it doesn't sound like competition level speakers, it's that it sounds like crap...utter, worthless crap, and every product they make is very unreliable and prone to failure.

That having been said, your idea of wiring the speakers in parallel and then in series with a resistor would technically work, but it's really a bad idea. The headunit would be fine (other than the fact that it's a Sony and I've only known 1 person, ever, who had their Sony headunit last more than a year without completely breaking down), but each speaker would be receiving about 5 watts at full output. Two speakers each receiving 5 watts would be quieter than a single speaker receiving the full 20, so it's really a waste trying to cram that many speakers in the car. It would be quiet, and if you tried to counter this by cranking the volume you would send the headunit into clipping, which is bad for both the headunit and the speakers.

Really I wouldn't try to wire so many speakers to the headunit, I wouldn't try to get that many speakers in a car PERIOD, even if you were running them off an external amp. Like I said before, it will be both louder and cleaner (sounding and looking) just running 2 pairs of speakers than trying to ghetto rig 4 pairs. If I were you, I would spend all that money on a single decent headunit (not expensive, but something decent and reliable), a single pair of good speakers for the front, a single pair of moderate speakers for the back, and a reasonably powerful 2ch amp. I'm sure you could find all that for the price you would pay for the setup you just listed, and it would sound infinitely better.

[skubydobdo]

Yeah i agree with that too. If you want that many speakers you're going to need multiple amps to make it work RIGHT. Ditch the sony and grab something better.

[MStout]

Give your cool car some cool speakers...therefore ditching those.

[89IROC&RS]

thanx for the feedback guys, guess that clinches it, gotta run the amp, as far as the sony stuff, respect yalls suggestions, but my sis has a sony headunit thats been running strong for years, and i have sony xplods all around in my RS and have no complaints. not to mention ive already bought my stuff lol. so ill probly stick with what i got. plus i havent seen many headunits that look as good as the CDX-MP80, im into clean and classy rather than flashy and crowded. the deal with the 8 speakers, is that my car was originally equipped with the bose speaker system, but still has the standard stereo mounting locations. however the standard mounting locations are less than optimal. i dont have the kickpanels for the bose speakers, but i do have the rear storage lid, which i plan to use, and want to put speakers in my doors, which are better than the dash where the standard speakers are. also the door mount will allow me to run 6.5in speakers rather than 4x6in. so like i said, guess i gotta run an amp. thanx again for the input.

[skubydobdo]

good to hear that you're going 6.5 instead of 4x6. 4x6 sucks in most cases. I've had sony speakers on the inside at one point too, and I thought they were nice for the specs I had at the time.