what kind of amp do I need
 

I want to power a pair of component speakers in the front, a 10"(or 8") subin the trunk, and possibly a pair of 6x9s in the back, what kind of amp do I need?
Thanks

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

Depends, single-multi channel amp can run all of that (cheaper) but way less flexible.

If you run seperate amps you are going to want to run approximately twice the power to the subs vs the other components. i.e. you run 150 watts to the components, you would want to run 300 to the sub.

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

couldn't a 4-channel do that? Would I have seperate control of my speakers, or not?

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

Forgotten,

It looks like you are going in a great direction for someone new to car audio. Hopefully we can give some guidance.

The amp you need really depends on your budget. Most car audio people prefer not to run rear fill or to only run midrange frequencies from the back to move the soundstage forward, so I will eliminate the 6 by 9's from the equation.

With a small budget a reasonably powered 4 channel would be suffecient.

With a little more money, two amps would be best to get the job done. A high powered two channel will feed a pair of comps great, and a class D mono amp is the most effecient way to power a sub.

If you provide a budget for the whole system, we should be able to set you up nice.

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

depending on the rating on the speakers but i would use two amps because a four channel amp send high frequency to the speakers and you dont want to send the frequency to ur sub it will not sound good so go wit a mono block amp class D to ur sub and a four channel amp that matches the rms on the speakers

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

Most 4 channel amps have high and low pass filters. Those keep high frequencies from the subs and lows from the full range.

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

Yep! And thats exactly what im doing!

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

I was looking at a pioneer 4-channel 4x120 watt amp for $100, but I could go higher. my cd-player has crossover controls for the subwoofer and for the speaker.

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

Depending on what type of head unit you are using I would just either buy a 4 channel amp with decent power 100W/channel ( 2 OHM stable, that way you can wire your subs or sub for more power).. Run your rear speakers off the head unit as (fillers) then adjust your gains to match and run your front components off the front half of the 4 channel and your sub/s off the rear.. It should work out great and not cost a **** load... The trick is buying quality and matching your power levels as best you can..

If you dont want to go 4 channel, then just get a good head unit,, Im a huge fan of Pioneer.. They have great sounding dependable head units and you can adjust the sound very easily.. Run your front and rear speakers off of that and then get a mono or 2 channel amp for the sub in the rear..

MATCH YOUR POWER RATINGS and Resistance... That allways works best.. but remember that if an amp says max power of 200 watts read into what it puts out Continuously (RMS) and match that for your speakers ,, not the max power outputto the max power rating of a speaker..

RE: what kind of amp do I need
 

You can do a lot better then pioneer for a little more money. The amp you need to buy really depends on your speaker and sub choices.