thaifoodninja

I'm looking to pickup a fairly minimalistic setup and wanted your opinions:
Sony MEX-GS820BT headunit which does 45watt RMS per channel and can power a subwoofer output using the rear channel
Rockford Fosgate Punch P16-S component speakers for the doors. they're 6" but crutchfield (and reviews) mention it fits the s2k doors ok? anyone use these?

I already have:
Pioneer TS-SW2502S4 10" shallow mount subwoofer and a Pioneer UD-SW250D box that I think will fit in the trunk ok.

Does this look like a good setup?

zze86

See my thread about the headunit. The recommended power gauge for 45wrms is 12ga. The MEX-GS820BT has 16ga or 18ga power wire, which is approximately half the diameter of the 12ga. I doubt you'll be able to get a full sustained 45wrms from it.

The XB100BT was dynoed to give the full 45wrms but by all accounts it came with a thicker power wire.

Sony probably stepped down the power wire to protect the head unit from thermal damage/fatigue.

thaifoodninja

Awesome. I included this wiring kit just in case https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CK1...mnews=15662736

zze86

Unfortunately, the 12ga wiring kit doesn't do much good when it's still limited by the head unit's smaller wiring. With the head unit's smaller wiring you may as well just run it off the factory wiring.

I also tried de-pinning the power wire from the head unit's wiring harness but it was becoming more trouble than it was worth so I just packed it up and sent it back. Sucks to have to run wiring but a separate head unit and amp is probably more reliable anyways.

DanielB

The Rockford's are pretty inefficient for a car speaker so you may find that even with 45W you won't get the volume you want with the top down. Keep in mind that to get a louder sound you can raise the amp's power and/or choose more efficient speakers. Doubling the power is the same as using a speaker that is 3dB more efficient. I'd be looking for speakers that were in 90 dB range, or at least closer to it.

oth

...and I don't think you'll be able to hear a trunk-mounted sub powered by only 45 watts in a noisy convertible. I'd use
a separate external sub amp.

Ankur194

I think it would work OK (minus sub), but the noise level in our cars is pretty high. 45 watts is a lot more than most "upgraded" factory systems, and even though the wiring on the Sony is 16ga I bet it puts out as advertised power. They are a big established company and its CEA rated. I would consider the JL Audio C1-650 instead of the Rockford's, they have a much higher sensitivity and power handling rating matches up well with the Sony stereo. If you want to keep it simple and step it up a mini 4 channel amp with 1 and 2 to the doors and 3/4 bridged to the sub would be more ideal.

thaifoodninja

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I know there are possible flaws with everything but after sleeping on it I just have to hear it and see what I think. I’m stubborn and going to install it all and see how it goes. I already own the sub from a previous car, and Crutchfield has a 60 day returns policy, if the components don’t sound great or aren’t pushed hard enough by the 40 theoretical rms watts I’ll change them for the suggestions you’ve made. As for the gauge of wire not giving it all the power it needs, the short run coming from the stereo isn’t a problem as long as the long run of power wire to the battery is adequate gauge. After all, what hurts power delivery is resistance over distance of wire. The short amount coming from the headunit is fine.

zze86

My rationale was if I wasn't getting the full 45wrms sustained then it wasn't worth the extra $100-$125 over a "regular" 22wrms head unit. Looking at reviews of the XB100BT and XB120BT, they seem to die randomly our throw "output error". To me, combined with the smaller gauge wire of the GS820BT indicated they were trying to cut down on dead unit's/warranty claims, especially considering the GS820BT has a three year warranty.

I'd be interested to see the results considering I almost went this route, especially in comparison to a regular aftermarket 22wrms head unit. Post it up once you have it installed!

oth

Per the speaker wire calculator at bcae1.com, running 40 watts through the OEM wires (20ga) will result in a power drop to the speakers
of 5% - 10% depending on whether you estimate the wire length as 5 ft or 10 ft. This is quite small compared to the effective power drop
of using inefficient speakers (sensitivity drop from 90dB to 87db = 50%, from 93dB to 87dB = 75%).
That said, 45 watts appears to be roughly the safe limit for the wires from a heat perspective (if you cranked up the volume so far that
your output really was 45 watts RMS)