Right now I have a pretty good setup in my 98 Civic,

Alpine CDE-102 deck
6.5" Rockford Fosgate T162C speakers in the front
Two 12" Rockford Fosgate P3 subs in a custom built ported box (have no clue what its tuned to or anything similar)
One Rockford Fosgate T500-1db mono amp (powers just the subs)
Stock speakers in the back deck (which are just about shot, but I never hear them with the subs on)

My question is, how much would I benefit from powering the front door speakers with an amp? Right now I'm just running them off of the CD deck. It all sounds good, I'll try to get a video up when I have the time.

 

If you cannot hear your speakers over your sub, then the sub it probably over powering them. I don't think a video is necessary as it'll be just vibrations and noises from the subs hitting.

Sound systems really are a preference. Some people ride around with now stereo, some with only two front speakers and others... well, take out all the available seats in the car to put like 10+ subs in it. LOL

What I am saying is that, if you feel like the speakers need to be louder, first, turn the subs down a little, change up the sound settings on the head unit first and see what you think. If you still want the speakers louder, definitely look into an amp for them.

My preference? Yes I would amp the speakers for better, fuller sound.

 

I can hear the front speakers fine, what I meant was I can't hear the rear speakers because they're way in the back of the car and right above the subs. I only mentioned that because when I listed what I have, I said that my rear speakers are still stock and I don't see any need to upgrade them. The reason why I'm thinking of amping the front speakers is a couple of people who have listened to my system have said that it would sound better if the fronts were amped.

 

I'd put the fronts on a two channel amp and do away with the rear speakers. You can buy another two channel amp in order to add rear speakers later.

 

In my car, if I fade the speakers so the rear isn't playing anything, it is very obvious and that is with a 12" sub in the back. I don't know if you play music where all you hear is the sub, I like to keep it balanced.

How much are you planning on spending for a 4 channel amp? If it's $150-$200, you can find yourself a great 5 ch amp in the same price range

 

I wouldn't mind finding a good used amp if I could. I like mk378's idea of getting a two channel for the fronts because I'd like to keep the amp that I have now. I have my speakers balanced front/rear and I'm just assuming that I can't hear the rear ones because they're way in the back of the car above the subs. I have the subs set at 12/15, bass at 1/7, bass range at 4/4 and volume at 14/35 most of the time.

 

It really depends on how you like your sound. If I were you I would get an amp for the speakers, because that head unit only puts out 16watts rms per channel, where as those speakers are power hungry and if I'm not mistaken will handle 100rms per speaker. The most money efficient way to go about amping your speakers with an Alpine head unit is to get a "power pack". Alpine makes them and they are so much easier to install and only cost $120 all said and done. No wiring kits no running wires just unplug the Alpine plug the power pack into the Alpine harness and plug the Alpine into the power pack. I just the other day installed one in my fathers truck I was skeptical being that Im an installer and wondered how such a small thing could make such a difference but it does.

As far as the 2-channel idea goes its just a bad idea. The 6x9's in the rear are put there for a reason to give you a better all around sound. Also if you were to buy a second amp eventually it would cost you alot more money and good luck getting the settings to match up from one amp to another.

Just so that you know those subs are meant to handle double the power that you are pushing to them.

 

If i were u id get new rear speakers and put a 2ch ampto them (thats what i did) and i just have the front ones just off the deck and i think it sound pretty good.

 

Now this is very interesting for me. I've read about these a little, but I don't know much about them. Would this thing also give my subs more power? I don't want that as I think my subs are pushing hard enough. Alpine's site says, "A high/low gain switch allows for proper gain settings, whether or not a subwoofer is part of the system." Some more details from the experts would help

 

I always recommend powering all speakers if you want nice over all sound.

Im running 50*4 to my fronts and rears and 90*2 to my 10's and it sounds pretty damn nice.