Alpine R-Type components

I have a pair of Alpine SPR-176A's (6.5") component set to install in my 2002 Civic Type-R for the front, along with a pair of SPR-174A co-ax 2way's for the rear. There is no sub or amp as I am just a beginner trying to improve the factory fitted kit. The head unit is a Sony CDX-F7500 (new) with 50W x 4 at 4 ohms, impedence 4-8ohms.

Can anyone tell me if the H/U is a good enough match for the speakers, or if I have missed something out. I have been trying to find some information to determine if the speaker powers suit the H/U, since the 176's are 50W RMS and the rears are only 40W RMS, will they blow on high volumes?

As you can tell I am a novice, and will be humbled by any advice you can give me. I would also like to set the HPF and LPF on the H/U so it is optimised for the speakers, but again don't know much more than I have typed?

The speaker specs are as follows;

SPR176A's

• 6.5"
• 200W max 50W RMS
• 40Hz - 30kHz
• 86dB/W(1m)
• 4 ohms

SPR174A's

• 6.5"
• 160W max 40W RMS
• 45Hz - 30kHz
• 87dB/W(1m)
• 4 ohms

You will never get those speakers to sound right unless you amp them with at least 50 watts rms.  Your mids wont have the impact like they should, and they will definately dissapoint you if you keep them running off the amp.  

And  definately in the future look into getting a sub, as you will be missing out on lots off bass.

Thanks for the advice so far. I didn't realise the H/U only output 23w RMS, so is there a rule of thumb for RMS power, should it match the speakers or be lower than the speaker handling power?

I would like to amp up the speakers, when I have some more $'s. Should I ignore the HPF & LPF settings on the H/U until I have an amp?

Also does anyone know if the supplied speaker wire would be an improvement over the Honda OE?

Thanks again

The rule of thumb is that the amplifier should drive the speakers without overpowering them.  At this point, do as DYohn suggested and do a nice install on what you have.  Upgrades will come as you can afford it.

It doesn't hurt to fiddle with the crossover settings on the head unit to tweak the sound to its best.  Look for the higher freqs on the front and lower in the rear.  As you test things out, you may very well find that full-range sounds best all around.

The speaker wire will make no difference.  In this case, go with the original for ease of installation.

I personally have used type-r 6.5" woofers in a sealed box, powerd with 200 wrms getting sub frequencies, and they don't skip a beat!!  It is better to overpower you speakers then to under power them.

When matching an amp for these speakers get a minimum of 50 watts rms per channel.  10 billion sony rms may do.

stevdart wrote:

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My guess is the Xplod amp is overrated at 75X4 and the components are underrated at 50rms.  So you should probably stay with those if you've listened to them and like the sound.

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I got alpine type r 6.5in seperates in the front, alpine type r 6x9s in the back, both runnig off a kicker kx300.4. I think its like 50x4rms.  they still  over power my 2 12in type r's, while sounding crystal clear.

I work with the alpine type r speakers and I have found that you can throw a GREAT amount of power into them with out blowing them. DON'T forget that alpine unrates there products about 20 - 40 % of the power.

Alpine Guy wrote:

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Ya like i said before, , they took 200 wrms in the 200-60 hz range for 4 months now and still pounding.  There is no way in hell you will blow them unless you underpower them and try to compensate by turning them up to clipping.

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I put 200 wrms to a single 6.5" type r component speaker and am feeding it 60-200 hz in a sealed .5 cubic foot box.

I have done a few of those set up in the new ford f-150's where people want more bass but want to keep there seat.  And since alpine dosn't make 8" subs, i had to compensate.  i got these 6.5" woofers hitting like 8's.

Alpine Guy wrote:

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its in a box under the rear seat.

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no no no, , its just the woofer, no tweets or anything else under the seat, JUST THE WOOFER!

Using a woofer from a component set as a bass fill speaker is a common techniqe especially in the SQ world.  I use two 7" ScanSpeak woofers designed for a component set in .45 CUFT sealed enclosures in the front of my car for front bass fill.  And like Alpine Guy said, if you design it correctly, a sealed enclosure will dramaticly increase a woofer's power handling capability.  My drivers are rated for 100 watts and are driven by 250 crossed between 60Hz and 200 Hz.  Have been for 3 years now.  Component set woofers are rated for free-air (infinite baffle) installation.  This is the worst case situation for a woofer.  The same driver in a sealed enclosure could handle 3 to 5 times the rated power, especially when using a proper band-pass filter crossover.

With reference to DYohn's statement about the infinite baffle scenario, I have installed the comp speakers as described in the topic start, and whilst they are a big improvement over the OE ones, I thought they would carry more bass, since they are based on a subwoofer design. Is this because of the door enclosure they are in, does it require a smaller enclosure to emphasize the bass? If I simply turn the bass up, it just vibrates the door internals.

I am reluctant to mess with the HPF LPF settings, following Alpine guys comment;

Alpine Guy wrote:

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Ya like i said before, , they took 200 wrms in the 200-60 hz range for 4 months now and still pounding.  There is no way in hell you will blow them unless you underpower them and try to compensate by turning them up to clipping.

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