Right Power to Subs? (Audio Guys, Come On In)

[ap81590]

I am fairly new to the whole car audio thing and don't have a good guage of what all these wattages mean. I have a Kicker L5 12" thats 600rms. Should I get an amp that supplies it with all 600 watts rms or will this blow me out of the truck? I want noticeable thump (enough to make friends jealous ) But don't wanna rattle the heck outta my Explorer. So all you car audio experts, should I run it at or below 600 watts and if below, just how much would be good? Thanks

[jeephater#1]

hello and welcome to the great land of car audio your rms is not the max so you dont need to worry about it blowing at 600 watts next thats a very good sub so it wil sound good as long as every thing is hooked up right and third you can run anywhere from 400 to 1000 watt amp to that sub all amps have gain so just turn it down or up as needed. remember not enough power is almost as bad as to much so get it up there a little bit , then just tune to your liking. hope this helps

[expo5.0]

you should run between 200 and 600 watts rms roughly as per the manufacturer recommends

[ap81590]

Ok, I guess I'll go ahead and get a 600 rms amp. Heres the next thing....I don't have 500 bucks for an amp. Can I get somthing decent for $200 or so? Thanks

[expo5.0]

you definitely can-

i might even have one for sale- i have too much stuff right now to remember. check out my for sale thread here.

otherwise the answer is still "yes" even if you have to buy new or whatever

[ap81590]

I didn't see one like I was looking for in your thread...If they're to be found though, I'll find them.

[expo5.0]

you could use the 4002 amplifier with one of those subs- but it depends on the voice coil configuration of the sub.

i could recommend something to buy if i knew what the vc configuration was.

[ap81590]

Dual 2 Ohm voice coils. Thanks for the help.

[expo5.0]

you need a class a/b 2 channel that can be bridged to one channel (4 ohm load) and makes roughly 400-600 rms

or a class D type mono amp capable of 1 ohm and the same power

I'd be thinking 500-600 watt rms "two channel" from mtx, kicker, or jbl personally.

[DOZIER]

Get a MTX 801d from ebay for like 200 dollars. money well spent. I got three.

[expo5.0]

801d makes its max power at 2 ohm mono...

[ap81590]

So does this mean it won't work as well? Can I even hook it up to 2 ohm or do I have to go with 1 or 4 Ohms?

[expo5.0]

you have two 2 ohm voice coils. you have to run either 1 ohm or 4 ohms.

i can tell you from experience that a 801d will run 1 ohm- but it isn't what is recommended by the manufacturer and i wont' recommend it to you.

-drew

[DOZIER]

I guess I am stupid then

[FexplorerV8]

get a JBL 1200.1 im currently runing mine at 0.5 ohms and it dosnt even get warm its an amazing amp.

[expo5.0]

that is too much power for his sub- unless he runs the 1200.1 at 4 ohms and wastes it's power potential.

-drew

[FexplorerV8]

I like to have an amp with at least twice the amount of watts the sub can take, when u install the amp set the gain at round 75% it will sound much better than having an amp that can barely keep up.
I DJ for a living an there is nothing worse than having ur amps clipping b/c they are ratted at the same wattage as the drivers, trust me u always want more power than the drivers can take, besides the amp would be under a much easier load and will function cooler.

[expo5.0]

interesting, almost compelling, but wrong- you don't fully understand what a "gain" is i suppose

[ajr2000]

DJs will never be able to understand what clipping is. In any case, I"d get an amp rated at 900-1200w

[FexplorerV8]

expo i DJ for a living trust me i know what gain is.
ajr2000 i do know what clipping is.
you know what buy whatever the f*** u want!