ReeseRiverson

Unfortunately many of the Gateway 2000 boards I've come across are like that, lacking the L2 cache. From what I've found out a while back they used some odd standard for the cache chips. So any of the ones I have on another board simply won't work on these. Which is a shame because I really wanted to run my Pentium Overdrive in one of these Gateway 2000 machines I have... I mean it does work, but my 486DX4 machine still kills the Pentium Overdrive in raw performance just because of the lack of L2 cache in the machine it's installed in. While that 486DX4 has plenty of L2 cache on hand. I definitely agree with how much of a difference it makes, it's quite amazing, yet frustrating at the same time. ?

I believe it was for a separate chip to support FPU when you have the 486SX installed. Like the 487, IIRC.

That mostly depends on how loud you really want to play music, but there wouldn't be a problem with powering them off the headunit within reasonable volume levels. If your listening preferences end up causing you to clip the amp, to cause distortion then you'll definitely want to add an amplifier to provide more power. The speakers are rated at 90dB sensitivity at 1 watt, which is generally at a meter distance (Or 3.28 feet). Every 3dB added means double the power requirement, and for every 10dB requires 10x power increments as well. An amp with 20 watts per channel with a 90dB sensitive speaker would be about 103dB (This isn't taking any cabin gain into consideration.) An amp with 45 watts per channel with that same speaker would play at 106.5dB. That's your difference between trying to match the speaker power exactly with an amp versus the headunit. Since your original post said they don't need to go loud, which your definition of loud may differ from mine, that may be perfect, or near perfect for what your aiming for. Like I said earlier, low frequencies for bass response will eat the majority of power. That's when you'll notice driving the headunit's built in amplifier to clip if you ever push it to it's limits. You'll likely be fine starting out with using the headunit to power everything right now anyway, and if you do run into clipping, back off on the volume control. At least then you can decide to plan for adding a nice amplifier to drive all the speakers should you need it. Other than that, I generally always recommend a good amplifier anyway because the headroom for the power would always help result in cleaner sound. Plus less chances of frying the tweeters first from it. Like for me, I'm in the works of upgrading the audio in my CR-V, and the factory amp just isn't enough. So I'm looking to change out the speakers and bypass the factory amp (Yet keep the factory headunit.). Which as it is can actually do probably around 20WPC cleanish in mine, and other than the lack of bass below 50Hz, it can still get louder than most people would care for. So you still may come out pretty happy with just upgrading your speakers to see how you stand. Plus no harm in taking it a step at a time for the upgrade process.

Just a few of my retro computer machines and parts... and one of my 486 motherboards is the model with an actual GUI for the BIOS. I wonder if @LinusTech ever happened to of seen one of those beauties before? ? By the way, I can capture any footage of the BIOS directly if any one would like a clearer shot, since I can capture VGA output easily. Now for the rest of the goodies.

You're welcome! Also thank you for the welcome! As for the full-range requirement, that's understandable. I mostly recommended that in case you (or anyone else) may have had more focus on full-range in the front stage instead of all around. One thing's for sure, everyone's definitely got multiple preferences for which way to go. It's almost hard to cover every possible route at once! ? The only thing I should make note about the power is that too often the power rating figures within car audio are inflated, or are only rated for say a 10% THD (Total Harmonic Distortion). Thus why I generally would recommend an external amplifier for most systems so you can give them clean power. I mostly bring this up because there is always a chance of blowing up your speakers or frying them from clipping a small amplifier. Though I also don't know the age of your car, so it's also possible to have been caused from the foam surround rotting away too. As far as the Pioneers go, they really should easily surpass the factory speaker quality anyway, especially when one of those is already blown. If that's within your budget range, I don't see any harm in it.

I agree with the suggestion for going with Crutchfield, since they tend to offer discounts for the necessary accessories needed for your speaker installation. However, the requirement on handling a good amount of bass may depend greatly on your music preferences and targeted frequency range. Especially since you would need to ensure you pick the right driver(s) capable of reproducing the bass as well as what you'll be driving them with. Example, are you running a factory headunit, an aftermarket head unit, a premium factory amplified system, or an aftermarket amplifier added to a factory system. You don't necessarily have to have a lot of power to listen to music at loud volumes, but generally to achieve good bass response you need decent amount of power behind the drivers. Considering the lower frequency range eats up power, especially when you begin factoring in speaker efficiencies. Assuming the 6x9s are what you'll use for the rear deck, then that's a good start regardless. I might would suggest focusing on a nice pair of 2-way coaxial speakers or even a component set for the front and something like the Tang Band W69-1042J 6"x9" Subwoofer drivers that could be bought from Parts-Express. Mixing is fine as well, especially if it ends up getting you a better deal anyway, or the ability to chose something that performs better for a given duty it must take care of.