woa..been awhile since I've posted..I dont know much about the stereo hoopla so I need a lil help. I have an alpine deck running through my Bose speakers and I have a crappy Amp pushing my two "12 inch Kicker 4 ohm subs. The subs specify a recommended RMS of 400 watts and 800 watts for Amp. I got the wrong sub box since its a single chamber so I'm looking for a double chamber. What I need is help with an Amp. I have no idea what's hott and the specs have me a lil lost. The Amp will solely push the subs so what mono Amp do you suggest? I dont understand the ohms..stuff.. thanks..

 

If your subs have single 4ohm voice coils I would recommend connecting them in parallel (+ to + and - to -) to make them a 2ohm load. Then I would get a Class-D subwoofer amp that puts out as many watts as you can afford.

 

Your box is fine. Provided that both subs are running off the same signal (power and crossover slope), are the same brand (duh), and are the same age. (I bet you bought them at the same time huh?) Just make sure your box is not leaking air from anywhere and you'll be good to go. Now then, as LS1_RULZ mentioned, we need to know if your subwoofers are dual or single voice coil. (ie. DUAL 4 ohm, SINGLE 4 ohm) How many connections are on EACH subwoofer? Just one pair of + and -? Or two pair on EACH subwoofer? Stay away from your "flea market" brands and you should be ok. (Pyle, Pyramid, Rockwood, Baja) For your needs, if you've never heard of it.... then it's probably junk. You get what you pay for. How much you looking to spend?

 

I bought my custom fit box and subs from a local shop, I stay away from the fleamarket. Yea, my Amp is junk..what the heck is a Gravity Amp? The box is sealed and I used silicone to seal all the screw holes. Anyhow, last year I purchased these 12" Kicker subs (comp-vr 4 ohm dvc) #03CVR124 and it has two sets of connections on each sub. The speaker's packaging box says to run 400 watts of RMS for each speaker so thats means I should look for a two channel 800 watt Amp with 400 watts to each channel, correct? So "single coil" xx ohms means the sub has a single connection of + & - and "dual coil" xx ohms means the sub has a dual connection of ++ & --? I think I'm getting it now, I guess...
I was told to use a Mono Amp and if you could recommend one, my price range is up to $400. Everytime I go to each shop, I get mixed info..like some Amps are true wattage and some are not so I get confused. My gawd the prices jump around from each brand. I've been looking at Kicker, JL, and Rockford Fosgate, etc.. type Amps since thats what seems to be popular but the resources I'v been looking at doesnt match my price range and setup from what I've windowshoped so far. Basically I jut need someone to point out what would be a good Amp for my subs. If its not too much to ask, shoot me some brands with part numbers or some basic Amp info of what i should be looking at...thanks

 

If you're confused by dual voice coils, check out here: http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/wiring/index.html

 

That is correct. And since your subs are DUAL 4 ohm, you have a couple of choices. Either run them in a parallel configuration for a final load of 1 ohm. Or you could run a series-parallel configuration and have a final load of 4 ohms. (See the JL link to learn how I got those numbers) Now then. Generally the lower impedence the amp is presented with, the greater the output. So you would like to find a 1 ohm stable amp. NO. It does NOT have to be two channel. As you said in the first post, you want a mono amp. Meaning single channel. Mono amps are used to drive subs and subs only.

Also, if you had bought a two channel amp, you would want to bridge the channels together to make a single more powerful channel. But, few amps out there are stable to anything under 4 ohms when bridged. Just a note for ya. A real rule of thumb to remember.

So like I was saying..... you're choices are:
1) A single channel 1 ohm stable amp outputing 800W RMS.
2) A two channel amp running in bridged mode with a 4 ohm load outputing 800W RMS when bridged.

Do you see where I got this conclusion from? Anyway, I really recommend going with the single channel amp, if for no other reason, it will be class D. Class D is far more efficent then class A, B or AB. Less taxing on the ol' alternator. Always a plus. Also, your budget is plenty. The JL 1000/1 is a little out of your price range, but don't worry. Alpine and JL amps are over priced IMO anyway. I am currently running two Autotek XS1500.1's. VERY happy with them. I bought both of mine for....around $350/each new. But for some odd reason, they seem to be much more expensive now. Very odd. That's more power then you really need, but hey. You can afford it. It's a great amp and it makes room for upgrades! But anyway, you shuold be looking for a single channel amp that outputs roughly 800W RMSx1 @1ohm Again, name brand! Just because it says "1,000 WATTS" on the box..... means nothing. You need to look for the RMS figure @ a 1ohm load. And even that doesn't always mean everything. A pyramid amp my say 1,000 watts on the box, 100W RMS on the instructions and still really only output 40W RMS. I know. I know. WTF....

 

You don't necessarily need to run at 1ohm. You can connect the voice coils of each sub in series and then the subs in parallel for a 4ohm load. This wiring option will give you more amps to choose from. Not a lot of amps are rated to handle a 1ohm load. And since you will have a 4ohm load to present to the amp you can also use a bridged 2 channel amp to run it. Even so, I would recommend getting a Class-D subwoofer amp that can deliver as much power as you can afford.

As for matching the amp's power output to the sub's power rating... forget about it. These are only guidelines to go by. Just because your sub's are rated for 400W it doesn't mean they will blow if they get 401W. At one time I used a single Alpine Type-S sub that is only rated at 200W yet my subwoofer amp could deliver 600W. I never blew the sub or caused it to bottom out with all that extra power. The sub's RMS power rating is a "continuous" power rating. That means the sub should be able to handle 400W of constant power. Music is very dynamic and full pf peaks. The amount of power being used is constantly varrying and will never be at a constant 400W. It may reach peaks that high or even higher but you will never be sending 400W of constant power to the sub. Typically you'll only be putting out about 10 to 20W of continuous power with the volume cranked up.

 

...... I just said that.

And yes, LS1 is correct. The RMS rating on the subwoofer is just to give you a ballpark range to go by. And for the exact reason he said.

 

Hey, thanks guys..your replies made everything make sense. I checked out that link and I'll guess I'll try bridging the Amp I already have to see if I'm satisfied with the results. In the meantime, I'll still be looking at Amps and now I have some info to go on and kinda know what the sales guy is talking about and make shopping for one easier.

 

Sounds like a great idea.

 

omg, I bridged this thing and it pounds like crazy. I think my sail panels blew off, ha...I like it. I should of done this a long time ago. Well..my volt meter went crazy and then I popped a fuse in the amp, woops ha. After that happened I set all the levels down to about half way and I now I have to tweak everything out so I don't blow more fuses. Anyhow, thanks again...