Gangstajpimpin

iTrader: (1)

I have 2 Kicker CompVR 12" Subs, and I am having a hard time choosing out an amp to power them. I want an amp that can fully power them, but wont break them. Can anybody help me out? Im a little new to car audio and want to learn as much as i can about it.

Also, should i run it in 2 ohm or 4 ohm? Or even maybe 1ohm if the amp supports it?

EDIT: Will i need a capacitor also? Thank you for all of your help in advance! I appreciate it!

racer J

2 ohm or 4 ohm depends on the amp and your speakers. 1 ohm is overkill on an amp and as a result the amp will get hot and shut down frequently in most cases. Your subs can handle 400 watts RMS at the most. 800 watts peak but peak is a waste of time. RMS is what you always go by.

Your subs are apparently Dual voice coil. That can be a good thing because you can wire each one to be a 2 ohm load on each channel of a 2 channel amp. Your instructions should show you how to do that.


Your going to need a big expensive amp to give each speaker 400 watts though. That's why I just got a single 10" W3v2 DVC12 (4 ohm) from JL Audio and a TC3001 (300 watts @ 2 ohm) mono channel sub amp from MTX. You could buy two of those and give each speaker 300 watts. i got my amp on sale at Circuit City last week for $149.99 but it's back up to $199.99 this week. For $299.99 you can step up to a TC4001 (400 watts @ 2 ohm) from MTX for $299.99 each. BTW, the amps will puch more power than they are rated at. The TC3001 will be cheaper and give enough power at 300 watts RMS.


All I can tell you is to shop around and catch a sale. You'll need one if you want to try and get out any cheaper than that and have good sound from a good amp. You can use a two channel amp but that's going to cost you even more money.

TheBandit

id go with a 1000watt amp.. 500 each sub.. you can always turn the gain down.. but you should buy a mono amp and run it at either 1ohm or 2ohm.. depending on your voice coil configuration.. i run my 1000watt memphis almost full gain.. and have no problems with those woofers

TheBandit

one more thing.. Racer J.. an amp that is made to run at 1ohm will not ovrheat or shutdown.. it will run just as good and efficeint as an amp thats made for a 2ohm minimum load.. dont know what your talking about with the overkill stuff.. you will also get more power out of an amp thats stable at 1ohm for less money, then buying an amp thats gonna push 1000 at 2ohm or 4ohm

Jtufts

i am running 2 alpine swr-1042d's 2 DVC in Parallel / Parallel , running it to a 1200watt stable @ 1ohm Hifonics BXI1206D amp , over all 550 bucks but bangs like no other around my area , was scared of turning it up to loud thought something was gonna rattle off

link below should be helpful

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=161

racer J

Yea and I should have stated that. Most amps you run into a store to pickup though aren't generally advertised as being 1 ohm stable. The overkill and overheating comment was aimed at the 2 ohm amps.

Gangstajpimpin

iTrader: (1)

Thank you all for your replies! Will i need a capacitor though?

Jtufts

doutful , i want one casue it will add a little extra cool factor but thats about it , i dont need one so i dout you do , but it can be helful if your bat/alt take heavy load , you will noticed lights dimbing when the subs hitting thats the best way i coukd put in an example if you need one or not

TheBandit

capacitor no.. BIG 3 before a capacitor .. if you see dimming or anything.. if oyu read the other thread about capacitors.. they said BIG 3 before capacitor..i gotcha racer j .. but tbh your better off gettin an amp off the internet.. well at least around my town and stuff its hard to find decent stuff in a store

online170

Also pretty new to audio, not lookin to go extreme with audio, just want good quality, and have decent thump if i want. I have 2 kenwood 10" subs, aparently rated at 300RMS and 600peak, two pioneer TS-905 speakers 6x9, at 200W peak, and 2 infinity 4x6 speakers rated at 40RMS 200peak. The speakers will run off a seperate amp, but im not sure what to getfor the subs. How do i figure out which ohms they run at? And how is the ohms controlled?

racer J

I actually have a Car Toys and a mom and pop audio store in my town on top of Circuit City and Best Buy. There is usually a pretty good selection of items to choose from. It's getting harder because most companies are getting very selective on what they sell. Best Buy is pretty much Rockford Fosgate, Circuit City is pretty much MTX, Car Toys is pretty much JL Audio, and so on.


We'll need the model number for those Kenwood subs to find out about the ohm rating of them. if you no longer have their packaging or their documentation, it should be written on the back of the sub on the magnet. Most speakers are going to be 4 ohm versions. If they are dual voice coil you can run each speaker at a 2 ohm load or combine both speakers for a 1 ohm load.

You control the final ohm rating by how you wire a soeaker to the amp. I honestly do not know how they make a speaker whatever ohm it is though. I never read up on that. It's probably through the way it is wired and designed though.


To push the subs as hard as you can, you'll need an amp that can run 600 watts RMS, or two amps that can each push 300 watts RMS. Again we need the ohm of your subs though to recomend any amp.

TheBandit

online170 like racer j said just give us the model number.. or look it up yourself.. and it will tell you.. then we can help you from there.. i would go for a 600-800 watt amp for those

online170

I dont have th original box unfortunately, and i dont wanna open it up to take out of the enclosure to read the number. The previous owner told me, it was 4 ohms, both signle voice coil subs. Both wired in parallel to the enclosures + and -. ie: speaker + to box + and speaker - to box -. For both subs. (by speakers i mean subs, sorry). Currently set up at 4 ohms.

TheBandit

well i mean if you dont wanna go and check them and look it up.. or have us look it up how are we suppose to help?

racer J

Well going by what he told you, two SVC 4 ohm speakers in parallel would net you a 2 ohm load on a channel on an unbridged amp. A bridged amp would drop that to a 1 ohm load though. I just don't trust what people tell me though when it comes to electrical stuff. He could be sayiong what so and so told him. It's not that hard to take out 8-12 screws on each sub and check your wiring and the model number. Without doing that we're all just guessing. Why guess and screw something up or overpay for something you don't need?

TheBandit

exactly what im saying racer j... my subs have like 8 screws in them and would take me all of 2 minutes to take them all out.. look at the part # and put it back in.. not hard at all.. but if you want to guess thats fine..

online170

alright guys, i appreciate the answer tha racer j gave me, but maybe this guy is a trusted freind that built the stuff? Im just talking theory here, not how i shouldnt trust ppl, or how hard it is to pull 8 screws. I dont think the model name would help you guys any further, i told you what you needed to know, which is the RMS, the ohm rating on the subs themselves, the number of voice coils, etc...

How do "channels" work? do i need 2 channels for 2 subs? Or...? And if a sub is rated at 4ohms, what are the hazards of running it at a different impedance? Say higher or lower? Wont that make it unstable, cause excess heat in the amp, and ruin the sound quality?

racer J

The model would only verify the information we need to know. We'll go by what you said though . . .

The ohm load won't affect your speakers. It will affect your amp. If you take both positive from the box and hook them up to a mono block amp's channel 1 your amp will see a 2 ohm load. If you bridge that amp down, it will see it at a 1 ohm load. You will gain power but you will also gain distortion in the sound.

The cheap way out will be to find an amp that can run 700 - 800 watts RMS at a 2 ohm load. Bridiging it down should push that RMW power up into the 900 range if it's a good amp.


That's why were were asking about voice coils, ohm rating, the model number etc. Knowing all of that in vertain terms will allow us to pick out a cheaper amp with a lower power rating that you can just bridge down in parallel to get the power you need without an increased cost. I cain't help you on go buy this amp because I have never ran an amp that big nor have I desired to. I tend to stay in the 200 watt RMS range at a 4 ohm load. My MTX TC2002 is rated at 50 watts RMS x 2 channels at a 4 ohm load. My MTX TC3001 is rated at 150 watts RMS x 1 channel at a 4 ohm load. Unless the rules have changed, that would allow me to run in a 200 watt power class. The thing is my TC2002 is running at a 2 ohm load on each channel pushing the power to 100 watts x 2 channels. My TC3001 is bridged down to a 1 ohm load x 1 channel. I have no idea what power it's pushing but I know a 2 ohm load would run at 300 watts RMS. As you can see, I'm pushing well over 500 watts and I only spent $300.00 for two brand new amps to do so.


TheBandit should be able to help you out.

online170

Alright cool, im learning quite a bit. However, i think you folk's standards are a bit higher than mine. I will very seldom be pounding these things hard, i just want a very nice defined sound, when im cruising on the highway, and just want good quality music. So i dont need all that power to push these to their max capability, im just trying to match up a combo that is "sufficient". Im also getting this stuff used, so i will have a complete system, for about $250 canadian. Including, 4x6 speakers, 6x9 speakers, a deck, two subs and an amp. Everything but the wires. Just trying to set this stuff up to get the most out of my system, as long as its sufficient, but not looking for hardcore pounding system.

That being said, im looking at getting an amp, thats pretty cheap (used), its model number is XS2500 from Phoenix Gold. The seller claims, its 1000watts, im pretty sure thats peak power, and he was powering 2 12in subs with it. He claims he got pretty good thump out of it, so im gonna go for this amp. Will it work with what i have sufficiently? he also told me, if it doesnt work, hell give me my money back, so no worries there either.

racer J

While it's true you don't need the max power to get what you're wanting out of it, don't forget that many of today's speakers have a minimum wattage they need to run. Your subs may flat out need more power to them to get the results my JL Audio gives me. Sometimes you need more power to get what you want. It's better to have to much power and turn the gain down than it is to have to little with the gain all the way up. And if you ever plan on running open exhaust and hearing the stereo, you had better look for some wattage.

Jtufts

want a damn nice sub for the greats possiable price

http://www.tcsounds.com/db500.htm

i been posting at a car audio forum and i ordered 2 of these to try out , alot of people been saying there GREAT for sql , which is what alot of amps run , and for the price look output of these you cant beat them , i will be powering with the amp i posted before but at 2 ohm

online170

Thanks for the offer, i already bought the subs though, so im set for now. I guess youd need to know the model number for the minimum power right? I could probably tell you what the subs are by looking at a picture of it. Will post one if i find it.