Tower Speaker Set Up

Here is what I am planning for my tower set up:

Tower Box: Wet Box X-Logo

Speakers: 4 Polk Audio MMC690 6x9's
These are rated to hold 100w RMS at 4 ohms, and 300w max.

Amp: Alpine MRP-F450
Continuous RMS Power at 4 ohms is 70w x 4.

What are your thoughts? I know this is not going to compare to a pair of NVS, but I don't want to spend that kind of money. Will I be able to hear this while riding?

OK, most advise me to not answer these kinds of q's but since these's type of q's tend to abound, I'm compeled.
The answer to you q "Will I be able to hear this while riding?" isn't a "yes" or a "no". Sure you'll be able to hear something. I think its a matter of wether or not you hear what you want to hear. I started NVS because car audio couldn't provide the level and freq range of volume I wanted to hear.
When riding at 75 or more feet and 20+ mph, it's not like seting up your system in the parking lot. This is the first big mistake most car audio people make. Ask yourself this, is this the environment that you want to hear the music in? Of course not. Then why tune your system in this environment?
I've been in the RTA environment at 80 feet in a parking lot with some very nice car audio stuff on the tower. Tuned it all in, sounded awesome. Took it to the lake and couldn't hear much at all below 2,000 Hz.
Matt, the speakers you are suggesting would be ver good for cabin/interior speakers. If you put them on the tower they would be mostly for looks, not function.
Just some food for thought, and of course just MO.
D out

I Was thinking of this same setup actually, I have also been talking with Clay about a custom job.
So if you not inclined to like this setup help use both out with a creative good looking better sounding combo because before this my idea was to use a set of addictions with matching MOMO bullets and a medium sizes screen in the middle.
now I find out that the receiver dish is about 2' round that doesn't sound that good to me. Clay had some other suggestions for me that he was gonna throw my way but Im open to all idea's

Crazy HUH

?????

Here is my opinion if you want it...

4 - 6x9's is a proven tower solution. Possibly one of the best for all around use. A good set of efficient speakers with lots of high frequency output driven by a very strong amp has proven itself here with many happy guys running this setup.

I won't comment about NVS because you said they are out of your budget.

I will comment about the amp, I think you need more power. I would say at least 100 watts per speaker. To save on tower wiring you can run two speakers per channel OR all on one single channel? Infinity has some 2 ohm speakers that you can wire in series pairs, or you can run 4 ohm speakers in parallel pairs, mix and match until you get the impedence your amp is rated for. The Pioneer 4 way 6x9s are probably the most common tower speaker, cheap and effective.

My HiFonics ZX6400 was a decent amp for my tower last summer, I am stepping it up a little this summer. Orion, Phoenix Gold, PPI also have good products that lots of guys use. I have not heard of any success stories with anybody using that Alpine amp but that doesn't mean it won't work for you. I have heard from a few guys running Sony amps, they run too hot in most configurations.

Based on proven solutions I would say you could snag 4 Pioneer 3 ways off ebay for a little over $100, an Orion 8002, Phoenix Gold, or Fosgate amp, and you should be good to go.

Hey Matt did you make a decision yet
I think the alpine amp would be a wrong choice
I have an mvr-f450 and its sounds good in my car but i think its under powered especial on the sub channel but so are the primary channels. Personally I would always go with more watts then you want. In the long run it will be far cheaper to turn your amp down then to buy a new amp if its not enough watts ask yourself ?
(70)watts.

Anyway if you were to just buy any set of speakers what would they be. I mean AnY

J

Mikeski - When you say 100 watts per speaker, are you talking about Max power or continuous power? If you look at Pioneer's website, you will see that they don't even make a 6x9 which is rated to handle over 80 watts continuous power.

The Polk MMC690 6x9s are rated to handle 100 watts continuous power and I think I am going to go with these because, personally, I believe they make a better car audio speaker.

What wattage in continuous power would you suggest for these speakers. I think I am going to try to do 100watts, but it seems there are very few 4 channel amps that are rated at 100w x 4 continuous power.

What about these two Phoenix Gold Amps:

Xenon 100.4 - the website rates this at 100x4, but I am not sure whether this is continuous or not

Octane R 8.0:4 - the website rates this at 125x4 at 4 ohms, but doesn't say whether this is continuous or max either. There is one for sale on ebay which has the specs and it says that it is 125x4 max, and 75x4 continuous at 4 ohms. This leads me to beleive that the Xenon 100.4 isn't 100x4 continous either...

Does anyone have any definite info about these amps - what their true continuous ratings are?

Also, do I really need 100 watts continuous power to each speaker, and if so, can someone please recommend a good amp that produces 100w x 4 continuous power at 4 ohms?

Zapco 1000.4= 4x150@4 ohm's i decided that after the post i left you today and i went down to hear the polks. and they sound pretty good I knew what i was gonna do when i left the post but i still have to do some measuring.
I left that post to provolk you a little into making a choice I think what you said ther is good, But the reason I ask'ed is that Final question is that if you really want the additions the cost is only like 200 more over the wetbox and momo's.
But the question is still the same.refer to last post I just wanted to get your input cause 2 heads are better then one


J

Matt,

Don't get wrapped around the specifications. You will need the power...

You should also be considering strong 2 channel amps. You will probably end up series or paralleling the speakers so you only have to run 4 wires through the tower.

Matt 400 may also be too little as youll want a little head room so you can turn down the gain a bit to ensure you have good clean power going to the speakers. Ive got an 800 watt rms amp driving 4 polk momo 6X9's in a glass box. More is better but I may have overdone it a bit. 600 would be a better choice, 400 ok , 4 X 70 watt rms--just dont do it or youll be kickin yourself later and going to buy a bigger amp.

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone have any feedback on the two amps I asked about above, especially the Octane R 8.0:4, which says 125 x 4 at 4 ohms? Is that really 125 continuous, or just 80 continuous? Also, please recommend some other specific amps that I can check out... Thanks for all the feed back!

Oh yeah, also, I don't know much about wiring, as I will probably have someone else do it. Does the wiring in Parallel or Series like Mikeski was talking about increase or decrease the power?

I'm no expert but if you get a good 2 ch amp and then run your speakers in series or paralel you should be fine. Thats what I did,But for the life of me I cant remember which way I did it.

Heres a 400 watt rms one http://cgi.ebay.com/SOUNDSTREAM-VAN-GOGH-VGA400-2-CHANNEL-CAR-AMPLIFIER-SUB_W0QQitemZ5872952280QQcategoryZ18796QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem
or maybe this http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SOUNDSTREAM-EGA500-2X-2-CH-AMPLIFIER-500W-RMS-129_W0QQitemZ5870318320QQcategoryZ18796QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

the R8.0:4 looks to be only 75 w rms @ 4 ohms X 4 channels http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YjTIEEexiFI/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=218OCR804&g=120&search=phoenix