2nd Gen JBL amp or HU power

I ordered a 4660nex, and speakers (Focal 165AS for the front, RCX165 for rear). Am I better off powering the speakers w/ the factory JBL amp via Maestro RR/RR2 or is the head unit power enough? I don't want to go through the process of wiring up a new external amp at this point. Maybe in the future, but no time soon. Might seem like a dumb question to those who know best, but I don't really know how to figure out which power source is best.

 

The JBL speakers are 2ohm so you will lose quite a bit of volume if you use the factory amp

however, if you want to power the new speakers with the new head unit, you will need to run all new speaker wire in the truck because there isn’t any speaker wire in the dash. It’s all back at the factory amp

 

Thanks! Is it just peak volume I'm compromising? (aka... volume at a given setting...like, if volume is set to "20", it'd be "louder" w/ the 4ohm head unit compared to the 2ohm jbl factory amp)

Is that the only compromise? To be honest, I don't really play music THAT loud any more. Or do I also lose sound quality with a 2ohm vs 4ohm.


4660NEX PERFORMANCE

• Continuous Power Output22 W x 4-Channel
• Max Power Output50 W x 4-ch 4 ohm / 50 W x 2-ch 4 ohm 70 W X 1-ch (subwoofer) 2 Ohm
• RCA Preamp Outputs6-Channel
• RCA Preout Voltage4V
• RMS Power Output (CTA-2006)14 W RMS x 4-ch 4 ohm

 

Well, I went the route of using the RR2 and powering everything w/ the factory amp. Things sound fine to me so far. I have to play w/ the settings, but I'll do that after I can get a firmware update completed on the head unit. I believe I can put the update on a thumb drive then transfer it to the unit. I'll have to read directions on that.

Aside from that, I need to call the Maestro people. I'm not getting vehicle/OBD readouts on the nex. I'll get tire pressure and temp, but no other numbers. Says there's an error connecting to the obd port, but the physical connections are fine. ANyone else experience that issue on a 2gen yet?

I also left the factory tweeters in place. I didn't feel like splicing and running new wires to a crossover, for what might be minimal gains from those little guys. Am I wrong?

I'll snap some pics of the head unit all buttoned up once the snow stops blowing around.

Here's where I left off last night. Rear speakers upgraded, just because. Fronts are in, but didnt snap a pic there.

 

Installed

 

You asked about crossovers.

Are you not using the Focal crossover? I think you should. Focal spend a lot of R&D dollars designing the crossover for those expensive speakers. Using the right speakers and crossover is essential in getting the best performance from them. Otherwise, you might as well use BOSS speakers.

 

I'm not using the focal crossover. At least not now. I spoke to Crutchfield and they tried to explain the options I have and how I would need to splice and wire the crossover if I wanted to use it w/ the factory wiring and amp. To be honest, for someone like myself who doesn't fully grasp audio wiring, it didn't click during the 2 minute phone conversation.
My understanding is that these speakers run in parallel. That part was easy to figure out b/c the door speaker/woofer isn't powered if I disconnect the tweeter. That leaves me with figuring out what wires are the power coming in, I assume, to cut and run in to the crossover. At which point I assume I can then run wires from the crossover to the woofer and new tweeter.
If you're familiar w/ the 2gen door wiring, I'll gladly take some advice and what and where to cut to wire in the new crossover appropriately.

 

I’m not 100% on door wiring. When I pulled my stock speakers, I ran new wire to the door myself from the amp. My crossovers are in the kickpanel inside the truck. I have 2 16ga wires that I fed through the door boot and into the door. One wire for woofer, one for tweeter. I don’t leave a crossover in the door, due to moisture and vibration.

If you could find a spot inside the door card, I would run the woofer wiring to the crossover, as the factory tweeter uses a capacitor as a frequency filter. The woofer signal is full range. Then, you go to the crossover, and each speaker.

 

Seems to me if you are not planning on using the Focal crossover and tweeters, you should just get a set of coaxial speakers for your doors.

 

Initially I thought I would eliminate the stock system all together and run power either from a head unit or even external amp. For budget and simplicity, I decided to go this route right now.
In hindsight, Yes, I probably should've.

 

You can send the Focals’ to me, no charge!

 

"The check is in the mail"

 

If you got them from crutchfield they do exchanges and returns for 60 days.