anyone amplifying front doors only?

[Jeremy03Sport]

So I'd like to go for the full gut and replace like others, but can't justify the spending right now. What I do have is new Polk db6501 components, 651s and infinity 475a amp collecting dust. Currently I have an amp under passenger seat driving aftermarket sub in factory location. Factory HU.

I can add second amp under driver seat and run additional power (probably larger gauge), ground etc. and power new front and rear door speakers.

Easier option is swap out mono amp for 4 channel, use 2 channels for components in front, bridge remaining two for sub. I'd only have to pull wire to front speakers.

Again, staying with factory hu for now. Feedback on only amplifying front door speakers?

Read elsewhere about sound stage being poor and to unhook rear anyway. May have been for gen3. Not an issue in gen 4?

Once aftermarket hu is in hand, I would likely go with 2 amps and power all 4 doors.

 

[Skidmarcx]

Depends on your idea of sounding good... Personally I have a full setup, but faded slightly to the front... That's where I sit that's where it needs to be loud and clear... Rear is fill in it doesn't necessarily need to be amplified

 

[Jeremy03Sport]

With factory hu, not expecting great sound. Would be nice to have EQ or processor to clean it up. For the price I could just about have new HU with built in EQ. Anything would be better than what I have now (jbl). Figured power up front for now. Eventually pick up additional items to finish it right. Hell I went with it like this for 10 yrs. This lil change may satisfy me for the next 10. Seriously though, looking forward to a new deck. More & more features keep coming and more affordable.

 

[Skidmarcx]

I think your idea will work for the time being

 

[ddnww]

i abide by the "save and do it right the first time" theory.

 

[jimmied]

I run my alpine 4ch with fronts and sub amplified. Sounds nice. Clears up front stage for me too.

 

[Offroader5]

You want most if not all of your vocals/music to come from in front of you. Even in the case of subwoofers/sub-bass, audiophiles will strive to get the bass sound to seem like it's coming from in front of you instead of being able to somewhat localize it to the rear of the vehicle. They call this "up front bass". This is why if you look at the front stage of a real audiophiles vehicle or an SQ competition vehicle, there usually will be large midbass drivers (often in the 8" to 10" sizes) in the front doors or kickpanels. This is to try and bring the bass stage as far forward in the vehicle cabin as possible. This allows them to cross the sub over very low and get cleaner sound from it. Many have even installed all of their sub stage in the front of the car in center consoles, under the dash, or in the kickpanels.

That said, some people do like how a little rear fill sounds and use the rear doors or in the case of a car, the rear deck to add some additional speakers. IMO, I don't like it. It doesn't sound natural to me...at least in a music stand point. If you have in car DVD & want surround for that, then you'd want the rears there just for that purpose.

I tried to use the rear doors at first as a midbass location crossed over fairly low to help with the higher bass frequencies and it ended up ruining my sound stage. If you're going to use the rear doors at all, best bet is to run those directly off the lower HU power, and then amplify the front doors.