Will a poweracoustik 1600 watt amp be over powering 2 700 watt subs?

[WannaXP8]

I was looking at a poweracoustic 1600 watt amp to power my audiobahn AW1200s they are rated at 700 watts a piece but the amp is 1600w x 1 max power, and the rms is 310w x 2 at 4 ohm..do you think that is too much power for those subs? and another question how well do you think it will sound? I mean I have a buddy that is running 4 aw12s of a 1600 watt 2 channel and it hits 162 db.. so I wonder what 2 subs with the same amount of power will sounds, cause hes runnin 4 and im runnin only 2..so his power is split by 4 mines split by 2...

 

[B94Sport]

Here's my take...

Those subs are dual 4 ohm voice coils, and I assume you are referring to the 1600 Watt Power Acoustik OV2-1600 2 channel amp, so you can wire the subs to a few different impedances:

1) 1 Ohm (VCs in parallel, subs in parallel)
2) 4 Ohms (VCs in parallel, subs in series)
3) 2 Ohms x 2 (VCs in parallel, one sub per amp channel)
4) 8 Ohms x 2 (VCs in series, one sub per amp channel)
5) 16 Ohms (VCs in series, subs in series)

Since the amp is only stable down to 2 ohms stereo, you are pretty much going to be stuck running it at 2 ohms x 2 or 4 ohms x 1 with those subs... Either of which is going to give you only 370 watts per sub RMS. I am not too familiar with Power Acoustik, but if they overrate their amps, then you are going to get even less power. Of course, if they rate them at, say, 12.5 volts and your alternator puts out 14.4 volts, then you will get 426 watts per sub RMS.

Back on track...
The general concensus is that the xmax of a sub can be achieved with 60% of its recommended RMS power. 370 is 53% of 700, so the subs won't reach their true capabilities, but it won't be far off. It should work well. Personally though, I would get an amp that is stable down to 1 ohm and rated to put out about 1000 watts RMS mono at 1 ohm, and run the subs with that.

 

[WannaXP8]

well I was gunna run it, one channel to one sub considering its a 2 channel amp, I thought I would use one channel per sub, I dont know that much about systems, I mean I know a little and how to wire it all up, but I dont know about ohms and all that VC in parellel things you were talking about..so help me out here, are you saying that this amp will not work that well on this sustem?

 

[B94Sport]

The amp will work fine with the system I think, I am just saying that if I were building the system, I would pick out a different amp.

Knowing how to calculate impedances (ohms) is crucial to setting up a system. If you make the impedance too high, you get underpowered subs (which is bad). If you make the impedance too low, you get overpowered subs for a very short time, until your amp cooks itself.

You can use that amp and run one channel per sub. When I say VCs, I am referring to Voice Coils. The voice coils, along with the way you wire them, determine the impedance that the amp runs at. To run the amp at 2 ohms x 2 channels, you are going to want to wire the voice coils of each sub in parallel, and then connect each sub to its own channel in the amp. When you look at the subs you will see that there should be at least 4 terminals, prongs (some type of connection that a wire can be connected to) on the sub.

To wire the voice coils in parallel, just connect the two positive connections together with a wire, and use a different wire to connect the two negative connections together. Then run a wire from the positive terminal of one of the amp's channels to a positive terminal on the sub, and run a different wire from the negative terminal of that same amp channel to a negative terminal on the sub.

 

[WannaXP8]

ya, well what other 1600 watt amp can I get for 200.00 and what kinda amp do you think i should run? how many watts??

 

[B94Sport]

See, the thing is that that amp is rated at 1600 watts MAX. The Max power rating really doesn't mean anything, because an amp will rarely (if ever) put out the amount of power that it is rated at for max output. You really only need to pay attention to the RMS ratings, because this is the amount of power that the amp will put out almost all the time.

Like I said, I would look for an amp that is stable down to one ohm, and puts out about 1000 watts RMS. That will give you 500 watts per sub guaranteed.

Since you are already using Audiobahn subs, why not stick with Audiobahn and get an amp from them too? They are very high quality. You could get the A4125HCT, which will give you 500 watts x 2 channels at 2 ohms per channel. Or the A3201T, which will give you 420 watts x 2 channels at 2 ohms per channel. Or the A8001DT, which will give you 800 watts x 1 channel at 1 ohm (400 watts per sub), but Audiobahn amps are underrated, so you would actually be getting something closer to 460 watts per sub.

EDIT: I just noticed that you said $200. Those are all out of that price range. Like I said, you can stick with the Power Acoustik amp, but don't hesitate to shop around.

 

[EliteConcept]

power acoustik OVER RATES their amps....you can get a more effiecent amp for about the same price at thezeb.com

 

[B94Sport]

Originally posted by EliteConcept
power acoustik OVER RATES their amps....you can get a more effiecent amp for about the same price at thezeb.com

Yeah, I figured that they did, but couldn't find any info on their site about what voltage they rate their amps at in order to be certain.

 

[jeff96]

1600 watt kenwood excelleron is only 299 at the px rated at 1 ohm it puts out over 1000rms x 1!

 

[wvsquirrel]

The JBL BP1200.1 is an excellent amp, and often overlooked. It's 1ohm stable and would drive those subs nicely (even though I'm not a fan of Audiobahn subs). Audiobahn amps I like, but not the subs.

With the AW1200's being 700RMS, you could get around 600 watts a piece with a JBL BP1200.1 and would not be disappointed. Wire each sub in parallel for a 2ohm load per sub, then the subs in parallel for a 1ohm total load at the amp. You can find them for a little over $200

 

[WannaXP8]

so where could I find one of these amps your talking about?? and what should I look for??

 

[mohog]

Originally posted by jeff96
1600 watt kenwood excelleron is only 299 at the px rated at 1 ohm it puts out over 1000rms x 1!

where did you find it for 299?

 

[Nate1]

You'll blow a sub easier by putting too little power in it and playing it too loud than putting a little more power in and not playing it past distortion.
I would get the audiobahn A1500HCX, that'll be 1000w per sub.... 300 over, but if you keep the gain down a hair, you should be more than happy (not to mention at less than 14.4v you wont get 2000w. That amp is $400 and will give you a good deal of upgrade headroom.
I would also get at least a 1 farad cap with whatever you get. And don't get one of those fancy digital top ones, thats just stupid. Get a standard one, and if you really want to know the voltage.... get out your multimeter

 

[Nate1]

double post... sorry

 

[WannaXP8]

like I said, im trying to keep it around the 200-300 price range, and Im not gunna put 300 watts over the rated watts on a sub..sorry thats just dont sound right..thats like putting 60 psi of air in a tire thats rated for 40..

 

[wvsquirrel]

Actually it's quite common to over-drive a sub. You run a risk though. Quality subs should not have a problem running at RMS + (1/2 the difference of Peak-RMS). Meaning, if the subs RMS value is 700 and the Peak is 1400, then you could theoriticly run up to 1050 watts per sub. They wont last as long, but they wont blow instantly either.

As far as the tire analogy goes, you would be right if we were dealing with the Peak rating of the subs. But we're dealing with RMS (Root Mean Squared, or constant power rating) values. You always have some leaway there.

Underpowerring a sub can be dangerous if you do it by too much, but powerring at least 70% of the RMS rating shouldn't do any damage. I still prefer to keep my systems as close to RMS (if not a little over) as possible, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I've seen the JBL BP1200.1 on eBay in quite a few different places if you trust the eBay store's warranty (because you wont get a JBL factory warranty).

Audiobahn makes great amps if you can find one within your price range, grab it.

You want to look for an amp rated around 700 x 2 @ 2ohms or 1400 x 1 @ 1ohm

 

[metalhed]

I honestly don't see how underpowering a sub could ever ruin it.

An amp clipping will create excess heat, which in turn can ruin it. But the clipping is not the direct cause of the failure. A properly maintained clipping amp + sub can bring home trophies.

 

[wvsquirrel]

Clipping is usually caused by an impropper ohm load (applying an ohm load below what an amp is stable at). If you have a sponser then clipping can bring home trophies (since it wont be your money replacing the amp). But if you have to spend the money out of your own pocket to replace an amp, then forcing an amp to clip isn't the best of ideas.

The common misconception behind too little power damaging a sub is based more on distortion then power. A lot of people who underpower subs crank the gains to get a louder sound. This in turn causes increased distortion, which can lead to a failure. If you tune the gains correctly, then you shouldn't have to worry about underpowering a sub (you just may not get the best bass amount that you could with the proper power).

 

[metalhed]

A clipping amp is sending out a distorted signal.

Distortion isn't what kills the equipment though, it's the heat generated by the amp operating outside of the limitations. The inability of the subs voice coils to cool effeciently is what destroys them. Not distortion.

But this has gone way off base.

 

[boominXplorer]

Hifonics Brutus 1500D. I got mine for like 279$ off of ebay. These things are a beast