Ohm. What is an ohm? How does a 2 ohm load effect an amp? How does a 1 ohm load effect an amp? Or a 4 ohm load?
The ohm load effects power output in amplifiers as well as sound quality.
Subwoofers can measure 2 ohm, 4 ohm or 1 ohm. 2 ohm, 4 ohm and 1 ohm impedance’s will make the same amplifier put out different amounts of power and can greatly affect the way your car stereo system sounds and performs.
This article discusses the various subwoofer configurations available such as single voice coil 2 ohm, single voice coil 4 ohm, dual voice coil 2 ohm, dual voice coil 4 ohm, as well as series and parallel wiring and how each will effect the measurement of ohms.
Estimated read time: 3 minutes 45 seconds. Want to read later?
All speakers have a measurement of resistance, called impedance which is measured in ohms. Car stereo speakers are typically 4 ohm. You will find car stereo subwoofers in a variety of configurations like single voice coil 2 ohm, dual voice coil 2 ohm, single voice coil 4 ohm, and dual voice coil 4 ohm.
Dual voice coil means the subwoofer has two positives and two negatives, which give you the flexibility of wiring the subwoofer two different ways giving you two options for final impedance. These variations do not make one speaker more powerful than another despite what many consumers may think. However, the varying impedance will make a difference in what type of output an amplifier will have.
As the ohms drop, the amplifier will unleash more power, but with less control. This is an important aspect to remember. Failing to understand this concept is probably the main cause of self installed amplifiers shutting down and going into protection mode.
You will notice, when you buy an amplifier, or are looking at the specifications of an amplifier, you will typically find 2 or more ratings. One output at 4 ohms, and another output at 2 ohms. The output at 2 ohms is always higher because when the resistance is lower, you allow more output. All mono amplifiers are stable at 2 ohms, very few are stable at 1 ohm.
So what kind of speakers can we hook up to a mono amplifier? Let’s use an Alpine MRP-M500 mono amplifier as an example. This amp is rated at 300 watts at 4 ohms and 500 watts at 2 ohms. In order for us to get maximum output out this amplifier, using only one subwoofer, we would have to use either a single voice coil 2 ohm subwoofer or a dual voice coil 4 ohm subwoofer wired in parallel.
If we had two subwoofers, we would need each subwoofer to be a single voice coil 4 ohm wired in parallel to the amplifier. Or we could have two dual voice coil 2 ohm subwoofers with each woofer’s voice coil wired in series, then paralled to the amplifier.
Let’s take a look at this JL Audio 10W6 which is a Dual Voice Coil 4 ohm subwoofer as an example for the different wiring schematics on Series and Parallel:
Parallel is when you tie two positive and negative terminals together wiring them positive to positive, negative to negative, and then wire that straight into the positive and negative terminal of the amplifier. When you wire speakers in parallel, you are cutting the impedance in half. So a dual voice coil 4 ohm subwoofer wired in parallel is now measuring a 2 ohm load:
To understand Series, visualize a dual 4 ohm voice coil. You have two terminals side by side: Positive and Negative for voice coil #1 and then Positive and Negative for voice coil #2. To series this subwoofer, you would have to connect positive from voice coil #1 to the amplifier, then connect negative from voice coil #1 to the positive of voice coil #2, and then connect negative from voice coil #2 to the amplifier. This doubles the impedance. If we do this to a dual voice coil 4 ohm subwoofer, the impedance will be 8 ohms:
The problem that many people run into, is running an amplifier with the incorrect impedance. Let’s say we were to use that same dual voice coil 4 ohm subwoofer with a 2 channel amp bridged. When you bridge a 2 channel amp, you hook up left positive and right negative. You might assume you are simply wiring it as a mono amp, which in a sense you are. The important difference that is often overlooked is when you bridge an amplifier, the amp sees half the impedance at the terminal which means that 2 channel amp would see only 1 ohm. This is extremely low for a 2 channel amplifier, it would be unleashing a lot of more power than it was designed to along with very little control which would in turn cause the amplifier to heat up very quickly and shut down going into protection mode. Over time this will damage the amplifier.
For a 2 channel amp to work properly bridged, it needs to see an 8 or 4 ohm load at the terminal, this will ensure the amplifier will work properly and not overheat and shut down.
If you own an amp and you’re in the market for subwoofers, make sure you know what final impedance your amp needs to see. And vice versa, if you own subs and you’re in the market for an amp, know what impedance your subs are so that you purchase an amplifier that will give you optimum performance. It helps to talk to your local independent car stereo shop, but if there aren’t any in your area, just email me and I’ll make a recommendation for you. If you enjoyed reading this post, please spread the love. Tweet it, like it, stumble it, or use any other social sharing weapon of choice. Thanks for reading!
623 Comments
Hi Annie, been out the game for a while, but getting back in because my son is becoming very interested and I am hooking him a car up for when he turns 16. So I have 2 JL Audio W7 8″ subs in a ported box to recommended spec. I am curious as to how much amp and what brand would be best for these subs. Willing to spend around 500 or so on the amp. I have an opportunity for an old school Orion Class D Monoblock for a $120. Is that enough power for the JL’s or should I go fora JL amp and if so, what size? Thanks a lot and keep it thumping!
As far as the Orion amp, all depends on the model and rated output. I would suggest googling the model # to see what you’re working with and see if it has enough power. For a new amp, I would go with something in the 1000 watt RMS range that has a regulated power supply based on the funky 3 ohm impedance of those subs. The Alpine PDXM12 will push out 1200 watts RMS whether you give it 1.5 ohms or 4 ohms. It’s probably more than you’re looking to spend, but based on the final 1.5 ohm impedance you’ll have with two of those subs, you’re going to want to get an amp that has the regulated power supply. FYI most mono amps are only 2 ohm stable.
Hi Annie!
Just been reading your thread online and need a bit of help!
I have 2 15inch L5 Kicker squared subwoofers DVC 4ohm and a Pioneer GM-D9601 AMP 2400 watts whch says its stable on 1ohm.
Question:
Will these 2 subs and amp run good together as im guessing i should wire the subs together in parallel down to 1omh aond conect to one of the channels of the Amp?
Thanks for your help in adviance!
Hi Erskine, I think that might be too little power for both subs. Looking at the specs of the amp it puts out 1200 watts RMS at 1 ohm or 800 watts RMS at 2 ohm. I think your subs are like 800 or 1000 watts RMS each if I remember correctly.
Im looking at this amp JL Audio JX400/4D for my door speakers but it doesn’t have any onboard fuses so I’m not sure if I could put a 40 A mini ANL fuse/fuse holder in the power wire or if it could still fry the amp this way. Thanks and great article
Yeah, I don’t know why those amps don’t have on board fuses, but the owner’s manual will give you the recommended fuse size (I think it is 40 amp off the top of my head). Normally when we’re doing those JL XD amps we’re also usually doing a matching sub amp so we’ll do a main power wire with master fuse up front and then we’ll do a fused distribution block in the back right before it goes into each amp – just to be on the safe side.
What’s sup Annie I have two kicker 1200 watts dual 4ohm subs can you please tell me what size wire I need and most of all what kind of amp I need and how I would need to wire them up
Usually the 1200 watt is a peak rating and RMS is 600 so I would recommend an Alpine PDXM12 – it’s got a regulated power supply so it will put out 1200 watts RMS with a 2, 3 or 4 ohm load. You could wire the subs in parallel then series for a final 4 ohm load.
Hello Annie,
My car got a component speakers ( JBL GTO609C ) installed in each front door, and now i bought a Pioneer head unit (Pioneer AppRadio 4 SPH-DA120)
Pioneer says: Do not use 1W to 3W speakers for this unit.
JBL says : Nominal impedance: 3 ohm and on the spec sheet ( Three-ohm voice coils help compensate for added resistance in thin-gauge factory speaker wire. Compatible with all 4 ohm-rated amplifiers and head units)
Am I ok here ?
Link to JBL spec sheet: http://static.jbl.com/tl_files/catalog//jbl/car/Specsheets/GTO/9-series/Specification%20Sheet%20-%20GTO%209%20Series%20Speakers%20(English).pdf
Link to Pioneer Spec sheet: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Manuals/Car/SPH-DA120_InstallationManual070714.pdf
Thanks Heaps!
That’s interesting, I haven’t had any issues with Pioneer and JBL. We sell the GX series which are even lower 2.3 ohms. I know Kenwood really won’t support, but I usually play the JBL GX602’s all day long on the App Radio 4 in our showroom and haven’t had any issues.
I have a 1800watt audiopipe class d 1 ohm stable I have it wired to 2 l7 12s at 1 ohm keeps getting hot and cutting off should be enough power right?
This is exactly why I don’t like running anything at 1 ohm – it’s unstable. That’s what happens. The amp lets out a ton of power (without a ton of control) and it eventually heats up and shuts itself to protect itself from overheating anymore. I would suggest a different configuration of equipment so that your final load at the amp is 2 ohm which is much more stable. If you want to stick with the equipment you already have, you could use one sub at wired at 2 ohms for a more stable performance.
Hi Annie, I have read through a lot of these comments and everyone seems to be asking about (2) subs and an amplifier. My question is about 1 sub and a mono amp. I recently purchased a Soundstream R3 15″ and a Soundstream TN1.1200D mono amp. What would be the best way to run them? Thanks
Hi Chris,
Well for the better sound quality I would run it in series for a 4 ohm load (looks like that’s a dual 2 ohm subwoofer). The amp will put out 660 watts RMS, but it will be much cleaner and tighter than if we ran it in parallel for a 1 ohm load. Since those are really our only two wiring options I personally would go with series and 4 ohm, but if you just want it loud and don’t care as much about sound quality, Soundstream “says” that amp is 1 ohm stable so you could potentially run it in parallel at 1 ohm, but I don’t really recommend that. I hope that helps!
Hi Annie, so I have one Power Acoustik Gothic 10″ sub DVC 1000rms at 2 ohms. It’s wired parallel dropping it to 1 ohm, but since you said running 1 ohm would be unstable should I get an amp that pushes 1000rms at 2 ohms, or what would you recommend?
Hi Daniel – I would wire it in series for a final 4 ohm load and get a mono amp that has a regulated power supply such as an Alpine PDXM12 which will put out 1200 watts RMS regardless of whether or you have a 2, 3 or 4 ohm load. Hope that helps!
Hi again, thanks for the quick response! I guess my next question would be since the sub is rated 1000rms at 2 ohms, and your recommendation is to series wire it to 4 ohms and use the alpine amp, would 1000rms be ok at 4 ohms or could I go higher in RMS since the sub is rated to handle 1000rms at 2 ohms?
The impedance (ohms) is just a measurement of resistance unrelated to the power the sub can handle, that has more to do with the amplifier response. Regardless of whether you wire the sub in series for 4 ohms or parallel down to 1 ohm the sub will always handle 1000 watts RMS. If you purchased an amp with an UNregulated power supply it would be important to pay attention to the RMS rating on the AMP based on the impedance, but as I said 1 ohm is an unstable load so even if you find an amp that puts out 1000 RMS at 1 ohm load, it will probably not do so for very long and will not be clean and tight in response. So look for a regulated amplifier that puts out 1000 watts RMS regardless of impedance such as the Alpine I recommended. Hope that makes sense to you.
I have 2 JL 10w6 and I had them both running on one Rockford t800/1 amp and I just purchased a JL 12w7 and a JL HD1200/1 amp. How do I need to wire these to run all three subs off of this amp? Thank you!
You shouldn’t. The HD 1200/1 is really only sufficient power for the single 12W7 only. You would want to get another HD 1200/1 for the W6’s if you really wanted to keep the two subs too (so that they are all sufficiently powered).
Annie I have a question I’m going to be purchasing (2) 10″ Shallow mount Pioneer subs rated @ 300W RMS they are single voice coils @ 4ohms now the subs will be ran in parallel making them 2ohms to the amp. Now I’m looking at 2 pioneer amps the GM-D8601 which makes 500W @ 2ohms stable and the GM-D9601 which makes 800W @ 2ohms.
My question is since my subs are wired in parallel will the watts be cut in half to each sub? Should I opt D8601 or the D9601?
Hi Vic, you could really go with either amp since you need an amp that will push about 600 watts RMS total (at 2 ohms). To err on the side of caution I would say go with the more powerful one and adjust the gains accordingly. When you’re on the cusp like that you’re usually better off going with a little more power than you need vs too little power.
I have a GTX500 amplifier that is rated 350 watts of RMS at an impedance of 4 ohms, 500 watts at 2 ohms and 770 watts at peak power. I am looking for a sub in a sealed box and I would rather the amplifier run cooler, safer, last longer than put out max power. Should I be looking for a 4ohm subwoofer?
Hi Sergio – yes, if you want to run the amp cooler and have cleaner output look for a 4 ohm subwoofer.
Hi Annie,
I just recently purchased one 12 inch sub from Rockford fosgate (p3s-1×12) and had it installed with the Rockford prime R600x5, 5 channel amp. I am amping 4 of my interior speakers with the final channel for the sub. My question to you is from the specs below, is my sub being underpowered? It is not hitting as hard as I thought it would .. Do you think the specs align? Also, if not, what other amp would you suggest to allow for my sub to hit harder with also amping the 4 interior speakers?
P3S-1×12 sub:
Features:
Woofer Series: Punch P3S (P3SD2-12)
Nominal Impedance: Internally wired to create a 1-Ohm amplifier load
Power Handling: 400 Watts RMS
Sealed truck box style enclosure
Constructed with 5/8″ MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard)
10 AWG input terminals
1-Ohm wired impedance
Computer optimized design
Covered with high density carpet
Wired exclusively with Rockford Fosgate speaker cable
Included trim ring ready to accept optional stamped mesh grille insert
Dimensions: 13.5 x 27.4 x D1 5.3 – D2 3.3 (in) / 34.29 x 69.59 x D1 13.46 – D2 8.38 (cm)
AMP – Rockford Prime R600x5:
Features:
Rockford Fosgate Prime R600X5 600 Watt RMS 5-Channel Class AB/D Car Amplifier
Remote Bass Knob Included
600 Watts RMS
RCA and High level Input with 2/4/5 Channel Select
12dB/octave Butterworth crossover
Over current protection
Short circuit protection
Muted turn on
On Board Punch EQ Control
Separate Front, Rear and Sub Gain Control
Real time output and power supply thermal sensing
Cast aluminum heatsink
4 Gauge power/ground connectors
MOSFET power supply
Details:
CEA-2006 Compliant
Number of Channels: 5
Rated Power
(RMS Continuous Power): 50 Watts x 4 + 200 Watts x 1 @ 4-Ohm
75 Watt x 4 + 300 Watts x 1 @ 2-Ohm
Total Power
(Sum of Rated Power): 600 Watts RMS
Dynamic Power
(PVC/PowerCube® Measurement):
Bridgeable: Yes
Efficiency (average): Front/Rear Channels: TBA% @ 4-Ohm
TBA% @ 2-Ohm
Sub Channel: TBA% @ 4-Ohm
TBA% @ 2-Ohm
Crossover Controls: Channels 1/2/3/4: High-Pass/Low-Pass 50-250Hz
Sub Channel: Low-Pass variable 50Hz – 250Hz
Tone Controls: Channel 1/2/3/4: 0dB/+6dB/+12dB @ 45Hz
Sub Channel: Variable 0dB to +12dB @ 45Hz
Sub Channel: 0°/180° Phase Control
Signal Input: Low Level: 3 Pair RCA
Signal Output:
Power Input Connector: Screw Terminal
Power Wire Gauge: 4 AWG
Speaker Wire Gauge: 8 AWG
Heat Sink Type: Extruded
Speaker Output Connector: Screw Terminal
Cooling: Convection
Remote Controls: Remote Punch Level Control
Visual Indicators: Power
Protect
Circuit Topology Class: Class-A/B (ch 1/2/3/4)
Class-D (sub)
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/-1dB
Shipping Weight: 9.5 Lbs (4.30 Kg.)
Thanks so much!
Joe
Hi Joe, that appears to be a dual 2 ohm subwoofer so my guess is you have it wired in series for a 4 ohm load which then yes you would be under powering the sub as the amp would only produce 200 watts with a 4 ohm load. You would be better off with a dual 4 ohm version wired in parallel for 2 ohms. If you wired it to 1 ohm, then you’re probably going to toast the amp as it does not say it is 1 ohm stable. My favorite 5 channel is the Alpine PDXV9. Excellent sound quality and output is 100 x 4 to the interior speakers plus 500 x 1 (rated at 2 or 4 ohms as it is a regulated power supply so will put out the same power either way).
Hello. I have purchased a Kenwood KAC-9106D 2000 Watts Monoblock Class D amp for my two Alpine SWR-12D2 3000W 12″ Dual 2 ohm Type-R subwoofers in a ported box. What would be the best way to wire these?
Series the voice coils then parallel the subs or parallel the voice coils then series the subs – either way you’ll end up with 2 ohms at the amp.
Hi Annie. I have a Rockford Fosgate p312d4 sub with a 500 watt rms peak and I was looking to get a new amp for it. The one I was given is only good for 300 watt rms so it keeps overheating and cutting out. I only have one side of the sub attached to the amp right now and I was wondering if I attach the two with a parallel connection to the amp would the ohms be at 2 or 4? And if it were 2ohms would the output watts of the sub still be at 500 rms with the decrease of ohms? I want to make sure I get the right amp to go with the sub once I parallel connect the two sides of the sub properly. Thank you!!!
Hi Chris, you need an amp that puts out 500 watts RMS at 2 ohm. You shouldn’t ever wire up half the sub, that’s not good for the sub. Consider the Alpine MRV-M500. Wire the sub’s voice coil’s in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). Regardless of whether you wire it in series or parallel the subwoofer is capable of handling 500 watts RMS. It’s the rating on the amp you want to look out for. You want one that puts out 500 watts RMS @ 2 ohms.
Hey Annie,
Thanks for all the information on your site, its way helpful! Have a question about a build I am looking to do. Want to use a stock HU that only has front door speakers and will be replacing the stock speakers with aftermarket and adding a sub.
Looking at the Polk PAD5000.5 amp with the intent of bridging the F/R channels to output to the door speakers for 200W @ 4 Ohm and using the sub channel to power the sub. In the manual for the amp, it rates the sub channel as 500W @ 1 Ohm. Am I better off getting a 2 Ohm DVC sub that I wire in parallel, or running a sub at 2 Ohm (I believe this amp will output 400W on the sub channel @ 2 Ohm). What are your thoughts? Any better options you can suggest for my situation? Thanks in advance!
Hey Aaron, 2 ohm will be much cleaner. Never been a fan of running subs off an amp down to 1 ohm. It’s a very unstable load.
I just want to make sure I have my subs and amp matched up correctly. I have 2 Kicker Comprt 10″ DVC at 2 ohm 400watts RMS on the Alpine MRX-M110 at 2 ohm 1100 watts RMS. Wired in parallel series. Is this the right setup and will I be getting enough power from my amp?
If those are dual 2 ohm subs you’re talking about then yes you’re fine.
Hello. I had a custome box built ported tuned to 37 that will house (2) dual Sundown sd 3 10″ D4 500w RMS. because i’m having the system installed professionally my optiones are JL Audio or Alpine. subs are wired 4 ohm. would the MRX-M110 do the trick. classic rock with some new country. thanks-
Hi Tommy – you’re going to want an amp with a regulated power supply because with two dual 4 ohm subs, your only wiring configuration options will be:
-parallel subs voice coils then parallel subs for a final 1 ohm load (not recommended, very unstable)
-parallel subs voice coils then series subs for a final 4 ohm load
-series subs voice coils then parallel subs for a final 4 ohm load
So you would need an amp that puts out 1000 RMS at 4 ohms and the MRX-M110 will not do that. It will put out 1100 watts RMS at 2 ohm or I think about 550 at 4 ohm. I’d go with the PDX-M12 from Alpine over JL Audio’s HD 750/1.
I have 2 1200 watt max 12″ pyle subwoofers, i do not know the RMS i do know that matters alot more than watts advertised. im debating on getting a Belva BB2000 and Belva BB3000, http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_65811_Belva-BB2000D.html
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_65812_Belva-BB3000D.html
Im looking more at the BB3000 but dont want to have too much power and blow my subs, but i dont want to have to little power either, i also have a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix and i believe i need a 4 gauge wiring kit but read somewhere that 2 gauge may be the way to go?
Hi Tanner – it’s easier to blow subs when you have too little power and you end up clipping the amp causing distortion which is usually what kills speakers. So I’d rather have too much than too little power. Find the RMS of those subs and the impedance and determine the exact RMS power you will need and at what impedance. That is how you can then shop for the right amp. 4 gauge is good for 1000 watts RMS.
Hello! I had a question, I have a HIFONICS ZRX1200.1D amp it powers 400 x 1 at 4 ohms, 600 x 1 at 2 ohms and 1200 x 1 at 1 ohm. I’ve been looking into getting some Polk audio db1240 single voice coil subwoofers, according to specs they have a max 360 rms each. I’m still learning all of this stuff, but will my amp supply enough power to these subs?
Hi Greg – they appear to be 360 RMS each. Your amp will put out 600 RMS at 2 ohms. If you have two of those subs you would have a 2 ohm load. You could definietly give them more power, but you’re right within the range so it shouldn’t hurt them. Ideally you’d want an amp that put out about 750 RMS at 2 ohms.
what type of amp should I use for 2 terminator tne212d 1200 watts 400 rms max combined one terminal on box
I like the Alpine MRV-M500 for the 2 terminator tne212D subs.
Hi, I’m having trouble wiring my door speakers. I have 4 Pioneer 5×7/6×8 2 way speakers rated at 50 watts rms and 150 peak. They are 4 ohms each. I want to wire them to run at 2 ohms front and rear on a 4channel audioban amp. What’s the best way to wire them to get the 2 ohm load, I also have a 4 channel Sony amp that I’m running for the rear, the other amp runs the front.
Please help!!!
Hey John – just don’t do it that way, it’s not the right way to do it. If you REALLY wanted to get down to 2 ohms, the only okay way to do that (so you still have a proper left and right audio signal) is to parallel your front left and rear left and then parallel your front right and rear right and then you could run that to the front left and right channels of your 4 channel amp. But it’s stupid, just run it the right way off your 4 channel. You’ll get better sound quality that way and better control over the speakers having them run off their own individual channel.
Hi Annie
My brother kicked me down 2 old school handmade zapco amps. Only got 1/2 way through a Craigslist install when I got fed up and finished myself.
The mids/highs are running off a 360 watt everything is fine there.
My brother had 3 JL 10w3v2 in a custom box however the speakers were 12 years old and ripped to shreds at the rubber/foam.
The flakes list installer told me to buy 3 fosgste p3’s dual 2 ohm.
Ran a standard parallel down to 1.33 ohms. Way too much bass. After 15 minutes of head pounding the amp
Got so hot I could literally fry eggs on it and needless to say shut off.
Hopefully she will turn back on.
Research from reading many post on your kick ass site suggests I should series then parallel, is my assumption correct?
Rear facing in 2014 grand Cherokee srt in a sealed box, Amps Facing behind bench seats with no airspace.
4 gauge wire to Battery and grounded properly
LC8 to retain controls of factory nav screen.
Thanks for your help.
J
Hey Jeremiah, you’re assumption is exactly correct – you can always use this handy Rockford Fosgate Woofer Wiring Wizard Tool to see your options.
Hey Annie,
I just purchased the new 5th gen Alpine Type R 10″ dual voice coil at 2ohms. I also have a Pioneer GM-D9601 amp. Before I purchased this sub I had the older model at 4ohm wired in parallel for a 2ohm connection. If I just hook up my new sub without running it in parallel do I have to adjust the gain settings? I have everything set correctly with a multi meter to make sure I am not clipping. If I end up running at 1ohm would I need to change the gain settings? I would think yes and reduce the gain a lot since I will be running more output. Also I have a 6ga wire from the battery (both + / – ) to the inline fuses then to an 8ga wire that goes to my amp. Would running in 1 ohm cause problems due to the 8 gauge wire or can I get away with it? It has been running great now for years while running it at 2ohms. My old sub just recently got rips/tears in the surround as I have had it for 8 years. I think I got great use out of it.
Any answers would be great. Thanks!
Hey Randy,
If you plan to run that amp at 1 ohm, definitely up the power gauge to 4 from the battery back and the ground would also need to be upgraded to 4 gauge. If you run it in series for a 4 ohm load you could probably leave the 8 gauge set up. Either way you should re-tune because the efficiency will be totally different on the new sub regardless of whether your run it in series or parallel (from your comment I gather you purchased the dual 2 ohm version of the new Type R).
Hi Annie, i will be buying 2 12″ 8000 watt subwoofers which are 2ohm, I was thinking of getting a 15000 watt 1ohm stable amp, will that be a good choice? and what would be the best way to connect it?
Sorry buddy, I need to know what specific brand and model numbers you’re looking at to really answer that.
Hi annie, I would like to know how would be the best way to wire my subs. I bought two 10′ 4Ohm orion subs 3000 watts a piece along with a 5000 watt orion amplifier. Can you please tell me the best way to wire them for best performance. I also have two 10″ beyma, two 8″, four 6″, two horns and four bullet tweeters. Two 800 watt 2 channel orion amplifier and a 500watt for the horns and tweeters.
Hey Mark,
I replied earlier, not sure if you saw it. Well if you just want straight up output it looks like that amp is designed to handle 1 ohm, I don’t know for how long, but you could wire them in parallel, then parallel again for a final 1 ohm load. Otherwise that amp wouldn’t be enough power at 4 ohms (only other wiring option). Ideally you return those subs for the 2 ohm version and then you could wire in parallel then series for a final 2 ohm load and have exactly the right RMS power from the amp. I’m not sure on your other products, I don’t really do anything with horns or bullet tweeters, so I’m not sure what kind of power they need and what kind of impedance they are. You should probably contact the people you bought it from for the best suggestion, it’s just outside what we normally sell and install at our shop. Sorry!
Hi Annie
I always thought “If X- amp is 2000 watts, then woofer A- 200w, B-500w, C-800watts, were all cool to just slap together and you’d even have room to add D as long as it didn’t exceed 500 more watts… simple addition! So after I just spent a ton of money on 2 JL Audio 12w6v3’s and a JL Audio HD1200/1 amp and I find out all these formulas and Greek to me jargon. Someone even told me that I would start a fire with the wrong combination. Please let me know how I should hook these up or IF I should… I’m kinda stuck with those 3 components now and must make them get along. I am a fan of deep bass so how should I wire them?
Hey Deatrick,
Luckily you bought good quality equipment. The HD1200/1 is what we call a regulated power supply. So that amp will put out 1200 watts RMS regardless of whether it sees a 1.5 – 4 ohm load. So you can wire your subs voice coils in parallel for a 2 ohm load each, then series the woofers thereafter for a final 4 ohm load and your amp will put out 1200 watts RMS and it will all be good. Just don’t wire in parallel and then parallel again for a 1 ohm load, the amp won’t be able to handle that.
Hi Annie, it is me again, Jazzy.
I have a speaker/amp question.
So I just acquired 3 dual 4ohm voice coil PG Xenon x10d4 subs. I want to run them on my Alpine MRP-M1000. Wired in series/parallel I get a final impedance of 2.7ohms.
They are rated at 450rms/800peak each. Will the amp be stable at that impedance and what will the amp see closest? What will it run them at, 2ohm or 4ohm? Also will they be under-powered if the amp sees them at 2ohm and work efficiently putting out close to the 1000rms @ 2ohms or will it really see the subs as a 3ohm load and not perform efficiently?
Please help, I want to make this work if possible.
Thanks much,
Jazzy
Hi I have two 12″ Pioneer Champion Series Pro DVC 4 ohm subs that can handle 600w rms eaxh and I am wondering if they would match up to a Sound Storm Lab model number AE230 2 channel 3000w amplifier…it says it can push 480 RMS watts per channel put how can I wire both sub’s without bridging the amp so I can give them more power? Or would I benefit more from bridging? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
Hey Brett, that’s really the wrong amp for those subs. That amp says it will do 480 x 2 at 4 ohms, it doesn’t say it will do it at 2 ohms and your only wiring options with those subs are to wire in parallel (2 ohms each) or series (8 ohms each). Do yourself a favor and buy a quality amp for those quality subs. Something like this Alpine PDXM12 which has a regulated power supply meaning it will put out 1200 watts RMS whether you give it 1.5 – 4 ohms. I would get that Alpine amp and wire your subs voice coils in parallel then series each sub for a final 4 ohm load.
Hey I have a set of MTX terminators got them from here- http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_21675_MTX-TNP212D2.html
But the tna 251 didnt seem to work well so I got a Cobalt orion 300.2- http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17982_Orion-Cobalt-CO3002.html
it sounded good for awhile but now it almost seems like the amp wont push them like it used to and im hearing distortion from my subs when i turn them up so i can hear the bass. I think i need a new amp, any suggestions?
Hopefully you didn’t damage your subs. Looks like your enclosure contains two single voice coil 4 ohm subs wired in parallel for a final 2 ohm load and each sub handles 200 watts RMS. So ideally you need a mono amp that puts out 400 watts RMS at 2 ohm and the TNA251 was only rated for 250 watts RMS. However the amp you replaced it with is not any better, in fact it’s worse off. You got a two channel that’s only 160 x 1 RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load. Sounds like you’ve got it bridged with a 2 ohm load which it’s not going to handle and it’s probably going to damage the amp and or subs. So get rid of that and get yourself a mono amp that puts out around 400 watts RMS at 2 ohm like an Alpine MRV-M500. Hope that helps!
Hi Anne,
got another installation question.
So I have that pioneer EQ-6000 that I installed with my Kenwood kdc-158u head unit. The HU has one set of RCA outs and the EQ has one set of RCA in and 3 outs for front rear and subwoofer. I want to get one of the HU’s you recommended or something similar with 4volt pre-outs but still want to run the EQ with my system as it gives that extra bump for the sub output. The only HU’s I’ve seen that has 4volt or higher has 3 RCA outs on them, front, rear, and sub.
Question:
How would I run the RCA’s to the EQ using all 3 outputs going into the one input on the EQ. If I can’t run them together like that, which one should I use to go into the EQ and get the full use of the RCA’s as I am running the 2 amps that will use all 3 of the outputs on the EQ, ie… alpine 4 channel with front and rear, and the sub out to the alpine mrp-m1000.
Is it overkill to use the EQ or will the HU provide enough with a 4volt pre-out to tailor the sound as the pre-outs will be a higher voltage than the current HU I am running that only has a 2.5 volt pre-out?
I like the ease of tailoring the sound output using the EQ rather than fighting through the HU menu settings, PLEASE HELP MY FRIEND!!!
PS: again, YOU ROCK!!!
Jazzy
Hey Jazzy,
Yeah, I don’t think the EQ is necessary, especially if you go with something like that Sony MEX-GS610BT I mentioned earlier. If you have an iPhone or Android you can download Sony’s Remote App and control a 9 Band EQ with time alignment right from the phone. Like what you see here:
Ok, thanks for the info. I will keep a lookout for one and hope too get it for a fairly reasonable price. Not a super big sony fan, but that HU sounds like it is awesome!
Take care.
Hi Annie,
i have two Pionner subs Ts-w256DVC rated at 800W max / 350W nom. I am powering them with Alpine monoblock Mrp-m500 at 4 ohms. I have red article above and some of your answers. The subs are wired in parallel (+ to + and – to -) and then in series with amplifier, so the math is from 4 ohms each to 2 ohms each and then in series with amp so the amplifier sees 4 ohm load. I think this is only solution for me. So the amp produces 350 w of rms at 4 ohm, right? So if i have two subs wired like i have described, does it mean that each of them gets 150 w of rms, or 300 w of rms each? If subs are rated at 800 w peak power, isn t the rms power 1/3 of peak power (around 266 w of rms by my calculation) If i am not correct i am pretty underpowering my subs, but they play actually very well.
Thank you,
Darko
Hi Darko,
Yeah you are definitely giving them less power than they can handle. They’re getting 350 watts combined RMS from your Alpine amp the way you have wired up and they can handle twice that. However, if you like the way it sounds and it’s loud enough for you leave it be. The only reason you’d really need to upgrade is if you wanted that extra output or you found it just wasn’t as loud as you liked. As long as you’re not distorting the subs and you don’t have the gains jacked all the way up you’ll be fine. In my last car I was running two JL Audio TW3’s with a 600 watt mono amp (at 2 ohm), but the amp only put out 400 watts RMS at 4 ohm. Well each sub could handle 400 RMS alone, but it was tuned well, plenty loud and sounded good so I never put a more powerful amp on them even though they could have handled it.
Hi Annie!
I have 2 12 JL Audio W3 V2D6, I used to run them in parallel to a IB-2900c Interefire bridged for a 2 ohm put out. one 1 of them blew out, so I stored them for a while. what would be the best way to wire these but just in a set of 2? is that even an option since they start a 6 ohms? Paralleling them would bring em to 3 ohms which is an odd number.
Hi Jay,
Wait, what? If one of your subs is blown, you can’t use it. Even if it’s just one of the voice coils of your subs, if one is shot, the sub is shot. So if you’re down to one sub, you can parallel its dual voice coils for a final 2 ohm load and use a good mono amp that puts out 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms. FYI, if you were running them parallel and parallel again (thinking that’s what you mean because we don’t bridge subs, we bridge 2 channel amps) you were technically running those subs at 1 ohm which is really sloppy sounding and a very unstable load for the amp and is most likely what fried out on of the subs.
Hello Annie,
this is Jazzy again. So I bought this Pioneer EQ-6000 to boost my signal to my amps for components and subs, and did a test run. It made those rfp-1212’s rumble.
However, my question or concern now is the type of RCA cables that I am running and if they make a difference in signal flow from the HU to the amps, and if so what brand would you recommend and the length? I want to get the cleanest signal and strongest signal that I can to my amps.
I am going to upgrade my stock component speakers and upgrade the amp as well but also am looking at installing a Kenwood KDC-158U. is that a fairly decent HU? I know it is on the cheaper side but I am not rich either. I do feel I have enough knowledge to make what I have sound pretty darn good as is my question concerning the RCA cables and signal flow. I know current flow is a must for best amp performance and am sure the same applies for signal flow.
Your expertise and opinion is welcomed for what I am asking.
Thanks,
Jazzy
Hey Jazzy – it’s also important to have a good pre-amp connection and that head unit doesn’t have it. So, yes RCA quality does make a difference and length – keep it to the length you need, no need to coil up extra cable. I like the Blue Stinger 6000 series, they won’t break the bank, but they’re not a cheap, crappy RCA either, better shielding, but not extravagant.
And get yourself a head unit with a 4 or 5 volt pre-amp. I like the Sony MEX-GS610BT, a lot of bang for your buck and awesome sound quality. If thats gonna break the bank consider the Kenwood KDC-X399. I hope that helps!
Okay nice I appriciate it. Thank you very much! You’ve been very helpful.
Glad I could help 🙂
Hi, I have a 15 inch kicker L7 sub, I really need to find the right amp and this car audio shop I went to gave me the run around. I just need to find the right amp and how to hook it up my self. Please help?
Sure. Which one? Dual voice coil 2 ohm? Dual voice coil 4 ohm?
Dual voice coil 2 ohm.
I have a Sony XM GS 100 hooked up to it, just cause I had the amp laying around but it goes into protection mode after a while….
Yeah, it will do that because I’m sure you’ve got it wired in parallel down to a 1 ohm load – did I guess right? That’s okay. What I would recommend is wiring the sub in series for a 4 ohm load. Check out Rockford Fosgate’s handy woofer wiring wizard to see what I’m talking about.
Most amps cannot handle 1 ohm, it’s very little resistance. So the amp opens up and lets out a lot of power, but with very little control. Eventually it heats up and shuts itself or just burns out and never turns back on.
The solution is to find an amp with a regulated power supply that puts out the same raw power regardless of impedance. For the sub you have I would recommend the Alpine PDX-M12. It will put out 1200 watts RMS whether you give it a 2 ohm, 3 ohm or 4 ohm load. With 1 ohm being so unstable, I think this is your best bet. This is a rock solid amp, very tight, compact and incredibly efficient. Packs 1200 watts RMS of real power and that’s exactly what your sub calls for. Just wire your sub in series for a safe 4 ohm impedance and enjoy!
I have 2 12″ JL W3V2 Dual 4ohm subs and a JL 500/1. I am looking at the set up and trying to figure out the ohms they had set up and if this was the optimum set up because after almost 10 years I finally blew one of my subs. They had each sub wired in series then going to the box connector then they had my positive wires connected together on the box connectors and negatives together going into 1 positive connection of one of the amp speaker groups and then the negative going to the other amp speaker group. Please advise what ohm this actually was running at and if this was the optimal set up.
Thanks
Howard
Hi Howard,
Kind of confused on your description, but it sounds like they had each sub set up in series (acting as an 8 ohm sub each) and then parallel for final 4 ohm load. The JL Audio slash series amplifiers have a regulated power supply. That amp will put out 500 watts RMS whether you have a 1.5 – 4 ohm load. So it doesn’t really matter with that particular amp as long as you’re in that range. If you’re just using one sub now I would wire it in parallel for a 2 ohm load. Wouldn’t do you much good at 8 ohm.
Hi Annie,
I am puzzled here. I a 98 mercury mountaineer with the big three upgrage on stock alternator and battery. I am running a alpine cda-9843 HU and an alpine mrp-m1000d mono amp rated at 600rms @ 4ohm and 1000rms @ 2ohm. I also have a pair of old school RF 12s dual 4ohm wired series/parallel to the amp. series inside the box to box terminals and then parallel to amp outside the box. The issue I have is the amp was cutting off after playing music short periods of time at 50% volume and when HU was turned off and back on the subs would play fine. Finally one day while driving, playing my music on a trip home the subs stopped playing. after cutting off the car and restarting it the amp did not produce sound to the subs except if the bass was turned up on the HU or the volume was turned up higher than normal resulting in sound but very distorted. subs will not play at low volume at all. I hooked the subs to my 5 channel alpine amps sub output and the subs played fine. Did I somehow fry my amp and why would it not handle the subs at 4ohms when they are rated at 400rms/800peak? I am running 1/0ga throughout the system to Dblocks and 4ga to the mono amp from the Dblock. Also, I have a capacitor in before the amp and fused blocks at the battery for power to amp and the big three, and fused block at the digital readout before the capacitor with 300amp fuses. The ground is 4ga however grounded to a bolt storage area tiedown hook sanded to metal then to the capacitor, then to the amp. what could I have done wrong that has caused my amp to crash and possibly burn. I am lost and am looking at shelling out another couple hundred for a new amp if I have fried this one. I am running quality 1/0ga wire with all connection points sanded to metal and tightly secured.
sorry for the run-on paragraph.
I truly need some advice and info. Also what would be a better amp for those subs? They hit extremely hard at the 4ohms but I really would like to run them at 2ohms to truly see what the are capable of.
PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!
Thanks,
Jazzy
Hi Jazzy – that is odd. I’ve known that amp to be a bit of a work horse, very surprising considering only running it at a 4 ohm load. The initial symptoms you described sound like a bad ground. In your set up I would make sure that amps and capacitors are all grounded to the same point in the vehicle, but each have their own separate ground cable. In other words don’t daisy chain the ground which is how I think you’d described it, but not positive. And bolt storage tie down hook – like towards the bottom body of the car or the trunk lid/rear shelf area? Hopefully towards the body of the car. Check your capacitor too. I’ve seen cheap capacitors burn out really nice amplifiers. I had one customer burn out his $800 Audison amp with a cheap Amazon special $50 capacitor.
You could always invest in an amp with a regulated power supply. Alpine’s PDX-M12 will put out 1200 watts RMS whether you give it a 2, 3 or 4 ohm load. Based on the dual 4 ohm configuration I think that’s your best bet. You can’t wire those subs down to 2 ohm, only option would be 1 or 4 ohm load. Technically you could leave wired to 4 ohm and find a 2 channel bridgeable amp that will put out 800 watts RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load, but none come to mind. Or buy a regulated power supply amp that will put out the power you need even at 4 ohms. Hope that helps!
Thank you Annie for your reply. After reading more blogs and doing some research and brainstorming, it was the ground wire to the amp that was giving me the problem. I also read that the amp has a current protector built in which is probably what saved this monster of an amp. I rechecked all connections and tightened and grounded the amp to the floor under the back seat and WOW! I dodged that bullet! I really was not looking to shell out another couple notes for a new amp. I am very impressed with this amp as it really puts out clean solid power. I may invest down the line in another one and run each sub at 2ohms to see what these puppies are really capable of.
Do you think I should run these in a sealed box, ported or bandpass? I like the tight punchy bass, but also would like a little rumble as well. I am currently running them in a sealed dual 12inch box. I got the box from a garage sale for $2 over 2 years ago and just now getting to use it. I am not sure if the specs. of the box are properly tuned or made for these specific subs, but they sound amazing! I adjusted the amp settings and have the subwoofer volume all the way down on my HU as well as the bass and it still performs above my expectations. I am mainly wanting to see what these guys do at 2ohms. I think these are power hungry monsters and can handle whatever you throw at them.
What do you think?
PS: you are AWESOME AND VERY KNOWLEDGABLE IN THE CAR AUDIO AREA!!! Thank you for all your help, Thumbs Up!!!
Thanks man, I could use the props after the serious verbal lashing I got from a customer today over how bad their SiriusXM sounds (I will be writing a post soon about why SiriusXM sounds like arse, why you shouldn’t listen to it and why it’s not my fault is sounds like butt).
Glad to hear your amp is still okay!
As far as boxes go, I personally prefer sealed. I like the tighter, punchier tone – However, if you build a ported box to manufacturer spec/recommendation, you can build a clean sounding ported box that is both tight and punchy and provides the low rumble. Not a fan of bandpass, that’s hard to get right. You can look up manufacturer box recommendations in the owner’s manual of the subs usually (can usually find online if you don’t have).
Hey I have 3 subs they are 1800 watt 900 watt RMs they 4 ohm, I don’t understand this at all and I need help can someone suggest the best kind of amp to run the 3? Help please
Check out the woofer wiring wizard. You’re only wiring options are really to end up with a 1.34 ohm load. So if your subs are TRULY 900 watts RMS that would mean you need a 2700 Watt RMS mono amplifier that is 1 ohm stable. I don’t think you’ll find that so instead you may need to use 3 identical amps that can put out 900 watts RMS at 4 ohm.
Hi Annie, sorry if you have answered this question. I have one Rockford 600w 4 channel pushing 4 door speakers and 1 Zapco mono 1100.1 amp pushing one JL 13.5 W6 v2 sub. Stereo is Kenwood X998. The problem is that the Zapco amp just heats up and switch off in 15min when the HU volume reach 60% and turn up again after 5 min. The car is a VW polo with original alternator and a normal battery. Is it because the electric power is little for this set up or the sub is not wired parallel? What if the sub is wired correctly? Thanks.
Huh – W6 is a dual voice coil 4 ohm so you probably have it wired in parallel for 2 ohm which a safe load for any mono amp. I would recommend checking your ground and also making sure you’re using the proper gauge wire. If you’re starving the amp for power with too thin wire that can cause the same thing. But so can a bad ground. If I recall correctly those Zapco amps can be pretty power hungry and not always that efficient. I might look into a more efficient amplifier like an Alpine PDX-M12 if it continues to be an issue.
Hi Annie! Thank you so much for your time spent with us, the “noobs” in car audio..
I would like to know if this setup is OK(kind of) in terms of specifications… I have a 350w dual voice coil sub and a 2-ch amplifier 2 x 150w at 4 ohm (bridgeable1 x 300wRms at 4ohms)…
How should I wire the setup? Thank you so much
Hi Andrei,
Happy to help sweetie, can you tell me what your sub is? Dual voice coil 2 ohm? Dual voice coil 4 ohm? That will help me recommend the best way to set it up.
hello i have a 4 ohm svc rocksford fosgate 8 inch sub but my amp is 2 ohms, would this work?what problems would i run into?
Did you even read the post? Your amp is not only 2 ohms. Amplifier companies like to rate their amps at 2 ohms because that’s the most commonly used load for subwoofer amps and also when they can put out the most power with stability.
Most amplifiers have an unregulated power supply meaning it can put out a certain amount of power which varies depending one what impedance or ohm load the amp is given by your subwoofer. Your subwoofer is 4 ohms. Your amp may be 2 ohm stable which is the lowest impedance it can handle safely. It can handle higher loads like 4 ohms, but won’t put out as much power at 4 ohms as it can at 2 ohms. Most amps have ratings that say something like 500 watts RMS @ 2 ohms and 300 watts RMS @ 4 ohms. It’s the same amp, two different power outputs at two different impedance loads.
Hello Annie. I just purchase a Hifonics BRX2000.1D Brutus Mono Amplifier and for the sub woofers I have two 2 ohm DVC Kicker L7 12″. I going to Series Wire too a final of 2ohms. The amp is rated at Power 700W@4ohms /1400W@2ohms/ 2000W@1ohms.
So i will be pushing 700 watts per Sub woofer which is 50 watts under RMS its said 750 watt RMS and 1500 watt Max.
I guess the mono amps don’t see half the load? Only what your final impedance are set too?
I like the clean bass sound sealed box. So by me missing that extra 50 watt will i really notice any differents any by doing so does it extend the life of the subwoofer maybe?
Hi Tony,
You’re right in the ball park as far as RMS power handling goes, I don’t think you’ll miss the extra 50 watts RMS per sub that they can handle. You are correct – mono amps don’t see the half load, only true 2-channel amps when bridged will see 1/2 the load. A mono amp will see whatever the final impedance is (even if they give you two terminals – they just do that for convenience if you have a box with two terminals and want to wire them separately).
What is a good sight for car audio
Umm – this one? LOL not sure what you’re looking for exactly. Honestly I’m in this industry and sell all this stuff in my own shop, but I still use Crutchfield from time to time to check out product specs all in one place. I also check out CE Outlook and Mobile Electronics Magazine to stay current on the latest new products and innovations. If you’re looking to read about or learn about car audio wiring and installation, ohms law, box building, that kind of thing – check out the12volt.com.
Annie,
Hope to get your input on wiring up a subwoofer for a friend. She has a single Kicker S12L7 and a Kenwood KAC-9104d amplifier. Amp claims to be 1 ohm stable @900 RMS, so if I were to parallel the L7, that would put it at a 1 ohm load correct? Or would that cut the load to 1/2 ohm connecting it to the mono amp? Alternatively, it seems to be rated for 500 RMS @ 4 ohms.
What would you suggest?
Thanks for your input!
Jeremiah
Hi Jeremiah,
Crutchfield does show that sub as a dual 2 ohm woofer, so if you ran it parallel it would be running at 1 ohm. So technically the Kenwood amp is 1 ohm stable. Of all amps I’ve come across listed as 1 ohm stable, Kenwood’s are the only ones I’ve encountered that have been able to really perform with a 1 ohm load on a consistent basis. It will be loud, but it won’t be tight or clean, but it will work. And based on the RMS of the sub (750) I think you should actually run it at 1 ohm. You could run it in series at 4 ohm, but you’d be under powering it at that point. Hope that helps!
Hi Annie
I have (2) MM840 8″SVC 250rms each subwoofers, running them of a TG-D4000.1 Targa amplifier. The amp is rated @1ohm-550rms. @2ohm-320rms and @4ohm-210rms. Is this amp strong enough to drive these subs, and how do i wire the subs to the amplifier.
Hi Rodney, I’d buy a better amplifier. If your subs are rated at 250 watts RMS a piece and they’re single voice coil 4 ohm, you want an amp that will put out 500 watts RMS @ 2 ohms. You would be under powering the subs with that amp and risk blowing them (under powering causes distortion which blows speakers). Consider the Alpine MRV-M500. You could wire your subs in parallel (Just tie both positives to the positive terminal of the amp and both negatives to the negative terminal of the amp) which would give you a final 2 ohm load.
Hi I have a Rockford fosgate t1500 amp that when I start listening to something that has a lot of bass after a few minutes it will start cutting in and out. It doesn’t go into protection mode but rather thermal mode I’m guessing because it is getting too hot. I have 2 Rockford fosgate t2d4 12″ subs hooked up to it and run parallel, negative to negative and positive to positive. Should I hook them up in series instead? I know I need to upgrade my alternator and possibly another battery because I’m drawing a lot of power since I also have another amp running all 4 of my interior speakers. I’d appreciate any help trying to figure this out thank you for your time.
Hi Zack, sounds like you’re running the amp at 1 ohm and yeah I’m sure that amp is heating up really fast. That’s a very unstable load. I would wire it in series for a final 4 ohm load and see how it behaves, it should sound a lot cleaner and tighter too. It definitely won’t be as loud though and you should check to see how much power your amp will put out at 4 ohms as you also don’t want to under power your subs and risk blowing them. In this case, with this exact equipment, you may find the sweet spot is with one subwoofer connected at a 2ohm load. That might give you the right mix of output, function and sound quality.
Hi Annie,
How would you hook this kit up?
Head unit: Alpine iDA-X100
Front spk: Fosgate Component T1652-S
Rear spk: Fosgate T1693C
Subwoofer: Alpine SWR-1222D
Amplifier: Alpine MRV-F345 (for front component)
Amplifier: Alpine MRP-M450 (for subwoofer)
Thanks!
Hello. I have read all of your post and all the comments. I’m just at a loss here. I have a Pioneer TS-W309D4 12″ 1400 Watt (400 watt RMS) Car Subwoofer + E12S Sealed Sub Box Enclosure. I also have been looking at a Pioneer GM-5500T 820 watt(400 watt RMS) 2-Channel Car Audio Class A/B Power Amplifier Amp. Is this set up right? If I bridge the subs the amp is going to go to 1ohm? what do you recommend?
Hi James. You can use that combo but you need to wire the sub in series (would see 4 ohm per channel). Wired in parallel the amp would not be stable (would be seeing 1 ohm per channel), although I think there are better options from other brands like Alpine or Kenwood. You just need a mono amp around 400 watts and both brands have options around $200. I think that amp would be too little power running at 4 ohms per channel (also known as running it at 8 ohms bridged).
Hi Annie,
I have a 2006 Chevrolet silverado 2500 crew cab, and the only speakers I can find that will fit under the seat or anywhere out of the way are two Rockford Fosgate R2SD2-10′s, I would like to know your opinion on my situation, if you have some other speakers you think would be better and how many or what kind of amp/amps I should get and what would be the best way. Just want to make sure I get the right set up. Thanks.
I have 2 alpine type r 15s in a custom ported box, I have them on an alpine mrp m1000 right now wich sounds fairly decent but I think they are being starved. What would be the best amp to make them hit as hard as possible ??
Hi Chad,
They be starved for power from your car. Those subs are rated around 750 watts RMS so they’re definitely matched up nicely with each amp. Chances are your battery/alternator isn’t supplying enough current to the amps. I would recommend you definitely run 0 gauge for power and ground (if not already doing so) and you’d want to buy a high performance deep cycle battery and high output alternator that can support another 200 amps over what the OEM alternator does.
Annie, I would like to first start off by saying that I really enjoy your website and your tutorial videos, they’re great! But I still have a question that needs to be addressed.
I currently am running a Kenwood KAC-7205 Amplifer and two Kenwood KFC-W12PS Subwoofers. My amplifier is rated 500 watts RMS x 1 bridged @ 4ohms, and each Subwoofer is 4 ohms. I currently have them wired in parallel. I understand the difference between series and parallel, and according to your video, since my amp is a 2 channel amp, my subs should be wired in series (which makes sense, because my amp does get hot). But my question is, since my amp is 500 watts RMS x 1 @ 4 ohms when bridged, shouldn’t it play stable at 2 ohms, rather than 1 ohm? Or does having my subs wired in parallel drop the ohm level two 2 ohms, and then the load is cut in half again to 1 ohm because it’s bridged?
Hello my name is Juan and I have a question I just got one single 12 in kicker cvx and a 1200 watts amp and I’m trying to find out what would be best for me I don’t know if to make it to 2 ohm or a 4 ohm and what would be best for my system
Hi Juan,
I can’t answer your question unless you tell me which version sub you have (dual 2 ohm? dual 4 ohm?) and what model amp you have (2 channel? mono?). Sorry!
hi im thinking of getting 2 polk audio subs mm1240 425w rms and powering it with alpine mrx-m100 amp 1000w rms x 1 chan @2 ohms not sure what ohms on subs to get
Hi Scott, I don’t carry polk, but if you wanted two subs connected to that amp for a 2 ohm load you’d have to buy either single voice coil 4 ohm (and wire subs in parallel) or dual 2 ohm voice coil (wire voice coils in series, then parallel subs).
Hi Annie,
I have a 2006 Chevrolet silverado 2500 crew cab, and the only speakers I can find that will fit under the seat or anywhere out of the way are two Rockford Fosgate R2SD2-10’s, I would like to know your opinion on my situation, if you have some other speakers you think would be better and how many or what kind of amp/amps I should get and what would be the best way. Just want to make sure I get the right set up. Thanks.
Hi Taylor,
There are a lot of options, you just will definitely have to build your own enclosure for them. For space saving subs, I like JL Audio 8W3’s and 13TW5’s. If you don’t feel like building anything, JL has this stealth box. Other nice options are Alpine’s SWRT series (available in 10″ or 12″).
As far as what to use, it really depends on what kind of sound you’re going for. I do like amps by JL Audio, Alpine or Kenwood Excelon. Almost always I recommend mono amps (depends on which subs, what else you are hooking up for interior speakers). I hope that helps!
Annie
Hey Annie, I have a pioneer gm5400t 2 channel 760W amp and two MTX shallow 10″ subs(FPR10-02). I am trying to figure out how to connect my subs to my amp but I have no idea of how ohms and amps work. Do you think it would be a problem If I were to just hook the subs up normally,(not bridged)? I dont wanna mess these subs up.
Hi Sharieff, yes you can wire them in stereo to each respective left and right channel. Other wise if you want to wire it in mono (subs will play a mixed stereo signal and play the same tones) you can wire the subs in series then bridge at the amp.
I’m new to this just bought an amp hooked it up but have no idea what speakers and what subs to buy, here are the specs of the amp 3180W Max, 5.1 Surround Sound 6-Channel Car Amplifier
Amplifier has 2 front channels, 2 rear channels, 1 center channel, and 1 subwoofer channel.
RMS Power Rating:
4 ohms: (Front: 125W x 2 ch.) + (Center: 75W x 1 ch.) + (Rear: 75W x 2) + (Sub Channel: 300W x 1 ch.)
2 ohms: (Front: 200W x 2 ch.) + (Center: 130W x 1 ch.) + (Rear: 130W x 2) + (Sub Channel: 500W x 1 ch.)
1 ohm (Note: only the sub channel, the 6th channel, is stable at 1 ohm): 800W x 1 ch.
Max Power Output: 3180 watts @ 2 ohms stereo for channels 1-5 and 1 ohm for channel 6.
It’s in my ford ranger, I wanna raise some hell, what’ll sound best with that? I got 2000$ saved for the speakers and subs wouldn’t mind spending less than that tho, any help is appreciated!
Hi Dexter,
I get the impression that you want rock concert loud in your truck, which is pretty cool. You didn’t mention a head unit however, don’t know if you already have one, but you’ll definitely need a good one. I would recommend Morel Tempo series or Virtus series for speakers and a couple of 10″ subs like JL Audio 10W3’s (the 4 ohm versions so the amp will see 2 ohms when wired in parallel) in custom built sealed boxes (follow manufacturer’s recommendations for cubic volume). I would run 4 gauge wire for power and ground. I don’t normally do a center channel because you typically don’t have the option to do a true center channel in most vehicle setups (would need a source unit that supports true 5.1 and would need to listen to media that supports 5.1 like true DVD Audio discs).
Thank you very much Annie, you’re advice is greatly appreciated!! Ok so I had another quick question. Like I said I’m new to this and I was reading earlier comments/replys and I read something about if I’m going to keep my factory radio I should use an audio processor. If I’m just adding 1 then eventually another sub as I previously mentioned do you think this applys to me? Also, would I also need a capacitor? I am installing one 10w6v2d4 wired parallel in a sealed box with a JL Slash 500/1 amp into a 2011 GMC Sierra Z71 Crew Cab. What do you think? Thanks again Annie*
Hi Wally,
I recommend a processor when you’re looking to basically do an entirely aftermarket audio system while keeping the OEM head unit (changing out all speakers, adding a 4 channel amp, subwoofer and sub amp). For simply adding an amp and sub to a stock system, I usually recommend using an adjustable hi to lo convertor (especially if you have a stock amplified system like Bose) and always a dedicated subwoofer control level knob (JL’s RBC1 will plug right into your amp and give you a separate sub level adjustment independent of what you adjust on your head unit).
The Slash amps can consume a lot of power, but they’re regulated so they’ll pretty much only take what they can get. A cap will help, but depending on how loud you like it, it may not be necessary. The real fix is upgrading to a higher output alternator. I would try it first and see how it goes.
Annie
Hi Annie,
Great advice! I just purchased a JL 10W6V2D4 for my 2011 GMC Sierra. What kind of amp would you recommend specifically to power the single and yet has enough juice to power the 2nd sub when I eventually buy it? How would you wire for single sub configuration and how would you wire for both to result in great sound/thump and longevity. And lastly, what size box do you recommend? Ported or not? Thank you so very much for your advice, this is my first system ever!!
Hi Wally,
For sound quality I prefer sealed. It’s tighter, punchier and has a deeper bass response. For an amp that will work with the one sub you have and a second sub later, I recommend the JL Audio HD1200. It’s 1200 watts RMS whether you give it 1.5 ohms or 4 ohms. It’s more than enough power for one, so just adjust your gains accordingly until you add the second one. You can leave the sub wired in parallel. But when you add the second one, series the two subs for a final 4 ohm load. Also make sure to follow JL’s recommendations for enclosure size found in the owner’s guide.
hi Annie im new to this audio side but im just wondering what would be a good amp to run two 10inch pioneer champion series each sub is 1200 wats max each with 175 rms each coil and they are already parallel wired just dont know much about it and how many ohms to do it on
Hi Lorenzo,
So Pioneer’s dual voice coil Champion’s are dual 4 ohm. And if they are wired in parallel they are running at 2 ohms each. So with these two subs, you can really only come up with two final impedance options. Either 4 ohms (series the subs) or 1 ohm (parallel). 1 ohm is not really stable, so I’d recommend series them. Amps that will put out around 700 watts RMS at 4 ohms would be something like an MRXM110 from Alpine or if you wanted to run at 1 ohm, I would recommend the Kenwood KAC-9105D.
Annie
Hello Annie, I have a kenwood kac8015D 1000 watt mono amp. And I’m looking into getting an alpine type r 12 inch swr1243D. Is this a good match? Or what sub do you recommend for my amp???
Hi Aj,
The alpine type R will work (dual 4 ohm). Other nice options are JL Audio W3s (two single voice coil 4 ohm) or one W6.
Annie
hi i have a txp3000 mono block class d amplifier 1ohm stable max power @ 1 ohms 1x3000w rms power @ 1ohms 1x1500w how many sub can i run and and what wat should the subs be
Hi,
It looks like the amp will put out abut 900 watts RMS (true every day reality power) at 2 ohms (stable impedance). So you could do a bunch of different things. You just need to match your impedance and your power handling. Your options would be this:
1 sub rated at 900 watts RMS
-with either a single 2 ohm voice coil OR dual 4 ohm voice coil (wired in parallel for final 2 ohm load)
2 subs rated at 450 watts RMS each
-with either a single 4 ohm voice coil (you would wire the subs in parallel for a final 2 ohm load) OR Dual 2 ohm voice coils (wired in series, then parallel for final 2 ohm load)
I have a 10w6 and a 500/1 mono amp. I don’t know what type of enclosure I should get and how big is the box to give a perfect sound in my car. Also, how should I wire the sub? Series or parallel? And I am most likely going to wire them in parallel since it’s a 4 ohm sub. Please leave me a comment. Thanks!
Hi Eric,
I would wire it in parallel, definitely. As far as box goes. If you want to build it to JL’s recommendations, use the owner’s guide found here. However, if you want the best sounding box possible for your vehicle, use Bass Box Pro software and design one yourself (allows you to select tuning frequency, chart various outputs depending on style and variation of enclosure and more). That’s what we use in the shop and our custom made boxes (even the plain jane square ones) sound way better than the enclosures JL offers with their subs. We also use tru pan which is lighter than MDF. Happy box building!
Annie
Hi Annie, I have 2 kicker L712’s 750rms/1500rms 2 ohm dvc, and a kicker zxs1500.1 mono 2 ohm stable. Whats the best way to wire the speakers for maximum output without making the amp unstable?
Hi Terry,
That’s a nice easy one. Wire the subs voice coils in series , so each sub has a 4 ohm impedance then you can parallel the two subs for a final 2 ohm load.
Annie
Hi Annie,
If I only ever plan to run one subwoofer with a monoblock amp (JL Audio XD600/1) what would be the difference between the 2 and 4 Ohm JL Audio w3 subs and which one should I get?
Thanks,
Gavin
Hi Gavin,
I would definitely buy the 4 ohm version. Even though JL says 500 watts RMS on the W3, if you open the install guide or click on their specifications/power range, it will show 500 is the “danger zone”. The happy point is around 300 watts RMS. At 4 ohms, the XD will put out a very clean 400 watts RMS. Also, if you ever decided to add a second W3 4 ohm, you could still use the same amp. Having two W3’s 4 ohm wired in parallel would bring the impedance down to 2 ohms and you’d get 600 RMS out of the amp which would be perfect for two W3’s, IF you ever decided to add another one. So definitely, the 4 ohm version. And if you buy it through this link, I’ll get credit for the sale 🙂
P.S. always buy JL direct or through your local authorized retailer. They are very serious about their distribution and really control it. If you see it online for anything less than what is advertised on JL’s site, it’s illegitimate (i.e. stolen, re-furbished, used, missing serial #’s and absolutely no warranty whatsoever). I’ve had a lot of customers get burned by shady deals.
Hey Annie,
I have two Rockford Fosgate P3 DVC 2ohm 600RMS 1200max and a P1000-1 Fosgate amp. Would I be correct in saying that if I run both voice coils in parallel for one sub the final impedance would be 1ohm? And if I do that for both and use both A&B speaker hook ups then I would be splitting the 1ohm power rating equally between the two subs? So the rated 1000 watts would be 500 and 500 respectively between the two? If this isn’t correct can you guide me through hooking them up so that the final impedance will be 1ohm? Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Bragas, don’t do that, you’d be running the whole set up at .5 ohm which might play for 30 seconds before the amp heats up and shuts down. Only because the Rockford is really a mono amp despite it’s deceiving A & B channel hookups. They just do that to make wire running easier/cleaner when you are paralleling speakers. Your best bet is to wire the subs in series for a final 4 ohm load per sub, then wire them up to their respective terminals on the amp. The amp will still see this as parallel and run at 2 ohms which is a stable impedance. It will be slightly underpowered. Rockford lists they’re dynamic power output around 800 watts RMS despite the specification shown of 500 watts RMS @ 2 ohm.
To really run it at 1 ohm, you would need the dual 4 ohm versions, wired in parallel, then paralleled at the amp.
Hi Annie,
I have 1 12″ kicker L7 (750 rms/1500)(1 ohm or 4 ohm), and Hifonics Brutus BRZ2100.1D. I wired it at 4 ohms(700 RMS), but i think it’s underpowered, i was wondering if i wire it at 1 ohms(2100 RMS)? Will it be fine or will it be too much? 2100 RMS at 14.4 volts, in my car i’ve got 13.5v, so is it still 2100 RMS i get or less?
What is the best way to power my sub?
Thank you very much!
Sergej
Hi Sergej,
What kind of enclosure is the sub in? I would rather see you ever so slightly under power the sub than to risk overpowering it by almost 3 times what it needs. If you’re getting quite the output you were looking for, I’d say:
-Make sure it’s in the manufacturer’s recommended enclosure
-Ported will give you more output at certain frequencies
-Where’s your signal coming from? Stock head unit? Aftermarket? What kind of preout voltage?
i currently am stuck with my kenwood x500-1 along with 4 gauge wiring due to me subs getting blown out i had a dual 12′ mtx setup they were great starting subs got body flex and all that they were rated at about 450 rms where the x500-1 gets about 550-650 watts probably was the issues its funny because the x500-1 is so tiny. anyways i was woundering if anyone one had suggestions on what i should through in with my kenwood x500-1 it gets about 500-600 watts rms at 2 ohms. sub info and box info would be best for my buck !
Hi Andrew,
Your amp will put out about 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms, so yes, I’m sure that’s why you blew your subs. Severely underpowered them. SO if you wanted one sub, and you didn’t want to spend a lot on it, I’d say go for a Pioneer Champion Series 12″ and build a ported box to manufacturer’s recommendation (assuming you want the most output). No matter what you do, make sure you tune it right. Distortion kills speakers. Good luck! – Annie
Hi Annie, I have a 1999 Jeep Wrangler and wanted to put a little bit of bass in the rear cargo area. Preferably in some type of box. A buddy of mine gave me a new Alpine MRX-M50 amp. the specs says 500W RMS 2 ohms and 300W RMS 4 ohms. What kind of subs would this amp run and what would be some good not to expensive subs for this amp. Thank you, Dwight
Hi Dwight,
A nice option that won’t take up a lot of room would be the JL Audio W3 8″, they have a nice option that comes with it’s own enclosure. If you’ve got the room, you could even buy their dual 8″ box. Or start with one and add another one later. They’re 4 ohm each. Hope that helps.
Hey. I am slightly new to the Car Audio world and I am interested in getting a 1500 RMS sub with a 3000 RMS amp so I can eventually get a second and wire them parallel when I get more money. I was just curious as to what brands (preferably off-brand because I do not mind) would be best for the money to choose from? Thanks alot. =)
Hi Jacob,
I can appreciate being new to car audio, but the 1st thing you want to learn is that quality still needs to be considered even when you’re looking at quantity. What’s the point of having a 3000 watt RMS amp if it distorts at a lesser volume than a 1100 watt RMS amp? (Distortion kills speakers) It’s not all about the numbers. Things like total harmonic distortion, signal to noise ratio and fuse amp ratings are tell tale signs of the quality of power your amp is actually capable of producing.
If you’re looking for quality high output on a budget I’d say check out Pioneer’s Champion Series subs (Pro’s). Aim to buy the dual 2 ohm versions, build a ported box to manufacturer’s spec for optimum output and performance and buy yourself an Alpine MRXM2400 for a real amp that can produce 1500 watts RMS at 4 ohms or 2400 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
On a budget? Start with one sub. To really do the one sub justice on a budget, you’d have to buy the dual 4 ohm version, wire it in parallel and hook the one Pioneer champion up to something like a Kenwood KAC9105D.
Hey annie,
I have a 2 12″ kicker comp enclosure made by kicker set for 2 ohms.It has a 600w peak and 300w rms. Should i get a multi channel or mono amp and what would be some recommended amps preferably cheap (300$ max)? Heres a link and thanks again 🙂 http://www.visions.ca/(X(1)S(finqmi553docos3usradnd45))/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=30&productId=6139&sku=10DC122&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Hi Kris,
I found this on that same website. It’s last years model and discontinued so that’s probably why it’s such a good deal. But it was the one of the top selling $200 car audio amps in America for a long time. Current options that would work would be Alpine MRXM55, JL JX500 or a Kenwood KAC-8105D. All in the $200 – $250 range, good quality amps that put out 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms (it’s better to have more power than you need than too little power). Hope that helps!
what are the best wires for a dual Kicker CompVR 07CVR152 15-Inch 2-Ohm DVC setup? also what kind of ampage would i need for something like this. Sorry im new and people seem to have good answers here.
Hi Austin,
If you only have one sub, you would have been better off buying the dual 4 ohm version. You should wire this sub in series for a 4 ohm load (1 ohm would be too unstable) and find yourself a mono amp that puts out 500 watts RMS at 4 Ohms. A nice option that won’t break the bank is Kenwood’s KAC-9105D. I would use a 4 gauge wire kit for that amp. Enjoy!
Hi Annie,
I am fairly new to in car audio but i recently purchased a used Rainbow ipaul dm2000 mono amp here in the UK for £135.
Later on, I found a pair of used Rainbow hammer 12″ subwoofers again used and already in a single sealed box for £220 from another person.
My question is what is the best way to get all this set up by the local audio shop in order to get the most output whilst also remaining stable.
I have also been offered a line driver for £30, how important is it to have this?
Also, would you suggest a ported enclosure as opposed to a sealed enclosure to house these woofers?
And finally is there any better single 15″ woofers you can recommend so I can get the most output from the 1000w amp?
Many thanks in advance,
Hi,
Judging by the specs listed on Rainbow’s website, that amp is only capable of pushing 1000 watts RMS at 1 ohm and I doubt it will manage to do that for more than 8 months without burning up (just my experience with all “1 ohm stable” amps). It also doesn’t sound very good running at 1 ohm. But the good news is it appears to push out around 750 watts at 2 ohm and Rainbow lists those subs as being dual 2 ohm voice coil. Each sub’s voice coils should be wired in series to produce a 4 ohm load per woofer, then you can parallel the two subs for a final 2 ohm load.
A line driver is only helpful when the signal going into the amp is weak (i.e. low voltage head unit or line out from stock head unit too weak of a signal). Have them put it in if they feel the signal from whatever you’re using (stock head or aftermarket) is too weak going into the amp.
I’m not a fan of 15″‘s. They are not really popular where we’re located mainly for practical reasons, they really don’t fit into a lot of things! For tight punchy bass keep it sealed, for high output at select frequencies (typically 40 – 50 hertz) go ported. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for optimal sound quality either way you go.
i have a gm7200m mono block 800w amp and a pair of Infinity Reference 1252W 300rms subs in a Chevy Camaro Poly Trunk Sub Box in a 2011 camaro with a line out converter. what is the best way to hook up the subs at 2 ohms or 4 ohms.
Hi Tony,
From what I can find, it appears those subs are dual 4 ohm voice coils. And your amp will handle a range of 2-4 ohms final impedance. So the best thing to do is to is wire each sub’s voice coil in series, then parallel the subs for a final 4 ohm load. Unfortunately, you couldn’t wire the whole set up down to 2 ohms (unless you just used ONE sub, then you could just parallel one sub, but then the amp would be putting out way more power than your sub needs). If using a line out converter, check whether or not there is a stock subwoofer. If there is, you must get your signal for the converter from the stock subwoofer. Good luck!
Annie
Which 10inch subs (JL Audio) would you recommend for a 2 sub configuration using the JL Audio HD900/5 amp?
Thanks.
Hi Juan,
Definitely the W3. Don’t let their “500 watt” power handling fool you. If you click on the general specs you’ll see it’s sweet spot is around 250 watts RMS. Because the HD has a regulated power supply (RIPS technology), it doesn’t matter if you get the 4 ohm version and wire them in parallel or the 2 ohm version and wire it in series. You’ll get 500 watts RMS between 1.5-4 ohms.
Always buy JL from an authorized retailer. If there aren’t any near you, buy online from JL Audio direct. They will have the closest authorized dealer with product in stock ship and fulfill the order for you. Nice amp, enjoy your set up!
Annie
Hey, I have two kicker l7 15″s. They are dual voice coil 4 ohms. 1000w and 2000max. I was wondering what kind of amp I could get for these two please
Hi Erik,
I don’t think you’re going to be able to use one amp simply because you purchased the dual 4 ohm voice coil version. If you were to wire both of those to one amp (would have to be a mono based on the power needs), you can only either wire the subs series, then parallel which would end up in a final 4 ohm load or parallel, parallel which would end up in a highly unstable 1 ohm load.
That kind of stinks because as I’ve said before to other readers, it’s very difficult to properly tune two amps. Check out my last comment on 4 gauge, 2 gauge, 8 gauge, 0 gauge… for more details why.
So what I think you’re going to have to do is buy two mono amps rated around 1000 watts RMS each and you’ll wire each sub in parallel to each amp. Which two amps? There’s a few options out there from a couple great companies. JL would be the JX1000/1D which is incredibly compact and efficient. Its footprint is about the size of a notebook and it’s about $450. From Alpine would be the MRX-M110. I recommend buying direct from the manufacturer or your local dealer to make sure you’re getting A-Stock legitimate product. Plus, you’ll need a pro to help you tune it properly, so hopefully the JL or Alpine dealer you buy from can help you with the install. And by pro, I mean an installer who knows what an Oscilloscope is and how to use it with a multimeter to tune two identical amps and two identical subs. Good luck!
P.S. If you traded them for the Dual 2 ohm version, you can wire THOSE in series, then parallel for a final 2 ohm load and buy Kicker’s ZX2500.1 to push both of them.
RE Audio SEX12D4 is the subwoofer I am looking to buy but am not sure which amp i should choose Boss CX2500D running the sub at 4ohm or Power Acoustik CPT1-2000 again pushing 670rms @4ohms orHifonics HFi1000D running 750rms@2ohms…Can you please tell me which amp would be my best bet keeping in mind i have a 2002 mazda protege ,I dont want to do any changes to my battery or alternator or their wiring …even info about which wiring kit i use and the subwoofer box i will really appreciate your help …I am a student and this has been my dream.:)
Hi Navdeep,
I’m not familiar with RE audio and I don’t particularly care for Boss, Power Acoustik or Hifonics, but I can tell you a couple options for efficient amps that would power that RE sub. Something like a Kenwood X500-1, a JL XD600/1 or an Alpine MRXM55. All of these amps produce around 500 – 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms and are fairly efficient, drawing at an absolute PEAK 60 amps. The others you mentioned are in the 75 amp range. I would go with a 4 gauge kit like this one. As far as enclosure goes, here is a link to the owner’s guide which gives you enclosure recommendations. For sealed, looks like you want a 1.0 cubic box. Sealed will give you tight, punchy bass. Ported will give you more output at certain frequencies. For best performance, build to spec as shown in the owner’s guide.
i have a question my amp puts out 1000 watts at any where between 1.5 and 4 ohms so what would the diffrence be if i ran a lower ohm load
Hi Cory,
Great question! Your amp has a regulated power supply meaning it puts out the same amount of power regardless of whether it sees 1.5 – 4 ohms. MOST amplifiers on the market are unregulated and thus the power output varies with resistance. You will get the same sound quality and output with your amp whether you wire it up to a 2 ohm sub or a 4 ohm sub.
I have 2 jl 13w6s and a jl 1000/1 v2 I was wodering how to wire to 2 ohm load and sealed or not? I was thinking duel ported 2 sf each maybe? And If there hooked up how many watts would each 1 be pushing in rms each? Alpine head unit 86**?
Hi Andy,
Nice equipment you got there! Yeah, unfortunately, you can’t wire those down to a final 2 ohm load. But technically you could still use that amp to power both as the 1000/1v2 has a regulated power supply and puts out 1000 watts RMS regardless of whether you give it a 2 ohm load or 4 ohm load. And I’ve always found the slash series amps to be slightly underrated as far as the true RMS output they actually produce. The W6’s want 500 – 750 watts RMS a piece, so you can power them both with the one amp if you wire them correctly.
The W6’s are dual 4 ohm subs. If you wire them in parallel (which is normally how they come), your sub has a 2 ohm load. If you wanted to power both W6’s with that amp, you would have to wire the subs in series, then parallel. This would result in a final 4 ohm load. You cannot wire them in parallel, then parallel again as that would result in a 1 ohm load which is too unstable.
As far as enclosure goes, follow JL’s recommendations found here. Build it to their suggestion. Sealed for tight, punchy, chest pounding bass. Ported for loud, reverberating, brain rattling bass.
I just bought a kicker cvr 12 dual 4ohm. I have a zx750.1 amp and I was wondering if
The amp is too much for that sub? Maybe I will put 2 cvrs later
Thanks
Hi Jose,
More power is always better than too little, so you should be fine. As with any set up, just make sure you hear no distortion even at peak volumes. If you decided to do two CVR’s at a later date, you would need the dual 2 ohm version in order to get to a final 2 ohm load.
I am looking at a kicker l7 I have them in a truck so its a small space. I have the box in and everything I have a JBL amp idk what model Should I get a 2 ohm or a 4 ohm because im putting 2 speakers in which would be better?
Hi TJ,
I need more details. Like which JBL amp? My guess is it’s a mono amp. If it’s a mono, you want to get the dual 2 ohm L7’s (wire each sub series, then parallel for a final 2 ohm load). To power the L7’s it needs to put out 1500 watts RMS at a 2 ohm load.
If it’s a 2 channel JBL amp, I doubt it would have enough power for 2 L7’s (would have to put out 1500 watts RMS bridged to a 4 ohm load). If by chance that’s what you had, you’d want to get the dual 4 ohm version (wire in series, then parallel for a final 4 ohm load).
Hope that helps!
hi i watched your blog on what ohms ment and found it realy easy to under stand ive been trying to figure it out for a while now and all it took was a quick 5 min vid cheers. i was hoping you could give me some advice on what type of box i should use in my wagon looking at running 1 12 inch L7 any suggestions.
Hi Goliath,
I”m glad you found the video helpful! To answer your question, that simply depends on the type of sound you prefer. Either way, I recommend building an enclosure to the manufacturer’s specifications. Sealed will give you tight, punchy, deep bass. It’s best for sound quality and for a variety of music. Ported will give you more output in the frequencies around 40 hertz or so, but will not have as much deep, tight bass. More of a booming, reverberating bass, good for high output.
So is it ok being in a series?
It does say 550 @2ohms in the manual
Also I did verify it is a CVR 2 OHM sub.. And I currently have two hooked up to my 1100 watt 2 channel crunch.
What do you recommend I do now?
Since you say it may not be strong enough can’t I blow the sub..
Should I turn the dial to maximum on the amp?
Hi
I have a Pioneer ts-w121spl 2000w Dual 4ohm coil and an Edge 2500w monoblock amplifier. i am so fustrated as i think the speaker (after being sat in the basement for 3 years) has packed up. The speak pumps but there isnt any heavy bass, either when its in the sealed 35ltr box or out on its own/
Are you able to advise on the best configuration for both Amp and speaker
amp deatails are
4 ohm mono 1 x 400 watts RMS
2 ohm mono 1 x 800 watts RMS
1 ohm mono 1 x 1250 watts RMS
Max Power: 2500 watts
Please help. i am in distress 🙁
Hi Kash,
Has the amp been sitting in the same area? I am more likely to believe the amp has been effected by a damp basement opposed to the name brand sub you have. Easy way to check the sub is press directly in the center of the sub, fingers spread equally apart the surface, palm facing center of the dustcap and press down evenly. Try this without it hooked up or playing. If it moves in and out smoothly and it also meters the correct impedance when checked with a multimeter, I would suspect there is an issue with the amplifier. I’ve never heard of Edge, but either way, electronics tend to be more susceptible to moisture than the sub. If your sub is good, I would get something like this amp to power the sub. I’m assuming you’re in the UK based on the sub model?
Where are your settings at on the amp (list what options it may have and where they’re at)? What kind of car is it hooked up to and what head unit? It could also be tuning/wiring issues. Is the enclosure the sub is in still good?
Annie
i have two pionner 12″ champion serries duel core one is 1200watts and the next is 14oowatts and i havd a audiobahan 2000watts amp # A4401Q will this push the two 12 and i was thinking about buying a crunch mono block amp what do u think will best for my to 12″
Hi Joseph,
if you want to push two subs, they have to be the EXACT SAME subwoofer model. Those two different Champion subs have different power handling, which means different frequency response and efficiency. This variance means they won’t hit at exactly the same time which can easily put the frequencies they’re playing out of phase. Out of phase means it’s like two waves traveling at different speeds and their peaks and valleys hit at opposite times, thus cancelling each other out. Out of phase means hollow, no bass, yucky sound. Sell the 1200 watt and use the amp you have to power the 1400 watt. If you build the right box to spec by following the manufacturer’s recommended enclosure guide and you will not miss the other sub!
Hey Annie.
I was previously running two 12″ Kicker Comps which I believe are single coil 4 OHMS with a 1100 watt 2 Channel Crunch Amp.
Today I stumbled on a good deal for CVRs on Craigslist so I went ahead and made the purchase. I believe they are dual coil 2OHMS?
Is my 1100 2 Channel Crunch Amp still good for these subs?
It says its peak is 550 @ 2OHMS.
Also how should I wire it? I noticed that the top “positive & negative” terminals were connected to each other when I opened the box while the bottom terminals were intended for the amp (really connected to the box’s connector)
Hi Matthew,
It sounds like the last owner had them wired in series, then parallel to a mono amp. Check out this owner’s guide I found on Kicker’s website. I’m not sure if you have the same exact model. If so, it sounds like your amp is really not going to be enough power. Kicker rates those subs at 400 watts RMS a piece. always look at RMS ratings for everything. Do you know the RMS rating on your amp at 2 ohms? If it’s 550 PEAK at 2 ohms, it’s probably closer to 400 watts RMS which would not be enough power.
First you want to confirm exactly which model you have (should be labeled on the back of the magnet). Then go to Kicker’s site and look it up in their Support section so you can see the RMS rating on the subs and determine for sure whether or not they are dual voice coil 2 ohm or dual voice coil 4 ohm.
Once you know exactly what you’re dealing with you can make a sound decision on wiring and amplifier choice. Thanks for checking out the blog!
Annie
I have an alpine cda-9884 head unit and one alpine type r swr-12D2 and was just wondering what the best amp and configuration would be? Sealed or ported box?
Hi Steve,
That answer all depends on what your end goal is. Punchy, chest pounding and clean bass? Or rattle your brains inside your skull, reverberating bass? Personally, I would go sealed and I would get an amp with a regulated power supply so I could be positive I was getting the approximate 500 watts RMS I needed for my sub even if I’m running the amp at 4 ohms. So I would series the sub for a 4 ohm load and power it with something like the PDXM6. I also like to keep my car clutter free, so an amp like this is great because it’s small, efficient and can be hidden in most vehicle applications. I would go sealed, and I would build the box to the manufacturer’s specifications for optimum sound quality.
Hi Annie,
I spent a little time researching a new sub, then I bought one and a new amp and cap on impulse. Now questioning my purchase.
Here is a little background. I have an Alpine CDA-9886 head-unit in a 2000 Nisan Maxima. I am still running the stock Bose speakers. I have an adapter so that a balanced signal is still running to those speakers. I upgraded the stock sub to a JL 10W3V3 2 ohm sub with an Alpine MRP-M500. The stock 8″ sub is still installed but gets cut off by the head unit’s HPF. I went with a 10″ sub because I didn’t want to sacrifice very much trunk space. When I made that purchase, I originally used a sealed box, but the bass output was not what I was hoping for, so I bought a 1.0qft vented box (tuned to 36Hz). I used a voltmeter with a 60Hz test tone to tune the amp to 500 Watts at my max listening volume. In the end, I was not satisfied, but I have been running that setup for 2 years. The amp gets fairly hot, and I can only feel the bass when I’m parked or when I fold down my rear seats and really crank the volume. Also, the bass is nowhere near as accurate as the what the stock 8″ Bose sub used to provide.
2 days ago I ordered a 10″ RE SXX 4ohm DVC, a RE DTS 1500.1 amp, and a Tsunami 2 Farad Cap. I was questioning buying the 4ohm sub instead of the 2ohm, but now I’m content after watching your video that running a 1 ohm setup is risky. I am worried that the DTS amp will be insufficient running a 1000W sub at only 700 W RMS at 2 ohm. Will this be sufficient? I read a few reviews of people that are happy with the SXX at 700 W, saying it rivals some dual 12″ sub setups. I’m taking that with a grain of salt. Would I be better off with a high performance 12″, like the Alpine SWR-12D4, in a sealed box?
Thanks,
Mark
Hi Mark,
The W3’s are a really nice sounding sub, but if you like punch and sound quality, they sound way better in sealed. I do agree that only one would probably not give you enough kick with 500 watts RMS, especially when you are barreling down the highway at 60 mph. If you were looking for that same type of sound quality in one sub, but with more output you’d want to step it up to a W6 and closer to 700 watts RMS or a W7 and 1000 watts RMS.
I have not heard RE audio, I’ve heard OF them, but personally have no experience with them to attest to their quality. With amplifiers, speakings and head units it’s all about tuning and matching sensitivity with capability. Here’s a great example to demonstrate what I mean:
I spent an hour re-tuning our sound board yesterday. We have six 4 channel amps wired up and one mono amp on this one wall with options of listening to 8 different subwoofers and 16 different pairs of speakers. I tried to find the happy medium for all the various components, but you will find if you tune the amps (in this example a 500 watt RMS mono JL Audio and a JL Audio 360 watt RMS 4 channel) with one head unit (Kenwood 4 volt pre-outs) , one set of components speakers (rated at 80 watts RMS) and one subwoofer (rated at 300 watts RMS) everything may sound perfect at volume 32 on the head unit and the amps may be tuned perfectly for those components. Switch the head unit to something else (Alpine 4 volt pre-out), another brand speakers (rated at 100 watts RMS) and another subwoofer (rated at 500 watts RMS) all of a sudden you have to re-adjust the amplifier’s gain to match the sensitivity of all these different components. You may only be able to turn the head unit up to 26 before the preout distorts which means you may have to turn the gains up to reflect that or you may have speakers that are more efficient so the gains need to be turned down or the Alpine pre-outs may be more sensitive even though they are both rated 4 volts, etc, etc.
I guess my point is try to get the power handling and capabilities close, but tune everything properly and you have the sensitivity of all of these components matched up and sounding the best that they can. If you do that and it’s still not the sound you’re looking for, look at the ratings on the amp. Things like damping factory and signal to noise ratio are a way to quickly see the sound quality capabilities of an amplifier. The more accurate an amp can play at higher volumes, the better your subs will sound. Match it up with a sub that is high quality and put that sub in the PERFECT enclosure. Build it to spec for sealed and it will be punchy and clean and sound the best it can.
Eliminate silly errors that can seriously effect sound quality by putting attention to detail in setting up what you do install perfectly. The Type R sub is nice too, but I still think JL W6 sounds way better.
Hey Annie
So i have a pair of 12″ pioneer champion series pro subs and im looking for a better amp for them. Ive been doing some research and im just looking for an amp that will push my subs perfectly. The subs are 3500 watts a piece 4 ohm and can handle 2000 watts but as im looking most of the class d amps ate one ohm steady and im not sure if my subs can handle that so ur help would be appreciated
Hi Matt,
If your subs are 4 ohm single voice coil, then your only wiring options would be to parallel the subs for a 2 ohm load (good for mono amps) or series them for an 8 ohm load (not really good for anything). So you want to find a mono amp that puts out around 2000 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
None of the brands I carry do that. If you came into my shop wanting to buy two of those subs (I’ve done this before) I probably would have sold you the dual 4 ohm version and wire each sub in parallel for a 2 ohm load per sub. THEN, I would have sold you one amp per sub like a couple MRX110′s.
Either way, you’re going to need to upgrade your battery, your alternator and the wiring in your car to the battery and alternator to 0 gauge. Then run 0 gauge from your battery to a distribution block and from there you can go to a 2 or 4 gauge wire to the amps.
I was just curious what kind of amp I should get to get the top performance out of my Rockford Fosgate 10 inch subs. I dont understand them at all they are OLD as ever and they say their 8 ohms & are single voice coil subs I tried to look online to find info on them but had no luck I’ve have barely ever seen 8 ohms subs. The number on the subs are RFP-1810 if that helps. I got them at a yard sale for cheap. they are in good shape so I’m curious if u would no anything about what kind of amp to get & the best way to hook it up.
Hi Justin,
Those came out before I got into this business. So they’re rated around 200 watts RMS. You’ll want to wire them in parallel for a 4 ohm load. You can then get yourself a 2 channel amp like a JL JX 360/2 and bridge the amp. The amp will put out around 360 watts RMS total. Make sure the surround hasn’t rotted away, they’re about 16 years old.
Annie
Hey Annie,
How do you feel about digital design? Im very new to the audio system world. I had my very first system installed a little over a year ago. My components consist of polk audio 6.5″ and tweeters, along with kicker 6×9. then I have the digital design amp and subs in the trunk. my subs randomly stopped working on me around january of this year :(….head unit is pioneer, by the way. I also had a digital power cap put in as well. I also lined the top of my trunk with dynomat (i dont like too much rattle). I spent over 1500 total for the system and while it worked, it sounded great (i hate for the bass to overpower the vocals)and i could hear lyrics very well with the subs thumping. I wasnt completely satisfied with how loud it was, however…and it has been really difficult for me to find information as to where digital design ranks among other manufacturers. I should have researched more thoroughly before making that investment the first time but you live and you learn. So now i am looking for more subs and another amp…but im not sure if i should stick with DD or move on to something better…
Hi Lance,
I actually had not heard of digital design before, but it doesn’t look bad. You can have the best quality components in the world but if they’re not installed or tuned properly, they won’t do you any good. You said your subs stopped working randomly on you. That leads me to believe either the installer did not run wiring properly or secure the wiring, or he did not tune the system properly meaning your amp is running into distortion and either damaged the subs or has made the amp turn off. I would take it to another shop and have it diagnosed and/or re-tuned and or re-wired. Other factors that will effect sound quality are the type of enclosure the speakers are in. I have some questions for you,
Which model subs do you have?
What kind/size box are the subs mounted in?
Which model amp or amps?
What gauge wire is run for the amp or amps?
Which model Pioneer head unit?
Which model Polk Speakers/Kicker 6×9’s?
I know it seems like a lot of questions, but all of these components have value and when connected and tuned and set up properly should sound pretty good. I have seen TOO many customers spend hard earned money on decent equipment only to get really terrible results all do to bad install and bad tuning. I had a customer once drive 2 hours North of our town just to get Diamond speakers and Diamond amps. Holy cow, I never heard a car sound worse with that good quality equipment. Whoever installed it was a ****ing idiot and managed to make it sound worse than the stock head unit. And that stuff isn’t cheap! We charged him 2 hours to re-tune and he was a happy camper. He was finally able to enjoy the quality equipment that he had invested in. Let me know what you have!
Hey Annie,
I have 2 12″ DVC Kicker CVR”s (specs below). I was wondering what amp you recommend to run these at 2 ohms? Would you recommend a different amp if I was to run these at 4 ohms? I havent decided what Ohm that I want to run them at, but I’m going for loudness so I’m probably going w/2 ohm.
I have them hooked up on an 800 watt 4 channel Kenwood amp right now and the amp overheats and cuts out (I know, it’s not wired like it should be and it’s the wrong amp for these subs, but that’s why I’m trying to change it.
I was thinking an MTX 1501d would be good, but I’m sure that’s a little over the top are their is an amp out there that will power these without over heating and costing as much as that MTX.
03CVR122 Features and specifications:
mica-filled polymineral cone
Santoprene rubber surround
dual 2-ohm voice coils
frequency response 25-500 Hz
power range 50-400 watts RMS (200 watts RMS per coil)
peak power handling 800 watts
sensitivity 86.5 dB SPL
Thank you for any suggestions!
Hi Royce,
Sorry for the delayed response, but thank you for visiting and commenting at the blog! So two subs, 400 watts RMS and dual voice coil 2 ohm. Well definitely go for a mono amp in the 800 to 1000 watts RMS. I like Alpine’s new MRX-M110. It’s 1100 watts RMS and only around $399.95. You can wire the subs in series so they have a 4 ohm resistance each, then wire the subs together in parallel for a final 2 ohm load. Use discount code “carstereochick2012” and get 10% off your order (currently shipping to US only right now).
Annie
Also what enclosure do you recommend (ported or seal) for the JL w6 for the best deep bass possible. You know the type of bass that can be heard from a block away. Also you ask about the head unit. I’m going to use the stock Bose system also Im connecting the lc2i
Question
Should I connect the lc2i to the signal before or after the amp
Hi Mike,
Two 8 ohm speakers will provide more surface area compared to one 4 ohm speaker, so you will probably have more output or more mid bass with two 8 ohm drivers. The Audio Control LC2i is cool, but it’s only 2 channel. You’ll want to get something either like the Jl Audio Cleansweep I mentioned earlier OR, if you like Audio Control, check out their DQL-8.
Whenever possible, get your signal before the amp if you’re doing a full aftermarket audio system (but keeping stock head unit). When only adding an amp for an aftermarket sub, it may be better to go before the amp or to go after the amp. It’s kind of a case by case situation depending on how much signal there is in either scenario. In your car it should be analog and full range signal, so you should have no issue going before the stock amp.
For sound quality and deep, low and punchy bass notes, build sealed. We use BassBox Pro software to calculate optimal enclosures based on the car and the driver. If you build it to spec, it will sound far better than the manufacturer’s own enclosure. Ported will give you as much as 3 DB more output around a specific frequency (usually around 40 hertz) compared to a sealed box, but a sealed box will play louder at lower frequencies (like 30 hertz). Sealed, in my opinion, has a steadier output among the frequency range vs being really loud at one particular frequency. I think that makes it more consistent and predictable and more natural in sound reproduction. It’s response is also tighter.
Sounds like you’re building a pretty nice audio system. Remember, your components are only going to be as good as the processor you are using to integrate with the stock system. Think about it this way. You could have the best speakers and amps in the world, but if you’re running it all through a basic hi level adapter from a stock stereo, your sound quality is only going to be as good as what the stock stereo can reproduce. A quality processor like the DQL-8, the Clean Sweep or Audison’s Bit One allow you to really appreciate the full potential of your components.
Hi Annie
Thanks for your response. Those speakers being used for midrange are amazing, The sound is ridiculous loud and distortion is minimal, I had the same type of speakers in my charger few years ago now I’m putting these on my 2010 maxima. I detest listening to cars ride by with nice loud bass but you can’t even hear the mids.
Question
Are 2 – 8ohm mid wired in parallel better than a single 4 ohm mid
Your post educated me a lot about the impedance and the diff wiring methods. Thanks for all that info.
Hi,
I have a PPI 1800.2 for 2 JL W6v2
I think the best way to get the best out of both
Worlds is to series each sub then parallel them at the amp to bring the impedance to 4
and then bridge the amp . The amp says 400 WRMS x 1 @ 4 and 800 WRMS x1 @ 2
I can’t figure out how to wires the subs to 2 ohms unless I only use one.
My question is
Is it safe for the amp to run both JLs @ 4 Pushing 400 w when the needed power for both of the JLs
together is 1200w or is it best to just use one JL wired in parallel @ 2 ohms with the amp pushing 800
When the recommended power handling for the JLs is only 600
For midrange I have (4)- 6.5′ 8 ohms beyma mi90 wired each set in parallel
For impedance of 4 ohm then hooked up to a Zeus 600 vii 300 watts per channel @4 ohms
And 450 w per channel @ 2 ohm (the watt double when bridge)
For mid bass I have ( 2 ) 8′ beyma Pro100 8 ohm
For highs I have (4) 8 ohm MTX bullet tweeters
No amp yet
Question:
A friend of mines has a newer Zeus amp 1000 watts x 4
Is it ok to grab this amp and use 2 channels bridge to the mid bass speakers
wired in parallel and use the other 2 channels each to a pair
of the tweeters wired in parallel. Is this ok?
If not what amp or amps do you recommend?
I like old school amplifiers they seem to hit harder.
I have a kicker kx3 xover
Hi Mike,
That’s a nice amp and the W6’s are my favorite subs. Definitely just use one W6 wired in parallel. It’s a far better power handling match. It’s always better to have too much power. Too little power means you risk clipping the amp, which means distortion, which means blown speakers.
I’m really confused. Why are you using, what appears to me, to be guitar or studio speakers? What kind of vehicle is this for? What head unit are you running? Let me know. Thanks.
Annie
Hi I have a tahoe and im thinkin about getting 4 fosgate t1d415 or the t1d215.Which is best and the amp i was looking at is 2 fosgate class d t1000-1bdcp.Need to know is this a good setup what you think?
Hi, Well if you wanted to do those subs, you’d need one of those amps per sub. You’d also, most definitely have to upgrade the power supply in your vehicle. Each sub wants 1000 watts RMS and the T1000.1BDCP puts out 1000 watts RMS. If you were to do 1 sub per amp, go for the dual 4 ohm version, the T1D415 so your amp will see a final 2 ohm load. Enjoy!
hi i have a cadence z5000 amp with is a one channel amp. i have 2 12″ l7s in a pirted box. should i run the amp 2 ohm witch is only 1500 watts our should i run it 1 ohm witch would be the full 5000 watts? im trying to get the most out if the l7s without blowing them and i’m kind if confused and i have been around systems my whole life.
thanks.
Hi Chris, what model are your subs exactly? I need to look them up to tell you the best way to wire this as well as what your exact wiring options are. Depending on whether your subs are single voice coil or dual voice coil and whether or not they are 2 ohm or 4 ohm (each voice coil), will determine your different impedance options for the amp. Thanks.
Annie
Annie,
I appreciate your help. I have been out of the stereo world for a few years and my fried is a big Rockford Fosgate person. That is why I was thinking of the for mentioned subs.
I am looking for more thump with crisp sound, I like to listen to Nickelback, AC/DC, Rehab, Queen, etc. My current budget is not very big, but I am working on it. I was planning on buying or having a friend of mine build a box to go under the back seat for the subs.
You said something about quality not quantity. What else would you recommend for around the same price area of the Excelon amp and Alpine subs that you mentioned? Also, would you recommend a down-fire box or up-fire box for my setup.
After I get the subs set up, I would also like to upgrade my 4 door speakers, what would you recommend for them to give me a clear, crisp sound, connecting to my factory HU?
I am open to suggestions for the whole setup, but I am on a budget. I have 3 boys that are all in sports, so it makes the money tight.
Thank you,
Kevin
Annie,
I have a 2006 Chevy Avalanche factory head unit wo/Bose. I thinking of getting 2 of the Rockford Fosgate R2D4-10 DVC at 4ohms or 2 of the Rockford Fosgate R2D2-10 DVC at 2ohms. I still need to get an amp and I am on a budget. I am looking for more thump, so I was hoping you can recommend an amp and which ohms of the subs to us.
Subs info for both:
* Sensitivity: 85 dB
* RMS Power Range : 250 Watts
* Peak Power Handling: 500 Watts
* Diameter: 10 Inch
* Shallow Mount: Yes
* Number of Voice Coils: Dual
Thank you,
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
So I’m assuming you’re building a couple boxes to go under the back seat? And what attracted you to the Rockford’s, have you heard them before? Did the price catch your eye? I haven’t heard Rockford in a while, but I tell you the last time I heard them I was royally disappointed in sound quality and price point. I thought they were charging double what they should have been. I don’t really know how the stuff is now. If you walked into my shop today I would ask you a few questions in order to point you in the right direction:
*What are you looking for? A little bump, more for sound quality?
*I’d want to know what other vehicles you’ve had and what you had in those cars and how you felt about it?
*What’s your total budget for everything (are you installing/building boxes yourself)?
*What kind of music do you listen to?
*Have you heard anything in particular in any friend’s/family’s cars that made you think, “I gotta add subs to my truck”, if so, do you know what they had in their car?
One thing to always remember when it comes to audio is it’s not always quantity, but quality. Depending on the needs you are trying to fulfill, it may make more sense to go with something else.
Having said all that, if you go with the Rockford’s (and you’re getting 2 of them), get yourself the Dual 2 ohm versions. Wire each subs voice coils in series so each sub will give you a 4 ohm resistance, then parallel the subs so your final load will be 2 ohms. Then get yourself a nice mono 500 watt RMS mono amp.
We recently got in the new Kenwood Excelon X500-1. We put it on display and I just tuned it up the other day with a pair of Alpine Type E subs (similar to Rockford as far as the power handling and price goes, my favorite subs when on a budget). Holy crap, I was impressed. Considering the size and the quality of the amp, I was really surprised they were able to offer them at such a great deal. If you buy through this link to ABT you get a real 1 year manufacturer warranty and I get a little something for my contribution. Let me know the answers to those questions and we can discuss further.
Thanks Annie
That’s what I was thinking but like I said I don’t know a lot about it. The speakers are Kickers(cheaper one are Kicker DS6930, the others are Kicker KS69). Didn’t want to say cuz I know how much you like Alpine haha 🙂
Looked at the Alpine SPS-619 but I’m leaning towards the Kickers because the frequency response goes much lower than the Alpines and will give me more bass(so I don’t have to get a sub, since I can’t afford that either)30-21,000 compared to 65-23,000. And the sensitivity is higher on the Kickers too(my understanding is the higher the better). 92db compared to 90db.
Also wanted to say I really appreciate you answering my question and I’m sure so do a lot of other people. Really cool of you.
Sorry for the delayed response! There’s nothing wrong with Kicker, I just am familiar with the brands I sell. I don’t like to carry everything my local competitors sell (Best Buy, although I don’t REALLY consider them a competitor, but still). I wouldn’t worry so much about the frequency response. 30 hertz for a 6×9 is pretty crazy, it would probably have to be in a very, very large enclosure to get that kind of bass response (or mounted in the rear deck of a very large trunk). A high quality 10″ subwoofer can typically only go down to about 26 hz, so for a 6×9 to go that low is pretty impressive (if it can actually do it). And the other question to consider is if it can do it, at what volume?
My suggestion? Go to a retailer that sells both so you can hear for yourself. I trust my ears over specs every day.
Hey Annie,
I’m trying to learn about speakers more but have a really simple question for you.
I am trying to decide between these 2 speakers.
1 is $60: 3-way, peak-140, rms-70, sensitivity-92, frequency 30-20,000, ohms-4
Tweeter Design- Semi-dome
Tweeter Composition- PEN
Woofer Composition- Polypropylene
Woofer Surround- Ribbed Poly-Foam
2 is $75: 2-way, peak-270, rms-90, sensitivity-92, frequency 30-21,000, ohms-4
Tweeter Design- Dome
Tweeter Composition- Titanium
Woofer Composition- Injection Molded Polypropylene (IMPP)
Woofer Surround- Santoprene Rubber
So for the most party they are the same but very different wattage handling. I will most likely never get an amp for them, probly only get a good head unit a couple weeks later so I was wondering if I should just get the lower one or for only $15 more get the one with much more power.
Will there be absolutely no difference in the speakers if I never hook them up to an amp? Will they both max out at a certain level because they’d be only supplied up to a certain amount of power? Would I be wasting my money getting the better pair?
They are both the same brand speaker.
Thank you very much
Hi John,
Can you tell me what brand/model? Generally speaking, if you’re only going to power the speakers off the head unit, you’re better off going with the ones with the lower power handling as they are usually more efficient. Meaning they should play louder with less power compared to the ones that can handle more power. Usually speakers that can handle more power really need more power in order to do the speakers justice. But some brands/models are more efficient than others, so let me know! -Annie
Hi. I’m kinda confused when I read the specs on my Punch p600.1 bd mono amp. It states 325 watts x 1 @ 4 ohms and 600 watts x 1 @ 2 ohms. Does that mean if I wire my 12 inch Alpine type r sub (dual voice coils 4 ohms)in parallel (I’m running 2 subs) the amp will push out 600 watts rms per sub or a total of 600 watts divided by 2 which would mean each sub is going to see only 300 watts rms? Thanks!
Not quite 🙂 I’m afraid I have some bad news for you too. If you have TWO SWR1243D (or any two dual 4 ohm subs), you’ve got the wrong configuration for a mono amp. Which is bad because you need a high output amp and high output amps are usually mono amps. So what you need is an amp that has a regulated power supply. And you need an amp that covers the TOTAL RMS of both subs combined. So depending on what version Type R’s you have, you need an amp that puts out 1000 – 1200 watts RMS at 4 ohms.
Your only wiring options for your subs is to either parallel each sub’s voice coils (brings them down to 2 ohms each), then series each sub which will result in a 4 ohm load. The other way (not suggested) is to parallel each sub’s voice coils, then parallel again bringing the final load down to 1 ohm. Not a good idea. Watch my video on ohms for a better understanding.
The other option is to buy ANOTHER P600.1bd and power up each sub with their own amp. Unless you have an oscilloscope and know how to tune with one, I don’t recommend that either as it’s extremely difficult to get the gains exactly the same. If they’re slightly off it can effect phase which ends up reducing your bass response.
Check out Alpine’s PDXM12. It will give you 1200 watts RMS at 4 ohms.
I dont have any new subs or technical problems to ask about. However, I would like to ask some questions. I am considering replacing the factory sound system in my 2005 Cadillac CTS. Are there any interior speakers or brands that you would recommend? And when replacing interior speakers is it necessary to replace the cd/stereo deck too? I would like to keep price down considering how expensive audio components cost these days.
Hi Justin,
Quick question for you. Do you have the factory Bose system (or Onstar and/or steering wheel controls)? It would usually say it right on the stock head unit and sometimes even on the doors near the stock speaker grills. Let me know so I can better answer your question, I have a few ideas for you depending on which stock set up you have. Let me know! -Annie
Ok so i have two Alpine type R 12s SWR-1223D they are the dual ohm voice coil and i wanted to know the best amp to use for them. Right now i have them in a $ ohm load being run off of a Kenwood KAC-7205 dual channel amp and i know that it is not doing them justice i plan on using it for my 2002 Trailblazer door speakers which i am replacing with type R 6.5 door speakers, I also have installed a Kenwood DDX419 for my head unit. I have looked into a new amp and am so lost by the responses that i have gotten. I have been told keep alpine subs with an alpine amp and I have looked at the MRX-M100 is that going to be enough? I have also been told to get the Rockford Fosgate power T1500 but is that to much i am so confused at this point i dont want to waste money and I think i need a capacitor but i am still so new to this and want to do so much I just would like some much needed help and assistance if you dont mind.
Hi Pat,
The MRXM100 or MRXM110 is a great option for your subs.
The Rockford would do it, but I don’t think it’s nearly as good an amp as the Alpine’s. Rockford used to be REALLY good like 10 years ago, I used to sell their stuff and had a couple awesome Rockford amps, but it’s just not the same. They stopped making them in Arizona, outsourced, cut their quality and jacked the prices. The X power series amps from Alpine are AWESOME. They used the same great technology used in their top of the line PDX series, but they’re less money because they have a larger foot print (costs a lot to pack a lot of power into a small space), they’re not as pretty (yes cosmetics come at a cost) and they’re not regulated power supply (It seems this feature is more money).
Nice choice on the head unit! I love that deck. You’ll want to turn on the HPF or high pass filter. That will filter out the bass going to your interior speakers. Use the crossover on the amp (LPF). Set both around 80 hertz. Leave things like bass boost off on the head unit, try not to adjust bass on the head unit so much as your sub level control. If you find that you have a lot more bass when your car is parked vs when you’re on the highway you can turn the bass boost on the AMP on.
To tune. Start with the gains on the amp all the way down, crossovers set, tunes cranked (just to the point of distortion, then back it back down a few notches). Then bring the gains up slowly, listening to a variety of music, bring the gain on the amp just to the point of distortion, then back it back down.
Wire your subs voice coils in series so each sub represents a 4 ohm load, then parallel each sub for a final 2 ohm load at the amp.
Use 4 gauge power and ground, 100 percent oxygen free copper. Enjoy!
hi my names justin.
ive been doin the car sound for awille now i have a few questions to ask myself
i have rockford fosgate p3’s 15”. now after reading this i understand how i fried a few amps, trying to run it on 1 ohm .
now my buddy just bought the same set up as me , but dropped an extra 300 bucks , vea a 3000 watt powerbass amp.
how what do you think of that amp do you think thats enough or what do you recomend givin have the least money budget
also the sound guy we bought it from was blowing that shit away at 1 ohm on the same amp. powerbass 3000, but idk if he was just lien or what ever, and i dont want him to blow that new amp, because we fried a hyphonics brutis 1200 whatt, a few ago as well , in a weird way might have been from some natrual cause but whatever,
what ohm set up and amp do you recommend for 2x P3’s 15”
that do the subs justice, currently now on a 1000 whatt crunch amp vea 2ohm
Hi Justin,
The answer all depends on which P3’s you have the Dual 2 ohm or the Dual 4 ohm?
As far as the brands you mentioned, I’ve never been a huge fan of Hifonics. I’ve had customers bring them in having bought them themselves and have had us install them. They are usually pretty power hungry and inefficient. Usually having fuses of 140 – 200 amps. That’s a huge current draw, considering most cars have a 130 – 150 amp alternator.
This means when you’re really trying to crank it, your car can’t provide enough current for the amp. When that happens you’re basically starving the amp for power. Think of it like trying to suck through a tiny straw on a really thick milk shake. It’s pretty inefficient and you’ll get pretty tired of trying to drink your milk shake like that. Same thing happens to your amp, it gets pretty sick of trying to suck out all that power. So whenever you want to do a high output system like that, you need to use the proper gauge wire, have a sufficient power supply (battery and alternator) and buy an efficient amp.
The p3 15’s handle 600 watts RMS. If you bought the dual 2 ohm version (ideal), you would want to wire the subs in series, then parallel. This will result in a final 2 ohm load. That’s a pretty good impedance, an amp can push out a good amount of power at 2 ohms, but once you drop below that you unleash way more power, but with less control and efficiency.
A nice, efficient and cost effective option would be Alpine’s MRXM-100. That amp only has a 100 amp fuse compared to the hifonics brutis which has a 140 amps worth of fuses. It’s on sale because it’s last years model. Another nice option is the Kenwood Excelon X-1200M.
These amps might be a little more money than some of the other amps you’ve looked at or gone through, but that’s the thing, these are QUALITY amps that will last. So if you spend a little bit more now, you’ll get the sound quality and output you need and you won’t be buying another amp in 6 months. Either one of these amps needs good, quality 4 gauge wire, 100 percent oxygen free copper for power and ground.
Oh and always look for the RMS ratings on amps. For that Crunch? From what I can find online, that 1000 watts is a PEAK rating. The true, or RMS, power at 2 ohms is only 500 watts which means you may be under powering your subs right now which means you risking blowing them. Good luck with your upgrade!
Hey annie, I have a kenwood mono KAC-9105D class D Mono Amp, 1800 watts MAX– and two Memphis 10″ car audio speakers , their both dual voice coil there connected in perellel , but dnt realy sound that Good , How would u connect those speakers to the amp? All my budys say , it should hit harder but idk wat can be the problem? How would u do the wire-ing?? N thanks)
Hey Erik,
I’m assuming they’re dual 4 ohm voice coils? So you paralleled everything? If you connected both positives on the sub’s voice coils and both negatives on the sub’s voice coils, you’ve paralleled each sub down to a 2 ohm load. If you then tie in the positives and negatives again to the amp, you’re paralleling again down to 1 ohm. If that’s the case, 1 ohm would be very loud and pretty unstable so it wouldn’t sound good. It would be loud, the amp may cut out and overheat, but the sound wouldn’t be tight or clean.
Which model Memphis subs? You might need a better power handling match. The Kenwood amp will put out 500 watts RMS with 4 ohm load, 900 watts RMS at a 2 ohm load, and also 900 watts RMS at a 1 ohm load (regulated power at 1 ohm).
What gauge wire are you using for power and ground? It should be 100 percent oxygen free copper. Let me know.
Thanks for getting back to me. I took your advice and have only purchased the jl audio 2 12w3v3-4, no amp yet.. Any recomendations on an amp? My budget is somewhat tight. Not looking to spend over 300 if i don’t need to.
Hey Vince,
Kenwood has a nice 900 watt mono amp that would work well, the KAC-9105D and retail is $299. It’s a great value and good quality.
Hey Annie, not sure if you are still answering questions, but if so I have a quick one for u. I’m looking to purchase 2 12″ w3v3 jl audio subs and G1700 jl audio amp. The subs are 2ohm and can handle about 200-1000 watts rms (2000 peak. The amp is as such; RMS Power Rating at 14.4V: 4 ohms: 350 watts x 1 chan. \ 2 ohms: 700 watts x 1 chan.
RMS Power Rating at 12.5V: 4 ohms: 250 watts x 1 chan. \ 2 ohms: 500 watts x 1 chan
I don’t know much about this stuff, so basically just wondering if this is a good match!
Thanks
Hi Vince,
Only if you plan on getting the 4 ohm versions. You’d want to wire each single voice coil sub in parallel for a final 2 ohm load so the amp would put out 700 watts RMS at 2 ohms. If you bought two of the 2 ohm versions your only wiring choices are 1 ohm or 4 ohm and that won’t really work for that amp.
Hi can u please help with some advice. I have a dual-4 L7 wired for a 2 ohm load. I am looking for a good amp and found a few that are affordable such as hifonics and soundstream however they are 1 ohm stable amps. I will only want to run a 2 ohm load. Will a 1-ohm stable amp (that puts out 1200w at 1 ohm and 750 to a 2-ohm) be a big drain on the battery since its putting out to a 2 ohm load or should I just get an amp that only goes down to 2 ohms? Long story short, a 1200w 1 ohm stable amp or a 750w 2 ohm stable amp? I don’t want to kill my alternator.
If you have the 12″ L7 it looks like that sub wants about 750 watts RMS. So as long as the amp puts out 750 watts RMS at 2 ohms you’ll be fine. Make sure you run 4 gauge wire for power and ground and depending on what kind of car you have, you may need to get a higher amperage alternator. You may want to add a capacitor (don’t cheap out, I’ve seen crappy caps damage nice amps). Also if you’re concerned about killing the battery, look at the fuse ratings on the amp. The lower they are, the more efficient they are and the less of a draw you’ll have on your battery.
need help have 4 alpine type Rs and i want em all in my truck to sound good the guy i had it from had each 2ohm dual voice coil wired to a 1ohm load each woofer so what ever amp i got blew to protect mode he told me he ran a 1ohm stable amp on each woofer do i need to do that to get the best sound out of it please help so lost
Hi Robert,
I don’t ever recommend running anything at 1 ohm. It’s highly unstable, very few amps can handle it and you usually end up either damaging an amp or a sub in the process. As you drop impedance the amp lets out more power, but with less control. This will lead to the amp overheating and distorting. The distortion will damage your speakers. If you have 4 dual 2 ohm Type R subs, here is what I recommend you do.
Buy two amps. One amp for each pair of subs. Preferably something that is 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms like an MRX-M100.
Wire each sub to 4 ohms, so you want to series the voice coils.
Then you can parallel two subs together to one amp. So your final load at the amp with two subs hooked up will be 2 ohms. You’ll be giving the right amount of power to the subs (500 watts RMS a piece, wired this way, the amp will safely put out 1000 watts RMS total between 2 subs). To do this right, you really need two separate amps, one for each pair of subs.
Also, you need to be running 0 gauge for power and ground, and depending on what type of truck this is, you will probably need a higher amperage alternator and high capacity battery. I hope that helps!
Also I was just wondering if it mattered that the Alpine SPR-69 6×9″ 2-Way for $90 doesnt come with a speaker grill
Hey, so here’s my deal, I currently have an audiopipe AP-10001 D class d power ampilfier rated at 1000w powering 2 15 ” planet audio PX150 1200w dual voice coil 4ohm subwoofers. I have 4 gauge wire running to the battery. Right now I have it wired at 8 ohms with the amp bridged. If I run it two channel off the amp and have it parallel, it sounds sooo much better, but the bass starts to cut in and out and clip when I turn the volume up to 30, which is medium range for my head unit. What can I do to drop ohms without having this problem as a result?
Hi James,
So here is why that is happening. As misleading as it may look on your amp, your amp is actually a mono amp. So those two terminals they give you on the amp are actually just to make it easier for you to parallel a pair of subs to it. So if you have each sub series (8 ohms each) and then run them to each terminal on the amp, your amp is internally paralleling and actually seeing 4 ohms. This means it’s only putting out 400 watts RMS, which is far less than what your subs want (600 watts RMS). When you run each sub in parallel (2 ohms each) to the terminals on the amp, the amp is internally paralleling again, meaning it’s only seeing 1 ohm. Surprisingly Audio Pipe lists this amp as being 1 ohm stable. As I’ve said in my video post on amplifiers running 1 ohm stable, I just don’t believe in it. #1 it’ll be loud, but it won’t sound clean and #2 if it does play, it won’t play for very long before it over heats and shuts down. Check out my video post, it might make more sense.
But anyways, I suggest you try running just one sub parallel for a 2 ohm load. The amp will put out 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms which is actually what one of your subs needs. Try one sub that way and see if it’s a happy medium for you.
Hi Annie, Thanks for the topic since it’s totally what I’ve been trying to figure out. I recently purchased a single JL Audio 12w6v2-D4 sub, JL 500/1v2 slash series mono amp to power it. You may have partially answered Josh’s post on your Feb 27th response but I’m trying to figure out how to get the best sound quality for this sub. I guess what I’m most confused about is whether I can run this JL sub in 8ohms using series since the 500/1v2 mono block can produce 500watts rms at 1.5,2,3,4 ohms but nowhere does it state it can handle 8ohms since the sub is a dual 4ohm voice coil as your example above. i’m assuming that running it in 8ohm series is going to get me much cleaner sound than 2ohm parallel.
thanks in advance and i really enjoy your blog
-billy
Hi Billy,
The JL Slash amp is a great amp, it will sound the same whether you give it a 1.5, 2, 3 or 4 ohm load. So you should wire the sub in parallel (tie together both positives, tie together both negatives) for a 2 ohm load and enjoy. I’m glad you enjoy the blog!
P.S. the reason the impedance doesn’t make a difference on this amp is it uses a special technology JL calls R.I.P.S. It means that it has a power supply with a control circuit regulating how much power comes out. This means there is no fluctuation in output or sound quality between the impedance noted, so there’s no benefit to an 8 ohm load over 2.
I was just what your opinion is on which set of speakers to get since it seems like you have a lot of experience with alpine. Also just wondering what the difference between the 2-way and 3-way is. I can’t afford to get everything right now but plan on getting a good pioneer HU in a couple months and an amp but right now my back speaker are blown and have to start there and want to get a pretty good set so this is what im looking at getting:
Alpine SPR-69 6×9″ 2-Way for $90
or
Alpine SPS-619 6×9 3-way for $80
thanks
Hi John,
The Type R’s are a better value. They sound cleaner and will handle more power (in case you want to add an amp down the road). The difference between a 2 way speaker and a 3 way is pretty minimal when we’re dealing with a coaxial speaker that has all 3 mounted in the same housing. Each driver is responsible for different frequencies. The tweeter playing the higher frequency ranges and the main speaker playing all other frequencies. The 3 way just splits the frequency range up a bit more.
So say the range of 65 – 18,000 hertz is going to either speaker. The tweeter has a little cap/coil or basic crossover filtering out what speakers are playing to it. So the tweeter of the 2 way is probably playing about 3000 hertz and up and the rest of the speaker is playing below that. With a 3 way set up the the tweeter is still playing around 3000 hertz and up, the smaller mid range speaker is probably playing around 1200-3000 hertz and the large speaker is playing everything under that.
I think people find them more attractive because they see more drivers and think they’re getting a better value because of it. But it’s really not doing anything special for you. So if you plan on adding a 4 channel amp at a later date, the Type R’s are the better bet. If you only plan on powering your speakers off the head unit, the Type S is the better bet as they are more efficient. Meaning they’ll actually play louder with less power.
But the type R’s definitely sound better, so I’d go for those. And as far as the grill goes, that’s only important if you’re putting these in a car that doesn’t accept 6×9’s. Like if you are cutting them into the rear deck lid of a car that comes with 6.5″. But if it’s a factory 6×9 you’re replacing, you can and should use the factory grills.
I hope that helps!
Hi Annie,
I’m in the process of changing my setup and I was very interested in the Alpine PDX-M6 Mono Amp. The rating on the amp states 600 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (600 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms). I’m only interested in one 10″ sub, and I was looking at either the Alpine 1023D 2 ohm DVC, or the Alpine 1043D 4 ohm DVC. Should I go with a single 4 ohm sub or a single 2 ohm sub? The amp states the same power output with either setup. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Troy, as you noticed, the Alpine PDX-M6 is an amp with a regulated power supply meaning it will put out the same 600 watts RMS whether you give it a 2 ohm, 3 ohm or 4 ohm load. So really it doesn’t matter as far as sound quality and output which sub you decided to go with as long as you give it either a 2 or 4 ohm load.
The only other possible consideration is if you ever saw yourself adding a second sub and then upgrading to an amp that could power two. If you think you may want more, you can give yourself some flexibility and go with the dual 2 ohm. This way, if/when at a later date you decided you wanted more kick, you could buy a second one and be able to series each sub, then parallel for a final impedance of 2 ohms.
If you ever wanted a second sub, having a final 2 ohm load would give you more options for amps if you ever decided to add a second sub. I hope that clears it up for you. By the way, that’s a kick ass amp. Their matching 4 channels are also the best sounding Class D 4 channel amps I’ve ever heard.
Hello,
I currently have a brz 1700.1 the amp is stable at 1ohm 1700 and 2ohm 1200 im planing to get 2 RF T1dvc 800w rms, do you recommend getting 2 ohm dvc for 2ohm load or dvc 4ohm for 1 ohm load. will the amp run harder on 1ohm load than 2 ohm load and if i have total of 1600 rms am i underpowering my amp by running just 1200w on 2ohm? thank you
I also want to know if the 2 sub dvc 2ohm can be wired at 1ohm
I don’t like to run anything at 1 ohm. It’s loud, but by no means is it clean and it is a lot harder on the amp. So it depends on what you’re looking to do here. If you want to run the amp at 1 ohm, you would need to buy the dual 4 ohm subs, parallel the voice coils on the subs, then parallel the subs. Each time you parallel, you cut the impedance in half.
If you want to run at 2 ohms, you would need to get the dual 2 ohm version, wire the voice coils in series, then parallel the sub. The end result at the amp would be 2 ohms at the amp. Technically you’d be under powering the subs at 2 ohms using that amp, but I still think it will be awfully loud, especially if you build the box to the manufacturer’s recommended enclosure size. As long as you don’t run the amp into distortion, it’ll be fine.
So your only wiring configuration options for two of the dual 4 ohm subs is either parallel, parallel ending in 1 ohm. Series, then parallel ending in 4 ohms. Or series, then series, ending in 16 ohms (not advisable).
Your only wiring configuration options for two of the dual 2 ohm subs is either parallel, parallel ending in .5 ohm (not going to work, just for a reference here), series, then parallel ending in a 2 ohm load or series, then series ending in an 8 ohm load.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Annie for the quick reply…. I have one more thing to ask… I am planning on running the eclpise 34230 for the sub.. And i am also gonna run a Eclipse 32440 for 2 sets of JL C5-650.. I bought a 4 gauge amp kit will this be big enough to power both amps? Thanks Jeramy
Hi Jeramy,
It’s cutting it a little close, I would go with 2 gauge. JL actually makes a REALLY nice multi amp 2 gauge kit, comes with a nice distribution block, connectors, etc. Looks like your 4 channel does 85 x 4 RMS at 4 ohms, so that means you’re potentially running about 1080 watts RMS and based on the fuse sizes I think you should run more than 4 gauge. Hope that helps!
Annie
I recently ordered a single 4 ohm p3d4-12 sub ( with 500 watt rms, 1000 watt peek) and need to find the right amp. I was considering purchasing a 5 channel amp as my main speakers are aftermarket boston acoustics (SR-60 and SR 95s) which recommend 85rms and 75rms watts at 4 ohms respectively. However my head-unit Kenwood eXcelon KDC X994) only pushes 22 watts per speaker. So I feel the quality of my main speakers is currently suffering..
I was considering purchasing a Kenwood eXcelon XR-5S 1200W Max, Five Channel Amp for all the speakers, however it only puts out 350 watts rms to the sub.. Will this be enough to get the best sound out of my system? If not what do you think I should do in order to boost my current speakers and power my new sub?
Hi Lucas. Nice set up you got going on. Your hunches are correct, most 5 channels do not give you enough kick on the sub channel or at least the 500 watts worth of kick your sub wants. So I would rather see you buy two separate amps for not much more money. If you were to get something small like that XR-5S, you could look at maybe two X power Alpine Amps. Like an MRX-M50 ($250 and 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms) and an MRXF30 ($250 and 50 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms) versus Alpine’s X power 5 channel MRXV60 (50×4 and 300×1 for $400). So for a little bit more money (and wiring) you’ll give your components the power they need to perform the best that they can. Otherwise if budget is not an issue, check out JL’s HD 900/5 which will give you the power you need in the same footprint and size as the 5 channel Kenwood. I hope that helps!
First off i would like to say thanks for the quick reply!!!! I have one last thing to ask. I am planning on running a eclipse 32440 amp to run 2 sets of JL C5-650s plus the Eclipse 34230 and the sub single JL 10 W6.. I bought a 4 gauge amp kit but i am not sure if that’s big enough for the power i will be pulling. I have 120 anl and 1 amp has 4 25amp fuses and the other has 4 20amp fuses. I just have a feeling that my kit needs sent back and i should go to a 2 gauge wire with a bigger anl. Whats your thoughts? Thanks Jeramy
Wow, it looks like I’m a place where the next steps I take will be *expensive*!
It’s all diminishing returns on investment, as I’m sure you’re aware… I think the wiring to the zx1500.1 is just 4 gauge, so I’ll make upgrading that a priority. I will do some more sound deadening – I know that pays off big.
If I can fit them, I’m now considering 2 15″ Type R’s in a sealed box, if only because I’ve had such great results from the two twelves I have in there now. They are in a custom box, by the way.
For some reason, I have an idea in my head that ported boxes sacrifice clarity and response.
Is that a new picture of you and your lucky hubby at the top of the page? Looks good!
See you later,
Paul
I agree that sealed boxes sound better, they’re tighter and cleaner. You could do the two 15″ Type R’s, just make sure you buy the Dual 2 ohm version. And the picture’s been up for a while actually. So definitely upgrade your wire next, that should help increase your output. Thanks for posting!
Hello Annie
Hi i have a question i have a old eclipse amp that i used when i went to car shows 8 years agao. I want to use the amp now. Wondering what would be the best way to hook it up. I have always paid to have my stuff installed so not sure what to do.
The amp is a Eclipse 34230 the sub is a single JL 10 W6. Will be ok to use this amp or should i just buy another amp? Thanks Jeramy
Hi Jeramy,
From what I can find, it looks like it’s a 2 channel rated at 370 x 2. Since the W6 is a dual 4 ohm, you’d have to wire the sub in series for an 8 ohm load. Even still, that amp will supply 740 watts RMS, plenty for the W6. It should sound really good actually since it’s a 2 channel running @ 8 ohms bridged. It will be really clean. Just make sure you use 4 gauge wire for power and ground. Enjoy!
I have a question regarding subwoofer and amp installation. Currently I have two Kicker Comp VX 15s. They are dualvoice coil 2ohm speakers. They peak at 2000 watts and 1000 watts RMS. Right now I have two differnt amps and , like most people, I want my system to sound as well as it can. Hopefully I will be able to buy one amp of higher quality and replace the two I have now. The two current amps to which I am referring to are an older model Kicker kx850.2 and a California 1000w Mono (AP1000M). The Kicker apparently runs 295 watts RMS at 4 ohms on 2 channels and 425 at 2 ohms on 2 channels. The amp is bridgeable and should be able to crank out 850 watts when bridged.
The California puts out 1000 watts peak and 500 RMS at 2 ohms 1 channel, and 650 watts peak/310 watts RMS at 1 channel as well.
If I wanted to run one sub to one amp and one to another, how do I wire them? Do I run one parallel ant the other series? Which amps do run the different wiring to? I know fairly little about amps and ohm load, but your article has helped, but you still might have to break it down for me.
Also, my box is slightly over 7 cubic feet and is ported with 4″ aero ports to tune it to 32 hz. And the box is going in Chrysler 300. My alternator is stock and I have one battery. Right now I have 4 gauge power wire and 12 gauge speaker wire. Thank you for helping.
Hi Daniel,
I don’t know where to start. Okay, you never want to use two different amps for two subs. You’ll never be able to properly tune it. Even if you have the same amplifier, one for each sub, it can be difficult to tune properly. To do it right, even using duplicate model amps, you need to use a scope and measure output at the RCA’s. The reason it’s so imperative to get the tuning exactly the same on both subs is you want them moving at exactly the same time. If they’re not, you get into phasing issues. Think of the way a sound wave looks, it’s like a wave of water. You want the waves being produced to be produced in unison. When the efficiency and processing is different from one amp to another, there’s not way you’re going to get exact unison.
When the sound waves are played and one sub is delayed, you risk the sound waves putting each other out of phase. When that happens, the frequency is basically not heard, which means you may not be hearing as much bass as you could be.
Your best bet is to sell those two amps as neither one is enough power for either sub. Too little power means distortion which means blown subs. Look for something like what our last commenter Paul had, the Kicker ZX 1500.1 would work. That will put out 1500 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Since your subs are dual 2 ohm voice coil, you’d want to wire the voice coils in series. Then parallel the subs from there. This will result in a 2 ohm load which would be perfect for a high output mono amp. You just need to make sure you run thicker gauge power and ground wire. Kicker recommends 0 gauge for that amp.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
Hey Annie-sweety,
I did want to add that I’ve reinforced my electrical system under the hood with the “Big Three” as they say.
And sorry for one final question:
If I add a battery, must it be exactly the same as my first battery? Can I add a second battery without upgrading from my stock alternator?
Thanks again, and have a nice weekend!
Hi there,
Really nice of you to give everyone great, free advice like this.
I’ve got a jetta tdi with 2 x alpine type r’s in a sealed box in the trunk, pushing those is a Kicker zx1500.1 with the gain set to about 60% of maximum. (I’m guessing wired at 2 Ohms at the amp terminals – but I didn’t do the install, so I don’t know for sure.)
I’ve used some generic roofing materials to seal alot of the trunk and also used expanding polyurethane on a lot of the trunk as well. I also have the speaker box itself sitting on another layer of MDF that covers the entire floor of the trunk.
Tdi jetta is a diesel, and that engine makes a lot of noise, which i hate.
HU is a CDA-105, wired to an old Rockford Fosgate punch 500.2 pushing 4 mtx tweets and 4 2-way alpine 6.5’s.
Oh yeah, i’ve got some kind of off-brand 3.5F cap with a little digital readout on it… not sure if it does any good. I’ve no problems with dimming lights except at maximum volumes, and even then it’s only barely noticeable.
So here are a few questions:
On the Alpine CDA-105, what’s a volume that will produce a clipped signal?
I am hearing almost no noticeable increase in bass from the subs after a volume level of 25, but significant increases at every level before that. Why is that?
What’s the bottleneck in my system at this point? (Is there any one component that is seriously lacking?)
What’s the next step?
There’s barely room in my trunk for a sealed, 4- or 5- cubic sq. foot box – it might have to be custom made inside the trunk. I’m not considering a ported box, and the trunk’s too small for two 15’s.
In a sealed box, what 15″ or 18″ sub, wired to my amp, will outperform (louder, lower, and clearer) my current 12″ Type R’s?
Two 12″ Type X’s at four ohms? A home theater 15″ or 18″?
Thanks very much for your time!
Paul
Hi Paul,
Make sure the Alpine head unit is set to “Subwoofer System 1” under subwoofer system settings in the head unit. “Subwoofer System 2” is just a weird option, I don’t really understand why they’d offer it. According to Alpine: SUBW SYS 2: Subwoofer level change is different from the main volume setting. For example, even at low volume settings, the subwoofer is still audible.
I also just want to make sure you’ve bypassed the original VW monsoon amp at this point since you’ve upgraded everything else?
You know, I really don’t remember the peak volume on that head unit. If it’s 35, it’s probably clipped around 31/32. If it’s 30, it’s probably clipped around 26.
If you were to add another battery, yes you’d have to increase the alternator size. Otherwise your current alternator will have an extremely hard time trying to charge another battery on top of it’s current load and then you’d end up with two dead batteries.
You talked about how loud the diesel was and how you tried to quiet it down a bit. Have you ever heard of Dynamat? That stuff REALLY works. We did an entire Mitsubishi Evo a couple years ago and that thing had a pretty sweet sound system, but also had a really loud exhaust and was just not well insulated from road noise. We dynamated everything. Roof, firewall, floors, doors, trunk. It completely changed the cabin inside. The customer got more output out of his system, it sounded cleaner and there was minimal road/engine/exhaust noise.
So before you change your equipment, I would sound deaden the whole car, that will improve your driving experience even if you’re not listening to your system. I would make sure your setting is set to Sub System 1. If anything you could get a better alternator and use a high performance battery. Is your sub box custom built to Alpine’s Specs for sealed? Or pre-fab? If Pre-Fab, consider building a custom box to manufacturer specs so you got optimum performance.
Your amp has some serious current draw, so if there’s not enough current available, you’re not getting all the output you could from the amp. So consider upgrading your alternator and battery. From there if you want to upgrade subs, I’d say go with JL W7’s. They’re for serious high output. You’d probably have to do the 10’s based on power handling and space. Or the new Type R’s will probably be out in the summer and those handle 1000 watts RMS a piece. The Type X won’t be the right impedance for you. You’ll need to have a final impedance at the amp of 2 ohms. In fact I’m not sure the W7’s would work with that amp as W7’s are 3 ohms, so your amp would see a 1.5 ohm load and I think it’s only 2 ohm stable.
So try those other things 1st and let me know if you’re still not satisfied. But please don’t put a home theater speaker in there. That won’t help anything! 🙂 Home audio equipment is designed for a totally different application and they use different impedance’s than car and are designed for products running off of 120 AC not 12 Volt DC. Hope that helps.
By the way Paul, you are running 0 gauge for that amp right?
Hi, I know a little more than the average person about car audio, I have installed 4 or 5 full Car audio systems and I have built quite a few sub enclosures, etc… My question is more about “what I should buy to fit my needs and my BUDGET?”:) I have 2 X Memphis Audio, power reference, 12″ subs (rated @ 250RMS each)they are both dual voice coil/4ohm subs and there inside a custom built ported box for my 02 Camaro hatchback, lots of glass to vibrate off:). I have ALL Memphis audio equipment in my car, 2 X 8″ mids/removable tweeter combo, powered by an old school Memphis st100d amp, and 4 X 6.5″ memphis component speakers powered by another old school memphis audio amp, a 4 channel mc3004. In keeping with a budget of 150 to 200 bucks and still trying to keep the Memphis audio theme alive in the trunk, which amp do you recommend and how should I run it(which wiring pattern to match the amp you recommend impedance wise). If there’s not a Memphis amp for 150.00 to 200.00 that will be powerful enough for these subs, can you please recommend something close to the Memphis quality? Thank you so much and sorry for the lengthy question:)!
Hi Breck,
I’ve never carried Memphis Audio although it does look like pretty good quality equipment. However, they don’t really have anything in your budget that suits your needs. You’re kind of in a tight spot. To keep costs down, ideally you want a mono amp as they are more efficient and generally put out more power for less money, but mono amps really need a final impedance of 2 ohms. Since you have 2 subs and they’re dual 4 ohm voice coil, you’re only wiring option is to series each sub then parallel which would result in a final 4 ohm load OR you can parallel each sub, then parallel again resulting in a final 1 ohm load.
Now, if you’ve read enough on blog, you know that I hate running anything at 1 ohm for a couple of reasons.
1) It’s a highly unstable load for the amp, the amp has to work very hard and inefficiently meaning it can overheat and shut down on you rather quickly
2) The amp has very little control or damping factor at that low of an impedance which means it won’t sound very clean, tight and punchy
What I did find from Memphis is their Reference series MR1.500 which I found for around $350. However, that amp is a mono amp and puts out 500 watts RMS at 1 ohm. So it’s more money than you wanted to spend and you’d be running the amp at that unstable impedance that doesn’t sound very good.
You’re next option is try to find a higher powered 2 channel that will put out 500×1 bridged @ 4 ohms. The Pioneer GM-5500T is going to be your closest match. It puts out 400 watts RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load and it’s only around $150.
If you really wanted a mono amp you’d have to find one that put out 500 watts RMS @ 4 ohms (Kenwood KAC-9105D – $299) or you’d have to find a mono amp that has a regulated power supply. JL Audio’s Slash and HD series amps offer these along with Alpine’s PDX line of amps. It’s means they’ll put out X amount of power regardless of whether you give it a 2 ohm, 3 ohm or 4 ohm load. These amps tend to be in the $500 range, so I didn’t think that would be a good option for you.
So I think the Pioneer is your best bet!
I don’t know too much about car systems but I was wondering what you thought about getting these 6×9′s, sub and 5 channel amp to run my speakers and sub and if they’d go together correctly. I don’t have a lot to spend so the amp isn’t the best but from what I’ve looked up has more than enough power to supply everything. Also don’t know what kind of box to get for the sub but thinking about getting a vented one, just curious on what your opinion on the boxes are.
Thanks
speakers: Alpine SPS-619
sub: Alpine SWE-1043(“10)
amp: Boss CE2505
I looked a little more and saw I can get this sub instead for only $10 more so I’m going with this one:
Alpine SWS-1043D.
Only thing is I don’t know what dual 4 ohm means. Is it basically the same as a 4 ohm and work the same with everything?
Thanks again.
Hi Josh,
What kind of car is this for? And what head unit do you have? I understand you may not have a lot of money to spent on everything, but quality should be a factory when you are spending your money on product. The Alpine Type E’s are pretty good subs, I sell quite a few of them and I think they’re one of the best sounding subs you can get for your money. However they handle around 250 watts, so I think that amp is a little overkill both for the sub and the speakers.
You may almost be better off powering the speakers off the head unit and getting a better quality amp for the sub only with a better match on the power handling.
The type S is the next level up in the Alpine handling a little more power for a bit more money. If you’re budget conscious, you’re better off with the Type E as it’s power handling is only 50 watts less than the Type S, I think it’s a better value. It depends on where you’re buying your stuff. From an authorized Alpine retailer (that’s how you get the manufacturer’s warranty) the speakers should be around $119, the Type E sub should be around $65 vs a Type S 10″ sub should be around $119. If you find the type S sub for only $10 more than the Type E, they’re either ripping you off on the Type E or the Type S has to be used or not from an authorized retailer.
The Type S 6×9 are pretty efficient, so they will sound decent off your head unit, but if you do decide to amp them, they only need around 85 watts RMS.
Ported will give you more output at certain frequencies, but sealed is tighter, punchier bass. WIthout adjusting gains on an amp, you will probably get more output with ported than with sealed. So that is a personal decision. I like the way sealed sounds better, but if output is what you’re after, you would probably preferred ported. Just make sure you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for enclosure size either way you go. Those can be found in the owner’s manual on Alpine’s website http://www.alpine-usa.com under support section.
Dual 4 ohm, as noted in the article, can be wired in either series or parallel. Series produces an 8 ohm impedance, parallel produces a 2 ohm impedance. So a dual 4 can either be used a an 8 ohm speaker or a 2 ohm speaker. Single voice coil 4 ohm can only be just that, a 4 ohm resistance. The various resistances will effect an amplifier’s output and sound quality.
I would rather see you with something like the MRP-M500 for $200. It’s only for powering subs, it will power either the Type E or the Type S or even two Type E’s. It’s good quality and you can then power the speakers off the head unit. You can always get an Alpine inline amp like the KTP-445U for $149 at a later date. It’s easy to install, 45×4 and pretty inexpensive. If you can swing $400, you could splurge for something like the MRXV60. But you shouldn’t spend $150 on something that’s not good quality. You don’t want to be disappointed and just have to spend more money on the same thing later on. You’re better off building your system in stages and buying good quality equipment with each step so that you build a good quality system that will last you a long time.
I have 2 12in Alpine type-r 4 ohm stable subs and im trying to get a wiring kit, a amp, and how to wire them together to get the most I can get out of them. I’ve read online that I can wire them to 1 ohm and im not sure if i should buy a 2 channel amp or a mono amp. And im also not sure what size gauge i should get for the wiring kit.
Your Help is greatly Appreciated,
Thank You.
Hi Cory,
Which model Type R’s, the Dual 4 ohm or the Dual 2 ohm? Or are they really older and single voice coil 4 ohm (SWR-1241)? If they’re SWR-1242D or SWR1243D they’re dual 4 ohm, if they’re the SWR-1222D or SWR-1223D they’re Dual 2 ohm. This will make a big difference in what I recommend. You will need an amp that is 1000 watts RMS and you will need a good quality 4 gauge wire kit (100 percent oxygen free copper). If they’re the Dual 4 ohms, you’d want to find a 2 channel amp that puts out 1000 watts RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load. You’d wire the subs voice coils in series so each sub would act like an 8 ohm load (see picture). Then, you’d parallel them tying both open positives from each sub together and both open negatives from each sub together to a bridged amp. The amp will then see 4 ohms which is what a 2 channel bridged amp needs to see.
If they’re the dual 2 ohm version (better application for these 2 subs based on their power needs), you can get yourself a 1000 watt RMS (at 2 ohms) mono amp. This will be easier to find than a high powered 2 channel as mono amps are more efficient and usually put out more power than 2 channels. You would still wire the subs voice coils in series, then parallel as described above. The difference is with the impedance would result in a 2 ohm load which is perfect for mono amps.
If they’re the older type R’s and single voice coil 4 ohm, just wire them in parallel (positives together, negatives together) and you’ll have a 2 ohm load perfect for a mono amp. If these are the Type R’s you have, still get a mono amp that puts out 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms. I hope that helps!
Annie
So basically I know nothing about car stereo systems but have been looking up about ohm’s, frequency, sensitivy, etc and still am having a hard time figuring out how to put it all together. I am not looking to get anything too crazy. Just decent back speakers(maybe front) and a 10″sub and I guess I need at least one amp.
From what the shop told me I need 2 amps but from what I have looked up I think I just need one? Can I use 1 for both the speakers and the sub? They said it wouldn’t sound as good but like I said I don’t have a lot of money to spend and looking for just a decent system nothing to great.
I am looking at the JBL GTO928(1 built in tweeter) or GTO938(2 built in tweeter) 6.5″ speakers, both are 2 ohm, not sure if I should be looking for 2ohm or 4ohm and if the one with 2 built in tweeter is noticeably better.
I know it’s a lot to ask but it would REALLY be appreciated, I am having a lot of trouble with this and just want to get it already.
Thanks
Hi Amanda,
What kind of car do you have? I don’t really recommend getting 2 ohm speakers for interior speakers. If the shop sells you those, you really would have to get an amp to push them that is 2 ohm stable. All aftermarket head units have an internal amp for the speakers that is capable of powering 4 ohm speakers. You can definitely get a nice little system, without having to buy two amps. It’s nice to get a head unit that gives you options to expand down the road. You want to look for something that has 3 preouts. This allows you to add an amp to the interior speakers if you ever want to and one for the subs.
You could get one amp to power everything, it would have to be a 5 channel amp. That will power front, rear and you sub channel. Otherwise we have dedicated 4 channel amps for front and rear, and dedicated mono amps for subs only.
If you start with a good head unit that has the capabilities to expand, you’ll be in good shape should you decide to add the 4 channel amp later on. I would recommend going with something like an Alpine CDE-123. It will give you the 3 preouts and they’re high voltage. The higher the voltage on the preouts, the more sensitive they are to amps and the more kick you will get out of the amps. That model has 4 volt preouts. The other cool thing it does is it has built in crossovers.
What that allows us to do is filter out the bass going to your interior speakers. So even if you were to simply uprgade to that head unit and add a sub and mono amp, you can tell your stock interior speakers just to play mid range and treble, the crossovers will filter out lower bass frequencies, allowing even your stock speakers to play louder and cleaner. The aftermarket head unit also has cleaner power and more power, so if your stock speakers are working, you can start by upgrading the head unit and adding a sub and mono amp for the sub.
You can then upgrade speakers if you want, I recommend going with standard 4 ohm impedance speakers. The idea with ohms is it’s basically a measurement of resistance. The less resistance, the more power that is let out, but with less control. Less control = less sound quality. This is noticeable on interior speakers that are playing frequencies that have more detail to them. It’s much harder to hear the difference between 2 ohms and 4 ohms on subwoofer speakers. So to get more output, we generally will use a mono amp (just for subs) with a 2 ohm load. But for interior speakers, you want that detail and clarity, so you don’t want to drop the resistance on those.
A nice cost effective option for speakers are the Alpine Type E speakers, the SPE-6000 ($79 a pair), you can also get two Type 12″ E subs for $149. Alpine also has a cool inline amp that’s inexpensive, but gives you 45×4 watts RMS for only $119 (KTP-445). The average RMS output on aftermarket head units is around 18 watts a channel. So here’s a nice set up that’s cost conscious:
CDE-123 gives you 3 preouts, 4 Volt, built in crossovers, front or rear USB and aux for $199
KTP-445 inline 4 channel amp for Alpine only, requires no amplifier wiring kit, easy to install, cuts down on labor cost over a typical 4 channel amp, $119
Two pair of Alpine type E coax speakers 6.5″ SPE-6000 $79 a pair
Alpine Type E 12″ Subs, 2 for $149
Average cost of a double 12″ box $100
500 watt Mono amp to power the subs from Alpine MRP-M500 $199
average cost for amp wiring kit, vehicle wiring harness and dash kit $100
should take about 6 hours to install depending on what type of car you have. We charge $75 an hour, most shops range between $50 – $125 depending on where you are located.
I know it’s all Alpine, but honestly they do really good quality at their entry level priced systems. Most customers are extremely impressed with what you get for the money with that kind of system. I hope that helps!
Hey Anne, I’ve had some 2 12″ mtx jackerhammer subs with a Kenwood KAC-1903D mono Amplifier (this runs 500 watts x 1 @ 4 ohms, or 900 watts x 1 @ 2 ohms).
I’ve now bought a new sub and didn’t know if my amp would be suitable for my new 1 12″ JL audio 12 w6v2 subwoofer. which is said to be 600 watts, dual 4 ohm voice coils and power range is 200-600 watts RMS.
I’m not exactly sure how the ohms and everything work.
Is my kenwood amp a good fit for my JL 12 w6v2 sub?
Hi Brett,
That’s my favorite sub! If you wire the sub in parallel down to 2 ohms, your amp will have more than enough power. More power is better than too little power, it’s all in the tuning. As long as you don’t have distortion at peak volumes, you’ll be fine. Check out my post on sub amp tuning for more tips.
Ok I have a 15′ MTX Thunder 95009500 single voice coil 4 ibm super woofer. My problem is I want to get a Hertz EP1D mono block amp, is there any way I can get my sub to 2get ohm or 1the ohm? The among is 1I ohm stable so ide prefer 1 ohm if possible
Hi Dustin,
If you have a single 15″ subwoofer that is single voice coil 4 ohm, there is no way to change the impedance. The Hertz EP1D is still a great amp and will put out 400 watts RMS at 4 ohms and your sub handles 1000 watts RMS. So it’s really not the right match up. You should get an amp that has a regulated power supply and puts out 1000 watts RMS whether you give it a 2 ohm load or 4 ohm load. You could get something like an Alpine PDXM1200 or JL Audio HD1200. Both put out 1200 watts RMS whether they have a 2 ohm load or 4 ohm load.
By the way, 1 ohm sounds bad. It’s highly unstable, very few amps are 1 ohm stable. They will heat up because they are letting out a lot of power, but with very little control. This means it will be loud, but it will NOT be tight, punchy or clean.
Hi! I recently installed a pair of Polk Audio db651 6.5″ coaxial in the front doors requiring 100 WRMS driven by a Soundstream Rubicon (RUB2.250) – Series A/B Class Amplifier 75W RMS X 2 @ 4 Ohms. I opted for no rear- fill speakers. For the bass, I have a
Crunch GPV800.2 amplifier; bridged 800 WATTS x 1 @ 4 OHMS which I know is “over- rated”, driving a JL Audio Single CS110-WXv2: 10″ BassWedge, Sealed enclosure, 4 ΩRecommended amplifier power: 75 – 200W Nominal Impedance: 4 Ω. I have the gains set right & the high & low levels are set at 80 hz.
Everything sounds good to me, but I’m just wondering if I upgraded the amps to a “more expensive brand” if it would make any sense as far as sound quality is concerned, or should I just leave well enough alone?
Hi Mike,
I can tell you there are definite audible differences in sound quality between amplifiers. For example, the Alpine MRPF300 is an entry level 4 channel amp from Alpine, giving 50 watts x 4 RMS at 4 ohms. Their step up X power MRXF30 is the same power rating, but has a warmer, more detailed sound. Once you go to the PDXF4, you get more power, but even more vibrancy, warmth and clarity.
Most people can hear this difference more prominently when comparing amps for interior speakers vs comparing amps for subs. However if you change your sub amp to one that has better signal to noise ratio and subwoofer damping factory, the end result is going to be cleaner, tighter bass.
also i now have a infinity kappa one amp in there powering just once sub but again i dunno if the sub is running at 2 or 4 and dont know if this amp can handle it
Hi Jason,
I’m sorry to hear the independent retailer didn’t help you. They suck and you should tell them they suck for not helping you. They give all independents a bad name!
Okay so here’s the only issue. They made the SPL 1200 in either dual 2 ohm OR dual 4 ohm. So without me physically being able to meter the speaker terminal on your box I don’t know what you have and therefore don’t know how they’re wired up either. Can you actually take the subs out of the box and tell me what it says on the back of the magnet? It should be labeled 4 or 2 ohms. And from there you can tell me if they wired both positives and negatives together or if they criss crossed one positive from one voice coil to the negative of the other voice coil.
My guess is if someone sold this to you, both subs in one box, one terminal, they must be dual 2 ohm subs, wired in series, THEN paralleled to result in a final 2 ohm load. For subs that handle 500 watts RMS a piece that would be the right thing to do because you would need a pretty powerful amp to push them. Powerful amps are usually mono amps and mono amps want to see a 2 ohm load. But the only way to know for sure is to get yourself a little multimeter, set it to the ohms position and put the positive probe on the positive side of the box terminal and the negative probe to the negative side of the box terminal.
If they are in fact dual 2 ohm subs wired series then parallel with a final 2 ohm load, you want a 1000 watt RMS mono amp. Something like Alpine’s MRX-M100 would be ideal.
As far as damaging amps goes it’s usually pretty uncommon. More often people damage subs from using an amp that has too little power. Damage to an amp can happen because the amp is being starved for power or it’s seeing way too low of a resistance (ohms) to perform properly and it’s constantly being overheated and eventually burns out. So you really, really need to check that impedance (ohms measurement) on the subs or at the terminal to really do this right. Make sure you are using 4 gauge wire, 100 percent oxygen free copper for your power AND your ground.
Let me know whether your subs say they are dual 2 ohm or dual 4 ohm. If you don’t have a multimeter, just open the box and tell me what you see on the back of the magnet. I’ll help you straighten this out once and for all so you don’t have to keep buying amps. Let me know!
hi.. i haave 2 kaption spl 1200 i am not sure if i wanna run just one or 2 in my trailblazer i have a kenwood dnx 6960 deck i think these are dvc that does 2 0r 4 0hm im not sure what watt or rms is best to run either one or both subs i have went to a few independants and not sure how they wired the subs either 2 0r 4 but if u can tell me what the best amp or wattage to look for and how to make these woffers the right ohms for best sound that would be wicked i keep burning amps last one was a crossfire 1400 amp i burnt and was assured i couldnt damage it as it was “compation” amp which i am sure now it wasnt PLEASE HELP tired of replacing amps
Hello i have 4 12 s in my 2006 Chrysler 300C. It already has the factory Boston sound system in it. I have 2 of the mtx terminator witch are 400 Watts rms together witch is how they came in the box. I also have 2 Brutus 12 s that i was told was competition speakers that are 800 Watts rms what type of amp do i need or should i get two seperate amps. I have them hooked up to a 2 channel 800×2 American bass amp bur it doesn’t have enough power for all of them. I m runnin the factory head unit but i m about 2 switch to a boss DVD receiver. Will i need a amp for the speakers in side the car?
Hi Ray,
It’s not usually a good idea to mix different model subs and amps together. What can happen is the subs are going to have different efficiencies and the amps are NOT going to be able to reproduce the sound at precisely the same time as each other, getting gains set precisely would be another difficulty on top of that which also effects the timing of what’s playing and when. When the timing of when the sound waves are produced varies, the varying sound waves can basically cancel each other out and put your subs out of phase. This defeats the purpose of having 4 subs in the 1st place. And I really, really, REALLY advise against buying anything made by Boss, it’s just not a quality brand, I honestly think your factory Boston system is of better quality than that.
So I would rethink your system all together. If you’re looking for more output, definitely use the Brutus 12’s as they handle more power, from what I could find online, they handle 600 watts RMS. I tried looking up your amp, but the only thing I could find close to what you described was the American Bass VFL 75.1, is that the amp you have? If so, I think you can easily tweak your system and get more output with the two Brutus subs with the proper amp and a few other adjustments. If that’s the amp you have, it looks like it’s only 800 watts RMS and single channel. Really not sure if this is what you have, but if it is, you’re better off upgrading to something that gives you around 1200 watts RMS like an Alpine PDX-M12 or a Kenwood X-1200m.
Since you’re tapping off an already amplified system, make sure that you are getting your signal for your amp from the stock Boston Acoustic Subwoofer. If you’re not, you’re most definitely missing out on a lot of bass in your system. This is because there is already a stock amp telling your stock speakers what frequencies to play. So if your car is equipped with a stock sub, and you get your signal from a door speaker, you’re only feeding your amp a midrange frequency range, not the lower bass frequencies your subs are designed to play. If you’re upgrading the head unit, that won’t matter.
As far as the head unit goes, definitely go Kenwood! They are perfect when dealing with already amplified stock systems. They have this awesome feature called Volume Offset. Basically, when you swap out your head unit, your Boston stock amp is still in the car. Your new head unit has it’s own amp built in. So in essence, you’re going to be amplifying an amplifier. This can really suck when you have subs, because your subs are only getting one amplification signal from the aftermarket amp you have running them. So if you think about it, your interiors are going to get double amplification and your subs get single amplification. This can lead to your interiors sounding louder in comparison to your subs and sometimes it’s difficult to adjust the gains on the sub amp properly for a good balance in sound.
Volume offset allows you to level match the stock amp and the Kenwood amp so that there isn’t such a dramatic difference in levels between interior stock speakers and aftermarket subs.
If you do replace the head unit and find the interiors are still not loud enough for you or you want better sound quality and more output from them, you won’t be able to simply amplify them as the stock Boston speakers are really only designed to work with the stock boston amp. So you’d have to upgrade the speakers and then get a 4 channel amp for them and bypass the stock Boston amplifier.
And on top of all of this, look up the exact model or your subs and read the installation guide. Make sure they’re in a box that is for optimum performance. Putting subs in the right enclosure makes ALL the difference in sound quality and output.
I hope that helps and wasn’t too much to digest! Thanks for stopping by and asking.
i have a 2000 gmc sierra ext cab my amp is over a foot long so theres no mounting it under the front seat,i want to know if mounting it to the enclosure is ok i planned on using a 1/4 inch thick rubber pad betwwen the amp and enclosure,would this be ok.oh and my box is a downfire with a front port.
Hi Chad,
I always prefer not to do that in case you need to remove the enclosure for any reason, it makes it more difficult. But if that’s your only option, as long as there is some breathing room/ventilation for the amp, it should be fine. Rather than a rubber pad, I would rather see you take some 1/2″ or 3/4″ MDF or Trupan (a little lighter than MDF), carpet it, and velcro mount that to the box. You can get some pretty good velcro at home depot that has a strong hold. Then you can mount the amp to that with short wood screws. This way if you ever really did need to remove the box for any reason, you can basically peal off the amp mount without disturbing any wiring and easily remove the sub box only. Just make sure there’s room for air to ventilate the amp, if not, depending on how efficient or cool the amp runs, you may need to put in some cooling fans. Hope that helps!
Hi! I have a planet audio BB212D 12″ dual voice coil
power handling peak 2,400 watt
power handling content 1,200 watt
freq response is 12hz 350hz
efficiency (1watt/1meter) 95dB
impedance dual 4 ohm
magnet structure 150oz.
voice coil former 3 inch
What would be the best amp for me to get to get the best sound quality? I drive an ’05 dodge ram crew cab.
mounting depth 7-7/8″
There’s not a lot of room in those cabs, we usually do the JL Audio Stealth box and a 500 watt rms amp. But if you’re building an enclosure or have one that will house your sub, I would suggest an amp like Alpine’s PDX-M12 or JL Audio’s HD1200. Both are very tight and compact but will give you 1200 watts RMS. If they’re a little too pricey for you, you could go with something like Alpine’s MRX-M100 which is 1000 watts RMS. It’s just a little larger, so you’d have to figure out where to mount it. With the smaller amps you may be able to fit it under one of the front seats.
Hey Annie
i just have a really quick question i got a mono block amp thats 2 ohms stable and i have a dual voice coil sub which impedance it at 4 ohms from what i read up top my understanding is that i would need to wire it at a parallel. i just want to make sure cause i don’t want to mess up on my wiring and screw my amp or subwoofer up.
if you could help me out i really appreciate this thanks
amp is 2000w peek, 300w rms
sub is 2000w peek, 900w rms
Hi Kelvin,
If it’s dual 4 ohm then yes you should wire it in parallel to result in a 2 ohm load. However, if your sub wants 900 RMS and your amp only puts out 300 watts RMS, you need a better amp. Remember too little power=distortion/clipping=blown speaker.
Also, these speakers would be for home stereo use and the receiver is a sony with 8-16 ohm impedance
Hi there,
I was hoping you were using this for home audio, I was thinking, “Please no. Why would you put that in your car?” Have you ever heard of parts express? They’re pretty cool, you can build your own speaker kits, crossover networks and they have a lot of replacement drivers for things like this. Check out this one, that’s the closest match I could find for you.
I couldn’t find any 10″ 6 ohm subwoofer drivers rated at 50 watts. It won’t hurt to go to an 8 ohm impedance, you just wouldn’t want to go down to a 4 ohm impedance. You may also want to check the size of the enclosure they’re in and compare it against any manufacturer’s suggested enclosure size.
Oh and im just using a basic sony reciever.. Its a home stereo setup with its suggested impedence at 8-16 ohms
I have this old technics 3 way speaker set up that i am trying to repair. There are two boxes and each houses a 10 inch 6 ohm sub a 8 ohm 4 inch tweeter and a horn. On the back of the actual enclosure it reads 8 ohm 50 watt max. The subs are just plain old and ive been looking to repair or replace them. Problem is technics discontinued these and ive been told a 6 ohm sub is hard to come by. i am wondering what type of subs i can use to replace them? I will any 8 ohm 50 watt sub do? Thanks for your help!
Hi Annie ,
My names Leroy and in need of help , I got the Phoenix gold rOadster 66 amp and I wanna push that with 2 JL audio w7 3omh will there be Any problems with that???
Hi Leroy,
That’s trouble, that amp is NO where near powerful enough for two W7’s. Which W7’s, 8″, 10″, 12″, 13″? The 12W7, for example, needs 1000 watts RMS. And if you have two of them you need 2000 watts RMS. You really need something like JL’s slash series 1000/1 or the HD1200. Both will put out around 1000 watts RMS with anywhere from a 1.5 – 4 ohm load. They are regulated power supplies so even with a 3 ohm load, it will put out the same amount of power. You would need two of them, one for each sub. The reason I say that is it will be hard to find a mono amp that will put out 2000 watts RMS at 1.5 ohms. If you wanted one amp, that’s what you would need to find.
You can use that amp you have for the interiors, but forget the sub channel, it’s only around 650 watts. You’d blow those babies in a second. Sorry for the bad news, but I’m glad you asked 1st! Thanks for stopping by and posting.
hi. i gunna get a power acoustic pen-12w subwoofer 800 watts max 450 watts rms. it is a 12 inch and at 4ohms. and i also am gunna get an spl gorilla 800 watt amp.4 ohms: 150 watts x 2 chan.
2 ohms: 180 watts x 2 chan.
Bridged 4 ohm: 360 watts x 1 chan. wahts the best way to set this up with thease? please help
Hi Robert,
If your subwoofer is a single voice coil 4 ohm, the easiest thing to do is simply bridge the 2 channel amp. So you’ll use the left positive, right negative on the amp to the subwoofer. That’s it!
i have a 12″ fosgate he2 that i have wired for 2ohm 400w rms and im thinking of getting a kenwood mono amp that runs 500w @ 2ohm rms. i should be ok with that amp for my sub right
Hi Jason,
Definitely, more power is always better than too little and it’s a very close RMS match anyways. Still make sure you tune it properly, no distortion even at high volume.
I have two 15″ kicker Comp with 600w and 8ohms, what kind of amp do I need?
Hi Carlos,
Which model exactly? The regular 15″ Kicker Comp shows that they offer in either dual 4 ohm or single 4 ohm voice coil and they show an RMS of 250, peak 500.
I’m assuming you have the dual 4 ohm model of the basic kicker Comp? (not VR or VX).
So you need a 500 watt RMS 2 channel. You’ll wire each sub in series so each sub will act like an 8 ohm sub. Then parallel to the amp so the amp will see 4 ohms. When you bridge a 2 channel amp, it will see 2 ohms.
I don’t carry any 2 channel 500 watt amps anymore, there’s not a lot of options out there for that as mono amps tend to be more efficient. I think Pioneer has a 400 watt RMS 2 channel, the GM-5500T.
But if you want to search, look for a 2 channel that is 500 watts RMS bridged at 4 ohms.
You could also do a mono amp that puts out 500 watts RMS at 4 ohms, Kenwood’s KAC-9105D would do that. Hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by.
Annie
hi,
i have a Sony Xplod 2/1 Channel Amplifier the specs are;
1200W max power
200W x 2 RMS into 4 ohms
500W x 1 RMS into 4 ohms(i have no idea what that means).
i have a nissan altima and im looking for 12in speakers that will be going in to a thunder box. which subs do the think would be best and how do you think i should wire them?
Hi Ivan,
What do you mean by thunderbox, is there a specific MTX enclosure you want to use for this set up? As far as the ratings go.
If you got 2 subwoofers that were 4 ohms each, you could run the amp in stereo and run one sub off the left channel, one off the right. When your amp is run with a set up like this, you get 200 watts RMS to each channel. so you’d want single voice coil subs rated around 200 watts RMS.
If you were to get two subs that were either single voice coil 2 ohm or (dual 4 ohm each sub wired in parallel to a 2 ohm load), then you could series your subs which would end up in a 4 ohm load. When you bridged the amp, you’d be changing it to push out 500 watts to a single channel. So the stereo signal is now mixed and the same thing will play to each sub. You would want to get subs that are either single voice coil 2 ohm or dual 4 ohm and rated around 250 watts RMS if you did it this way.
Wiring on the amp will involve using the left positive, right negative. This is bridging. It’s safe to bridge an amp with a 4 ohm load and you will get more power out of it that way.
Of everything I carry, I couldn’t really come up with a perfect match for you. I would say the Alpine Type E’s would be good, they’re rated at 250 watts RMS. We sell a ton of them. But they only come in single voice coil 4 ohm. So you could either wire it in stereo or bridge the amp, but the amp would still put out 400 watts RMS either way with that load. If you DID bridge the amp, you’d have to series the subs 1st.
If that doesn’t sound good to you, look for two subs rated at 250 watts RMS that are single voice coil 2 ohm. Then wire them in series and bridge the amp to get the full 500 watts RMS. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much i cant believe your answer:) im going to do everything tomorrow and bring it to an independent store.your the best annie!!! i didnt think i would get any help.thank you
Glad I could help, let me know how it turns out!
hello annie, i am a us servicemember and looking to put two PIONEER TS-W309D4 1400W Woofers 12″ Dual 4 Ohm Champion Car Audio Subwoofers. i want to know what size pioneer amplifier i will need to power them. thank you in advance for your assistance.
Hi Kay Jay,
First off, thank you for your service. At our shop, we give all of our 1st responders and US service members/veterans a discount as well as a great big thank you. If you want two of those subs, do not buy the dual 4 ohm version, buy the TS-309S4 (single voice coil 4 ohm). You will want to be able to hook these up to a mono amp and the mono amp will need to see 2 ohms. So with two single voice coil 4 ohm subs, you can wire them in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) and the amp will see 2 ohms.
Here’s the only problem with Pioneer’s amp lineup. They don’t have enough powerful amps for the subs they sell. Even my Pioneer rep doesn’t understand why they do this. Pioneer doesn’t have an amp that gives you 800 watts RMS at 2 ohms, which is what you need. I do like those Champion series subs though, they are very nice. I would recommend something like Kenwood’s KAC-9105D which will give you 900 watts RMS at 2 ohms. It’s also an excellent value amp, typically around $250. The other recommendation I can give you, is build the box for the subs to the manufacturer’s specs. It will sound awesome that way. Sealed will be tighter, cleaner, punchier. Ported will give you more output at certain frequencies, but won’t be as tight and clean. Thanks again and enjoy the subs!
Hello Annie, and thanks for the info so far…I’m driving a 1995 Buick Riviera, and I have a Pioneer Head Unit with two 12’s…the gain 3/4 and bass boost were turned up to half, and the last subs i had were,2 Aphasonik PSW612E 700w and 2 DB Drive 1800w, both sets were 4ohm, wired to 2ohm
Alright, I think your problem is you were under powering the subs you had before. The db’s wanted 900 watts RMS so if you had two of them running to the amp at a 2 ohm load, your amp was putting out half the power you needed.
Same thing with the alphasonic subs, they’re 700 watts RMS, meaning you needed to give them 1400 RMS and you only had 950.
Have you read my post on “why did my speakers blow”? It’s a lack of power that kills them. You run out of power and the amp starts clipping and playing a distorted signal. The distorted signal is unnatural and will cause the sub’s voice coil to heat up and break down, thus blowing your subs.
The cvr’s are a better power match around 400 watts RMS each. So you’ll be less likely to damage them as long as you tune it properly.
It sounds like you like it loud. Having the right box will make all the difference in the world. I would buy them with the manufacturers ported enclosure, the DCVR12 2ohm model.
This way you have optimum performance and output. Make sure your crossover point is around 60-80 hertz. Gains no more than 3/4.
On the head unit: bass boost off, bass flat (use sub level gain to adjust bass) crossovers on interiors HPF 80 hertz and up.
Crank up head unit volume to point distortion and back it down just below distortion. Using a variety of music, start with the sub amp gain down and slowly bring up to point of distortion, then back it down.
The idea is even at peak volume you have no distortion. Bass boost is okay on the amp, it boosts one particular frequency, but try it with it off first.
Good luck!
My friend is putting a 8 ohm svc 800w peak on a 1 ohm stable amp 1200w peak I say this is a bad plan is it?
Hi Jane,
It won’t hurt the amp. Basically amplifiers have different power outputs with different impedances. I’m surprised the amp claims it’s stable at 1 ohm, most amplifiers are not. Each time you drop your impedance (like from 8 ohm to 4 ohm to 2 ohm to 1 ohm), the amplifier will let out more power, but with less control. Always look at the RMS ratings on both amps and speakers. Peak is entirely unrealistic and it’s just there to grab your attention. The manufacturers can test their amps for peak ratings while playing a frequency that is so high pitched it would barely be audible to the human ears. But what good is 1200 watts when you’re playing one frequency barely audible to the human ear? So RMS is like the every day real world application rating. Peak ratings are typically a 3rd of what the real RMS is.
So chances are the sub is rated around 265 watts RMS and the amp is rated around 400 watts RMS at 1 ohm. So if we increase that impedance, that means the amp will put out less power. Probably more like 300 watts at 2 ohms, 200 watts at 4 ohms, maybe 100 watts at 8 ohms.
So it won’t hurt the amp, you might hurt the sub by under powering it. 8 ohm single voice coil is a very uncommon impedance these days. It used to be popular when 2 channel amps were popular. So people would buy 2 of them, wiring them in parallel, which cuts the impedance in half to 4 ohms. And then when they bridged the amp, the amp would see 2 ohms. That was a pretty standard thing in the industry 10 years ago.
As cars have gotten smaller and space has become more limited, companies have swapped inefficient class A/B amplifiers for very efficient, small Class D amps. Class D amps want to see a 2 ohm load. So most people buy either a single 2 ohm voice coil, or a dual 4 ohm voice coil (can be paralleled down to 2 ohms) or if they’re doing two subs, they buy two single voice coil 4 ohm subs and parallel them or buy two dual voice coil 2 ohm subs (which they would series, then parallel).
So it will work, it won’t hurt the amp, but it’s really not the right combination of equipment and may damage the sub by under powering it.
So i have a kenwood mono block 2 ohm 1000w amp, im looking for 2 shallow 10″ subs, ive been looking at the Mb quart shallow 10’s and they seem about right in the wattage department, any advice or verification that this combo would work , im not sure what the model number of my amp is but like i said its 1000w monoblock 2 ohm , these subs are 4 ohmss, thanks
I don’t like the MB Quart, I had a girl here last night that came in with one and it sounded like ass. It was in the wrong enclosure too though. Of the flat subs I’ve dealt with, Pioneer, Kenwood, JL and Alpine, I have to say the JL 13″ is the best sounding one I”ve heard. They’re rated around 600 watts RMS and are 3 ohm. They do have a new line of W3 flat 10’s and 12’s coming out which will be around 400 watts RMS and $299. Second option would be the Alpine Type R flat 10″ rated at 600 watts RMS for $450. That sub also sounds pretty good, I’ve sold quite a few. The 13″ will hit lower frequencies because of the larger surface area, but the 10″ will be tighter and punchier.
I liked the JL, actually had 2 in my car at one point. My husband prefers the tighter sound in the Alpine 10″. That will be a personal decision based on what is more important to you, deep and rumbling or tight and punchy. If you want to do 2 of them, you’re better off with the Alpine because it’s a single voice coil 4 ohm, so if you do two wired in parallel, your amp will put out 1000 watts (assuming that rating was RMS?) at 2 ohms.
I hope that helps!
PLEASE help lol im a girl i nothing about stereos other than paying the guy at bestbuy.i have a 500 watt alpine mono amp i believe with an alpine 10″ or 12″ sub.everything has been fine for over a year/half now when i pump by bass it cuts out around 6 on the volume.I have to turn the car off then on to get the sound back in the sub,repeat.I dont think its any wires or setup issues because why has it happened now? it is cold at the moment outside if it matters.the blue light is on the amp but i noticed a slight dim of the light with the volume low(maybe it is the amp:( )either way i neep help or else ill just be told to buy a new amp and sub like the last time my sub died.the guys at the store set it up so the amp wasnt too strong(because after a week i blew the first speaker they put in)i dont trust kids in bestbuy but i dont really have an option
Best buy, that’s your first problem. Don’t go back there. You know how they hire their installers? They take a computer test. That’s right, they don’t even evaluate their ability to work on a car before they hire them. So please try to find a local independent shop near by, rather than a Big Box store. Chances are they either sold you the wrong equipment or they did a bad install. Either one is quite common unfortunately. We have a Best Buy less than a mile away from us and we’re constantly fixing their work.
Next time the bass cuts out, go back to the amp and carefully feel it, see if it’s hot to the touch. If it’s extremely hot, then you may have damaged the subwoofer. When this happens, the amp sees too low of an impedance and shuts off. The other possibility is if they sold you a Dual 2 Ohm sub and wired it in parallel, that would bring the impedance down to 1 ohm. I don’t think that’s the case though as it probably would have been like that from the get go.
Most likely you blew your sub. One way to check is with your system off, press directly in the center of the speaker with your hand evenly spaces across the front of it. If it’s stiff or rigid, your feeling damaged voice coil. The voice coil is a copper coil that is inside the structure of the subwoofer. When subs receive a distorted signal, the voice coil heats up. Over time it damages the coil. The coil can then start to loosen up and unravel. When this happens it will either stop playing completely or play intermittently, that could be the cause of the cutting out.
If you’re noticing the light on the Alpine dimming, it may be the source they got for your remote turn on lead. That’s the thin blue wire that goes to the amp and tells the amp to turn on with the key and turn off with the key. If you have an aftermarket stereo, that wire should be run to the back of your head unit. If you have a stock stereo, they should have run that wire straight to an accessory power source.
If the light on the amp goes out or dims that means it’s not getting 12 volts and the amp would then cut out, so your sub would stop playing. This problem you’re having may be as simple as your battery in your car is weak. A car will still run with around 10 volts, but that’s too low for the amplifier to turn on. Do yourself a favor and stop by an Autozone if you have one near you, they can do a quick battery test and tell you if your car battery needs to be replaced and if you do need a new one, they sell them right there. If you don’t have an autozone near you, you can probably have this done at Sears or any automotive repair shop. Have that checked first and let me know how it turns out!
Or maybee you can suggest a head unit for me? I dont need bluetooth,I just want to use my mp3 songs and fm radio.Im going to be using the alpine 5 chan. MRX-V60 amp you suggested with (4)6.5″ 4way door speakers(pioneer) and the (1)10″ kicker in the trunk.
Unless you think i should go with a different brand door speaker that wants 50 watts RMS 4ohm?
So whats a good head unit for me? & are those pioneers a good idea?
Hey Annie, I got an mp3 walkman that im going to use with the new tunner deck that i get but my mp3 doesnt have a fast forward to it.This can suck with alot of my progressive club anthem style music that just sucks untill about the 1:30 mark into the track.Will I be able to fast forward thru the the tunner with the song coming from my mp3 player connected?(idk prob not huh?)What should i do about that? Does the tunner have mp3 downloadable memory i could transfer into it for this?(or do some tuners have this capability?) SONY CDX-GT650UI is the tunner that im considering as it has alot of the qualities that you pointed out in your blog such as the front,back hi/lo filters. But that brings up my next question that if im going to be running all 5 of my speakers with the 5 chan. alpine that you showed me,will the tunners hi/lo pass be useless if im coming of of my amp?
Hi,
You will be able to fast forward/rewind when you have your ipod/mp3 player connected through USB on a new stereo. That Sony will get the job done, but it only has 2 Volt preouts. You’ll get better sound quality with 4 volt. You can check out Kenwood’s KDC-X396 for a cost effective deck that has all those features we talked about.
You would leave the crossovers off on the head unit and use the crossovers on the amp. I also don’t think 4 ways are necessary at all. I’d rather see you go with something like Alpine Type S speakers if you’re looking for a nice sounding, cost effective 6.5″ coax speaker. Speakers are not Pioneer’s strength.
I have the audiopipe 15001D…@ 4ohms 600w, @ 2ohms 950w, and @1 ohm 1500w….my problem is i don’t know what size subs to get, shops have been selling me the wrong size, and i’ve been frying subs, i shouldn’t have to buy subs every summer….will the Kicker CVR’s be good enough?….can you suggest a good wattage/RMS…HELP!!!
What’s going on Chemaco? You shouldn’t be going through subs each year. That will happen because either the shop is selling you the wrong stuff or whoever installed it doesn’t have the amp tuned properly. Having said that, can you tell me what subs you’ve had and how everything is installed? Like do you have this going off a stock head unit, if so, what car? Do you have an aftermarket head unit, can you tell me which one please? And do you think you can also tell me where the settings are on the amp?
Things like crossover frequency, how far up the gain is (1/2 way? 3/4?), is bass boost on? Things like that. The more information the better!
Having said that, you’re going to want to look for subs that can handle around 500 watts RMS. Depending on what kind of car it is, it sounds like you’ve been doing 2 -12’s. As much as I love JL, I think the Alpine’s can handle more abuse. So I would check out the Alpine Type R’s. You would only slightly be underpowering it and that’s okay as long as everything is tuned properly. Have you seen my post on sub amp tuning?
The idea, is even at max volume, there is no distorted signal going to the sub. All head units pre-amp outputs will clip at a certain volume. So for example, never put the aftermarket head unit past like 31/32 if the head unit volume goes to 35. Whatever signal is coming off the head unit (or hi to lo convertor if you’re using a stock deck) is going to the amp. So think about it, if your signal is distorted going to the amp, your amp reproduces that and will end up damaging the sub.
Shame on the shop for not helping you out, it’s their duty to HELP their customers. Check out the post on sub amp tuning and get back to me with specifics and I’ll get you more details. And if you do decide to go with two Alpine Type R’s you must but the Dual 2 ohm version. Don’t try to run anything at 1 ohms. It’s not good for the amp, heats up like crazy and sounds like crap. It’ll be loud, but it won’t be clean and won’t play for a very long time. Thanks for checking out the site, I’ll talk to you soon.
-Annie
Sweet! looks like a good amp for the money.Its only 50 bucks more than the two smaller amps I was looking at but will probably be cheaper by the time I bought the other wutya call its i would need for 2 amps?.lol..
You can tell i have never done this!
I have 1 good question that will set me straight here:
Am i going to get more sound out of
(2)6.5″ 3ways that(2ohm) Rms=60watts
OR
(4)6.5″ 3ways that(4ohm) Rms=30watts
Is there a big difference between those two options or would i just be pissing in the wind instead of doing whats easier to wire?
Oh and if your wondering what im working on,its an 01′ VW jetta Glx that i bought for $600,so yeah,theres just an empty space where a radio should be as the previous owner relocated his sound equipment after he blew the engine..lol
So should i go with (2)60 watt or (4)30 watt <pushing all of them 20% above their Rms
Hi, so you said you had a 2001 Jetta right? Those cars come with components front and rear, or 8 speakers total. You should really look for a set of component speakers rated around 60 watts RMS, assuming you go with the 5 channel Alpine amp or similar.
To answer your question regarding quantity speakers and various impedance, you would probably have more output with the 4 – 4 ohm speakers. If you had 2 speakers rated at 60 watts at 2 ohms, and let’s assume you have a class a/b amp 4 channel amp that is stable at 2 ohms and pushed out 60×4, you’d only be using 1/2 the amp. So you’d probably only have front sound stage.
The 4 speakers (assuming installing 2 in front, 2 in the rear) would give you some rear fill and definitely give you the impression of more sound. Also, this might sound weird, but speakers that handle less power tend to run more efficiently. For example, if you were to play a pair of speakers rated at 50 watts RMS off deck power (typically about 18×4 RMS), they will most likely play louder than a set that are rated at 150 watts RMS. The higher power handling ones really need that extra power to play to their best.
So assuming you’d only be amplifying the 2 front speakers rated at 60 watts, vs having 4 speakers with a lower efficiency, I still think the 4 (4 ohm) speakers would sound louder.
Crazy me,heres the equipment im thinking about using
JbL Gto 638(3way) with a Fosgate R150-2 amp
Kicker C10-4(woofer) with a Fosgate P200-2
Will that route work?
Hi Annie,
You are awesome! I found this post just before i was about to buy all the wrong stuff.Now i think im going to try 2 jbl 6.5″ 3way rear door speakers and 1 kicker 10″ in the trunk.
I didnt know anything about ohms but thanks to this i think i have it now?
Gonna use 2 fosgate amps
The amp for the door speakers pushes 75 watts x 2ch at 2ohms and the speakers rms is 60 watts with 2ohm impedance
The amp for the woofer can be bridged to 200 watts 4ohms and the 10’s rms is 175 watts with a single 4ohm impedance(< will that work with the amp bridged)
Is there any important knowledge of how to run a 2 amp system correctly? I would love to see your post on that!
Hi Dusty,
Thanks for the props, I’m glad you found the site informative! If you’re going to buy 1 kicker single voice coil 4 ohm sub, then yes you can safely bridge the amp to power it. And it looks like you’ve got your RMS power ratings matched pretty well from speakers/subs to your amps. One thought though, instead of buying 2 different amps, have you thought about a 5 channel? Maybe an MRX-V60?
so each one of my speakers being dual two ohm have two + and two -? so wire the speaker to itself then use open + and- to run to amp? So each sub’s (+, -) wire going into amp will have its own (+,-). Not bridged rite(connected), or that would have me at half ohm, which is bad? Is there a link or site that has a visual diagram, still confused
hmm, let me think of the best way to show you series. Check out this Alpine owner’s manual and go to page 3, example # 4. This shows how to wire 2 dual 2 ohm subwoofers to a mono amp. It shows them both being wired in series, then parallel. The Alpine voice coils are right next to each other, but your sub’s voice coils might be on opposite sides of the magnet. It’s still the same idea.
On each sub, you will link positive from voice coil # 1 to the negative of voice coil #2. With the negative from voice coil #1 you’ll go to the negative on the amp, with the positive of voice coil #2 you’ll go to the positive on the amp. And you’ll do that with both subs. I hope the diagram helps!
My amp is 1000 x1 @ 2 ohm, I just bought two dual 2 ohm fifteens with 400 rms each. What is the best way to wire them . Need details please
Hi Jason,
The best thing to do is wire each sub in series. Connecting one positive from one voice coil to the negative of the other voice coil on each sub kind of like this. Voice coil #1 + -______+ – Voice coil #2. Using the open positive and negative terminals on your sub to go to the positive and negative on the amp. By wiring each sub in series you are bringing the impedance up to 4 ohm. By connecting both subs at the mono amp in the same manner (both open positives on the subwoofer to the amp’s positive, both open negatives on the subwoofer to the amp’s negative), you are then wiring in parallel. Bringing the impedance back down to 2 ohms. So your amp will put out 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
How do I connect 2 12 CVS on a 100.1 kicker amp
Hi Sam,
Really, wired in series and they’re cutting off? Single voice coil 4 ohm? Dual voice coil 4 ohm? what’s the exact model of your kicker subs? And what gauge wire are you using? And you mean the 1000 watt Kicker amp, right? And what head unit are you using?
Hey Annie I have 2 12 kicker VCR and a 100.1 kicker amp and I connected the cvrs in Series in a sealed box and the amp turns off and on when I raise the valume on the stereo
i have a pyramid 5000 watt amplifier and two 12″ pioneer 1300 watt subs. i dont get the hit power that i desire and i want to know how i could hook it up to fix the problem, i have a positive wire that is 8 gauge that runs into a fuse block and a 4 gauge wire running from the block to the amplifier. and the ground is a 4 gauge wire also. i have good connections on both wires in connections to the frame and battery. however, the amplifier is a two channel amp. i bridged it and i still dont get the hit power it should have. if i increase the size of the wire from the amplifier to the speakers will it hit harder? and if so is there another way i could hook this system up for a better sound with more power?
Hi John, I need more info to tell you exactly the problem and if you really have the right combination of equipment. For starters, you got your gauges all wrong. Check out my post on picking the right size wire for your amp. My estimate based on its 2500 watt peak rating (don’t know where they’re getting that 5000 watt rating)
Is your amp is probably arpund 1000 watts RMS so your amp needs at least a 4 gauge wire run straight from the battery back to the amp, 8 gauge is starving the amp for power. It doesn’t matter if you have 4 gauge from a block if 8 gauge is what’s coming from the battery. 8 gauge is only good for up to 500 watts RMS.
Give me exact model #s and fuse sizes on the amp and I’ll tell you what you gotta do to get it to hit harder.
Also what kind of car? Head unit? And box?
Hello annie. I have a sony xm-gtx 1302 2/1 channel amp. already installed in my jeep. I want to purchase 2 jbl P1222 12″ subs with dual 2ohm voice coils. How would i wire these up to get the best sound? Thanks
Hi Patrick, unfortunately that amp will not be enough power for two of those subs and that would be the wrong impedance to buy even if the amp was enough power for both.
Your amp puts out about 340 warts RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load. Those subs can handle 400 watts RMS.
You could buy one of those subs however. If you did, you would wire the sub in series connecting one positive from one voice coil to the negative of the other voice coil. With the open positive you would go to the amps left positive. With the open negative terminal on the sub you would go to the amp’s right negative.
The amp would see 4 ohms bridged and put out 340 watts RMS.
Hi Annie!
Few questions for ya….first I wanted to make sure that i have wired up my current configuration correctly. I have a Kicker 12″ L3 DVC 2ohm sub along with a mono ZX500.1 (birth sheet stating 596RMS) I have the sub wired from Negative to negative and positive to positive on the sub, now the voice coils are indicated with dots on the terminals so one coil has dots on the negative and positive terminals and the other none. So the leads from the amp are going to the two terminals with dots. second question is I have a 10″ CVR DVC 4ohm….big question is can I integrate the CVR into my current system????
Bad news Tim, that’s the wrong impedance for that amp. The way you have it wired right now is in parallel which cuts the impedance in half. So your amp is seeing a 1 ohm load. Too low and unstable for that amp.
Problem is if you wire it in series you will have a 4 ohm load and your amp will only put out 250 watts RMS at that impedance. And you need 500 RMS. You would either have to get the dual 4 ohm version and wire it in parallel giving you a 2 ohm load or buy a mono amp that will put out 500 watts RMS at 4 ohms.
And forget the other sub. If you are wiring up more than one sub, they need to be the same model and impedance and have the same amp powering it. Otherwise you have different efficiencies with the different subs resulting in one playing at a different pace than the other which can end putting certain frequencies out of phase and canceling out those frequencies.
You could just hook up that other sub if you wanted as that one is a dual 4 ohm and could be wired in parallel.
Hey Annie,
I had thebspeaker terminals mixed up. It is labeled only “speakers” with – – + +. Also on the other side ofmthe amp there is a switch labeled “phase”. It can be set at either 0 or 180. Didn’t know if thisnwould help. Thanks
Got it, so it is a mono amp. Since your subs are dual 4 ohm, the only safe way to hook that up is to series each sub. So you’ll connect one positive to one negative off each voice coil and use the open positive and negative from each voice coil to go to the amps terminals.
By wiring the subs in series, each acts like an 8 ohm sub. By hooking both of them up to the mono amp you are then wiring them in parallel. That means the amp sees 4 ohms and it will run stable.
Based on an 80 amp fuse, the amp is probably putting out about 800-1000 watts RMS.
Based on the power handling of your subs, that should be more than enough power. Check out my post on subwoofer amp tuning for more information on setting up the amp.
Phase is referring to positive and negative. You want to wire your subs in correct phase. Sometimes, depending on the acoustics of the car, the interior shape can throw certain frequencies out of phase which ends up canceling out or diminishing that frequency from your audio system.
You can try switching it and see if it sounds better, but chances are, as long as you have all your other speakers wired correctly in the interior, you won’t need to switch the phase.
Hey Annie. There are 2 40 amp fuses on the MA2000D. It is a 2 channel amp. But the terminals for the speakers are – + + -. Is this normal for a 2 channel amp? I am wondering if this could be a mono amp. I have tried to contact the business that sold the MA2000D, but they do not have specifications on the amp. Is there a way to find out the impedence of the amp? The memphis 10″ subs are PR10D4V2. 250 rms/500 peak. Thanks.
Hi, I just need a tiny bit more info. Normally if it’s mono there would be ++ –. 2 channel is usually labeled left and right and usually laid out +- +-. If it says left and right then you know it’s a 2 channel. Let me know because that will determine how you should wire your subs.
is there any benifit of running subs stereo (im using a 2 channel amp) over bridged mono. is there a big difference
I was just currious if this amp(Crunch P1-600.4)was a decent amp to run 2(Alpine SWS-1043D)? I was thinking about wirring the subs down to 2ohm and bridging the amp.
Hi Robert,
No, that’s definitely not a good idea. That amp is a 4 channel and it’s designed to run interior speakers. The true RMS rating of it is 37.5 watts x 4 channels at 4 ohms. If you already have it, use it for your interior speakers and buy another amp for the Alpines. Since you have two dual 4 ohm subs, your only wiring options for the subs are to series, then parallel or parallel then series. You couldn’t parallel then parallel again as you’d be down to 1 ohm which is not really stable for any amp. So your final impedance if you run it the safe way would be 4 ohms. So you need to find a mono amp that will put out about 600 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Check out Kenwood’s KAC-9105D.
I have one 15″ MTX Thunder 5500 (T5515-44, Dual 4 Ohm, 300W RMS) Sub in an enclosed box. What would you recommend for an AMP to power this sub?
Hi Rob,
You want something around 300 watts RMS at 2 ohms. JL has a nice mono amp the XD/300 that would work or even the JX 250/1. And just wire the voice coils in parallel so you have a 2 ohm load. Thanks for stopping by!
Annie
jai une ampli pdx-5 alpine es- t il possible de brancher deux Pioneer TS-SWX251 10 dessus meme si je nai qune sortie pour un sub si oui comment ?et quel rendement jaurais et esce dangereux pour mon ampli
merci de ta reponse
Google Translate:
a jai amp Alpine PDX-5 es t it possible to connect two Pioneer TS-SWX251 top 10 even though I dont qune output for a sub if so how? and what performance Jaurès and ESCE dangerous for my amp thank you for your answer
Salut Alan,
Je m’excuse si cela est difficile à comprendre, je ne parle pas français donc je suis en utilisant Google Translate pour vous répondre. Le Pioneer TS-SWX251 est de 200 watts RMS et une puissance nominale de 4 ohms. Il est correct de fil de deux d’entre eux pour le PDX-5. Elle sera légèrement sous tension, le PDX-5 va mettre 300 watts RMS à 2 ohms. Tout ce que vous devez faire est parallèle des sous-marins. Connectez les deux positifs ensemble et relier les deux négatifs ensemble. Lorsque vous réglez votre amplificateur ou d’installation, juste s’assurer qu’il n’y ait pas de distorsion à des volumes de pointe et vous devriez être bien. Si vous voulez plus fort, obtenir un ampli plus puissant juste pour le sous-canal comme un ampli mono qui met hors de 400 watts RMS à 2 ohms, éventuellement l’Alpine MRXM-50. J’espère que ça aide!
Hi Alan,
I apologize if this is difficult to understand, I don’t speak French so I am using Google Translate to answer you. The Pioneer TS-SWX251 is 200 watts RMS and rated at 4 ohms. It is okay to wire both of them to the PDX-5. It will be slightly under powered, the PDX-5 will put out 300 watts RMS at 2 ohms. All you need to do is parallel the subs. Connect both positives together and connect both negatives together. When you tune or setup your amplifier, just make sure there is no distortion at peak volumes and you should be okay. If you want it louder, get a more powerful amp just for the sub channel like a mono amp that puts out 400 watts RMS at 2 ohms, possibly the Alpine MRXM-50. I hope that helps!
Hello Annie.
I have a memphis 10″ dual voice coil sub. I believe that it is 4 ohm. I do not see any specs on the sub. I also have a Kenwood Excelon X201T 75 watts x 2 (4 ohms) 150 watts x 2 (2 ohms
300 watts x 1 (4 ohms – bridged mode. Do you have any suggestions on how to properly wire the sub to amp? Or is this amp not good for this sub? I also have a majectic MA2000D class D amp. Not sure on the specs on this amp. thanks.
Hi Joey,
It’s a little difficult to respond considering we don’t know the specs on the sub and the exact power handling on it. If it’s a dual voice coil, 4 ohms each voice coil, it’s not the best match for any 2 channel amp. You’d have to wire the voice coils in series resulting in an 8 ohm load. When you bridge your amp it will see 1/2 that or 4 ohms and put out only 150 watts RMS. The amp would not be stable if you tried paralleling the voice coils then bridging as it would see 1 ohms and overheat and shut down. I would try to find the model # of teh sub so you can find the RMS power handling and then look for an amp that is mono and puts out that same RMS power handling at a 2 ohm load.
I also had difficulty finding specs on the MA2000D which I’m assuming by the model # is probably more significant power handling. If you can tell me the size fuses on the MA2000D I can give you a rough idea of the RMS output on that amp.
I have the new type r dual vc 2 ohm with an old school orion hcca 225 amp that is supposedly 1 ohm stable should I run the sub 1 or 2 ohms
Hi Zach,
That’s a nice old school amp, but it’s no where NEAR what you need to power that sub. Even though they only rate it at 25 watts RMS x 2, it’s tested to do close to 200 watts RMS bridged. Still not close enough; your type R needs 600 watts RMS.
I suggest you buy the Alpine PDXM6, that amp will put out 600 watts RMS whether you give it a 2 ohm or 4 ohm load. It’s never a good idea to run any amp at 1 ohm, so I suggest you wire it in in series and get a mono amp that will put out 600 watts RMS at 4 ohms.
Keep the HCCA 225 and use it to run your interior speakers! It’s a nice amp, a classic.
Question for you. I have a Kicker 10″ L5 with dual voice coils. I have it hooked up to a Pioneer GM5500T amp bridged. From what I can find, the amp runs at 4 ohms when bridged. As it is currently, the amp cuts off when I get to the higher volume levels. I am guessing this has something to do with the speaker impedence due to how the sub is wired. Do you know what I would have to do to correct this so it doesn’t cut out anymore? Is this amp useable or do I have to buy a different amp?
Hi Josh,
I’m guessing that’s a dual 4 ohm voice coil and you have it wired in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative on the voice coils of the sub). If that’s the case, your sub currently has an impedance of 2 ohms. When you bridge an amp, the amp sees 1/2 that or 1 ohms. No 2 channel amp is stable at that impedance. You can wire the sub in series (tying a positive from one voice coil to the negative of the other voice coil, then using open positive and negative to go to amp). If you wire it in series, your sub will have an 8 ohm impedance. When you bridge the amp, it will see 4 ohms.
Power wise, this is not the best amp for that sub. Your sub can handle 450 watts. If you wire the sub in series (so the amp will work without shutting down) the amp will only put out about 250 watts RMS. You’re better off buying a mono amp rated around 450 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Under powering a sub or speaker is usually what blows them. Distortion kills speakers and distortion is caused by a lack of power, so I suggest you buy a more appropriate amp for your sub so you can get the best performance out of it. Look for a mono amp that puts out about 450 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
I have purchased one 15 inch piledryver dvc 4000 watt sub Model pld15wd and purchased a 1000what rms soundstream rubicon mono class d amp, at 4ohms it’s 600 watts, 2 ohms 800, and at 1 ohm 1000 watts, I read it needs at least 900 to 1300 hundred watts to power the sub correctly could this amp be alwright to run at 1 ohm I know it’s not recommended but not worried won’t be blowing it out the boot on a day to day basis just every other advice need please what would be a good amp in your opinion or would this work thanks.
Hi Terence,
Well, it’s never a good thing when a manufacturer doesn’t disclose the RMS rating of their subwoofer. That 4000 watts? That’s peak power. Nowhere on their website or in their owner’s manual do they tell you the TRUE RMS power of the sub. The RMS or continuous power handling rating is vital information necessary for matching the sub up to an appropriate amp. Based on the images of the sub and how most sneaky manufacturer’s gather peak rating information, it looks like the sub really handles about 800 watts RMS power. The amp, RUB1.1000D will put out just that at 2 ohms. Since your sub is dual voice coil 4 ohm, your only wiring options are to parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) which will result in a 2 ohm load. OR you can series it, but that doesn’t make sense for this application, that would result in an 8 ohm load.
So wire it in parallel and your amp should be sufficient power for that sub.
ok tryin to figure out if one of my voice coils dont work how do i tell? the subs pound i got 2 10 powerbass 500w each in a ported box and a 700w rockford fosgate punch i know i could go with a lil bigger amp but i like this amp, got it bridged only running one voice coil on each sub, the amp shuts off but only after a few solid mins or 5 of strait pounding, loudest pair of 10s ive ever heard, is my amp maxin out or can i get it to beat lil harder and somtimes it hits that real low bass for a period of time then i start to smell my subs, somthing wrong? they sound clean just wanna make sure what i got is pumpin the max on my amp n subs and done right
Hi Dave,
why would you only have one voice coil on each sub hooked up? That’s a bad thing to do. Can you tell me exactly what model subs you have and exactly what model amp you have and I can tell you the best way to wire it up that will prevent your amp from overheating and shutting down. From what you’ve told me, it sounds like your Rockford amp is a 2 channel. Most likely your subs are dual 4 ohms each. If you’ve hooked up only 1 side of each sub and then paralleled them (tying the positives of each sub together and the negatives of each sub together and then running it to the amp), then your down to a 2 ohm load. Then when you bridge a 2 channel amp (using left positive, right negative on the amp’s left and right terminal), it sees half that impedance or 1 ohm. Most amps, especially 2 channel amps are not 1 ohm stable. So if they play at all, it will be for a very brief time, before it heats up and shuts down to protect itself from overheating. Let me know exactly what you’ve got and I’ll tell you exactly how to wire it so the subs stay pounding. Thanks for stopping by the site!
Hi,
I have two dual voice coil 4 ohm alpine type r’s rated at 600 rms apiece, and I was wondering which amp would be better to get the most out of the subs between the mrp-m2000 and the pdx-m12. After helping me decide which amp would be better for my subs, I was hoping you would be able to help me understand why these two amps are so similar in cost given their different outputs (2000 watts vs. 1200 watts).
Hi Jamie,
The PDXM12 is the better bet. Given the configuration of the subs you have, your only wiring options are going to be 4 ohms (series each sub’s voice coils, then parallel each sub) or 1 ohms (parallel each sub’s voice coils, then parallel each sub). Neither amp is stable at 1 ohms. The MRP-M2000 will put out 1500 watts RMS at 4ohms, far more power than those subs need or want. The PDX-M12 will put out 1200 watts RMS, exactly what your subs need.
As far as the cost difference? The PDX amp is incredibly efficient. The MRP-M2000 has six 30 amp fuses, meaning it has the capability of drawing 180 amps. It also measures 20-1/4” x 9-7/32” x 2-23/64”, it requires upgrading the big 3 and it requires 0 gauge power and ground. The PDX-M12 on the other hand only has four 25 amp fuses, meaning it has the capability of drawing only 100 amps which is less stress on your alternator and battery. It’s footprint is far smaller, only 10-1/8” x 7-9/16” x 2”. It also has a regulated power supply which is good for your application. It means it puts out 1200 watts RMS whether you give it 2 ohms or 4 ohms.
The PDX line of amps use far more efficient technology and they have superior sound quality over the V power series amps. So that is why the 1200 watt amp is more than the 2000 watt amp. It’s more efficient, it has more flexible applications when it comes to impedance, it’s a lot of power in a tiny footprint and it’s quality sound.
i have a 100 watt sony xplode stable 4 ohm amp with two kicker L5 dvc 4 ohm subs whats the best way to wire them?
Hi Steven,
Can you just clarify this for me 1st? Did you mean 1000 watt instead of 100 watt? And can you tell me the model # of the amp? This way I can see whether it’s 2 channel or mono. Thanks!
Annie
I just purchased a 2007 gmc sierra and it have a 6 cd head with factory bose system but i do not like how it sounds that’s why i want the jl audio stealthbox with two 10w3v3-4 and jl audio C2-650 Component for front doors and rear doors to. or maybe C2-650x coaxials for rear. I have two amps alpine mrp-m500 and mrp-f300 from my old chevy. Maybe be better to get jl audio HD900/5 for the whole system. And jl also i like to stay with the 6 cd head unit. what interface is the best one. What do you think what would be better to do which speakers which amp be better to used i want factory looks. Thanks
Hi Gabriel,
Yeah the HD 900/5 is pretty sweet, but for sound quality, I’d rather see you buy two of the newer PDX amps, the PDXF-4 (75 x 4) and the PDX-M6 (600 x 1). It will be less money than the JL and I think the PDX’s sound better than the HD amps from JL and you’ll get the 600 watts you need for the stealth box.
As far as processors go, I do like the JL Audio Cleansweep, we sell quite a few of them and they work well. You may also need a signal summing device since your stock system is already amplified. You need to feed the processor a full frequency range and often times you can’t get that signal until after the amp (if it’s digital going into the amp, which it may be in your car, I don’t know off the top of my head). So if it’s digital before the amp and you don’t have signal to feed the processor until after the Bose amp, you want to make sure that you feed the processor the sum of all the channels coming out of the amp. So from JL that’s the CLSSI, but if you go with the Audison processor, you may need something like an Audio Control LC8 to sum frequencies.
Another awesome processor is the Audison Bit One. They offer it in a couple different models ranging from $399 – $999. The top of the line one gives you an 8 channel, 31 band, EQ per channel, per source, 24 DB per octave crossover adjustments, digital time alignment for all 8 channels and 4 different listener presets. The more entry level option is 5 channel and 12 DB per octave, only 1 listening preset. It’s pretty sweet, I have one in my car. And the presets are nice since both I and my husband drive that car, so there’s a preset for him when he drives (since he sits in a different position while driving than I do) and a preset for me when I drive, a preset for when we are both in the car listening and riding together.
The C2 speakers are nice from JL, the C3’s sound better and you should also see if you can find a Hertz/Audison dealer in your area and take a listen to the Energy speakers and the Hi Energy speakers (similar pricing to C2, C3). I’d say 75% of my customers prefer the Hertz over the JL speakers. But still go with the stealth box, definitely. JL makes AWESOME subs.
I forgot to tell you that if a alpine mrp-m500 and a alpine mrp-f300 are good enough for those jl audio speakers
Hi,
I’m thinking you already have those amps, I remember you said you had the MRP-M500. With two W3 10’s, you’d probably want a little more power. I think RMS on them is 300, so ideally 600 watts RMS. It will work with the amp you have, it’s all in the tuning. As long as you tune it so that at peak volumes you have no distortion you’ll be fine, then it just becomes a question of it that’s loud enough for you. If you set it up and you find you wanted more, then you know you can upgrade your amp and get a little more out of the subs, but if you already have it, use it.
The C2’s are pretty efficient and will sound good off that amp, much better than off deck power. They will handle a little more if you wanted more, like 60 watts RMS. Again, you’re real close. Will you notice the difference? With the right tuning, probably not.
What is the best amp for two jl audio 10W3v3-4 subwoofers and four jl audio C2-650 6.5-inch 2-Way Component Speaker System
Hey, I’m trying to find an amplifier to run my two 12″ Kenwood KFC-W3002 subwoofers… 150 watts RMS with 2-layer vented voice coil, 4ohms impedence on each. My friend and I hooked them up to his amp just to test them and there was some distortion. I didn’t know much about the amp except it was 900 watts.. my friend said the distortion was probably because the amp was putting out too much power for the subwoofers. I’m wondering what kind of amp (in RMS or total watts) should I look for in order to power these subwoofers properly. I assume it should be something less than 900 watts.
Thanks,
Kael
Hi Kael,
Your friend is wrong, tell him to check out my blog 🙂 Distortion occurs when the amplifier is running out of power and clipping. The 900 watts printed on the amp is most likely a peak power rating, RMS is probably actually around 300 watts. It probably just needed to be tuned properly.
But to answer your question, you want an amp that will put out 300 watts RMS at 2 ohms. You’re always better off with more power, than too little power. Too little power causes distortion which blows speakers. There aren’t a lot of 300 watt RMS Mono amps out there that I deal with. Just doing a quick google search turned up Rockford’s P300-1 which fits the bill. Other options are going with a 500 watt RMS mono amp from Alpine, Kenwood or JL and just keeping the gains down low. And this way if you ever upgrade your subs, you can get ones that can handle more power and you’ll have an amp to push them. Check out my post on tuning subwoofer amps so that you can fix your friends car and properly tune your own amp.
Hi annie, I have an 01 Audi A4 with the bose premium sound system. A friend of mine just sold me his 10″ 800 watt kicker comp rated at 2 ohms of resistance. I have read quite a few articles online and from what I understand, I need a high low converter in order to connect and amp to my sub because the Bose system is already amplified. However, no one is really clear about this and I’m not really sure what I need. I am am Audi mechanic, so the work isn’t really an issue to me, but I don’t know much about sound systems. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.
Hi Nate,
Have you seen my post on adding an amp and sub to a stock system? Towards the end of the post I specifically discuss adding an amp and sub to an already premium amplified system. The short answer is you should use a hi to lo convertor rather than any amplifier’s built in speaker level adapter. And you want one that’s adjustable, either the Stinger SGN13 or PAC’s SNI35. You also need to get your signal from your stock subwoofer(s), which is usually either one large speaker in the rear shelf or a pair of speakers in the rear shelf in that car.
If you go to any other speaker for your source, the signal is already crossed over from the Bose amp. This means there’s little bass going to the mid ranges or tweeters in the car, so you don’t want to get your signal from them. Check out the little battery speaker popper tester pictured and use that to figure out what’s positive and negative on your stock speakers/subs. I know you’re an Audi tech, but don’t rely on wiring schematics, I’m sure you already know, they’re not always 100% accurate.
And in many Audi/VW’s, depending on what size amp you are putting in, you won’t have to run your power wire to the battery. There is usually a nice place to get power in the fuse panel in the front. We usually don’t have to go straight to the battery for every amp/sub install in those cars. Check out the other post and let me know if you have any other questions.
I have a mono 1000w kenwood amp and 1 alpine type r 1243d 4 ohms subwoofer and I want to know if my amp can push that sub to its maximum power or close too it and will it be loud?
Hi Shane,
Forget max power, it means nothing. The manufacturer’s can gather these ratings putting a frequency through the sub that you will never ever use in a real world application. Who cares if a sub can handle 1500 watts peak if it’s at 18000 hz (barely audible frequency)? The important thing to always look at is RMS. That’s the true power, the continuous power, what you’ll actually get in a real world application. So if your Kenwood amp says 1000 right on it, chances are the RMS is 1/2 that and that’s at a 2 ohm load. Your Type R sub is also rated around 500 watts RMS. That’s good! Wire your sub in parallel so your amp sees 2 ohms. Your amp will put out 500 watts RMS and your sub will handle the 500 watts RMS. Assuming you tune it right, have it in the right enclosure, have your phase right throughout the rest of your system (positive and negative) and you don’t play it with distortion, it should sound pretty freaking good. Check out my sub amp tuning post for more details.
Hi Annie,
I was planning on getting two Orion XTR PRO 15″ subs in a single 4 cubic foot ported box I was hoping you could recommend wether I should get 2 ohm or 4 ohm subs and also recomend a good amp to power them. It is going in my 89 Acura integra if that matters.
Hi Jason,
It looks like those subs are offered in either dual 2 ohm or dual 4 ohm and they handle 500 watts RMS. To keep this efficient, I would recommend using a 1000 watt mono amp to power them. Something like Alpine’s MRX-M100, JL’s JX 1000/1D, or Kenwood’s KAC-9105D. With a 2 ohm final impedance at the amp, any one of these will put out around 1000 (or close to it) watts RMS. In order to get to that 2 ohm final impedance, you’ll need to buy the dual 2 ohm version of the subs. Wire each subs voice coils in series. So each sub will meter 4 ohms. Then wire them in parallel, bringing your impedance down to 2 ohms. Thanks for stopping by.
Annie
I have a kicker comp 12″ single voice coil 150 rms 300 watt peak 4 ohms I’m new to car audio and I have no idea what amp to get I’m lookin at the Rockford fosgate r500-1 mono amp is that the right one for my sub if it is how to I tune it to get optimal performance ? thank you
Hi Brent,
You’re better off with the R250-1 from Rockford as the power handling is a better match. The R250 will put out 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms, the R500 puts out 320 watts RMS at 4 ohms, a bit too much. As far as tuning goes, have you seen my post on subwoofer amp tuning? Check it out and let me know if you still have more questions. Thanks for checking out the blog!
I have just purchased a MEMPHIS 16-MC5.700 AMp
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEMPHIS-16-MC5-700-/230712071530?pt=Car_Amplifiers&vxp=mtr&hash=item35b782d56a
Which Subwoofer would work well/better for this Amp:
1. MCP12S4 – Memphis 12″ SVC 4 Ohm Mclass Subwoofer (Single 4 ohm coil)
or
2. MCP12D4 – Memphis 12″ DVC 4 Ohm Mclass Subwoofer (Dual 4 ohm coil)
Hi,
I would get the MCP12D4 and run it at 2 ohms, that amp will put out 250 watts RMS at 2 ohms and your sub is rated around 300 watts RMS. So that’s the better match, at 4 ohms, the amp will only put out 125 watts RMS, not enough power.
Hi, can you elaborate further when you told Harry “The way to wire it is to series each sub so they have an 8 ohm load, THEN parallel so your final impedance is 4 ohms.” I’m still a little confused as how to get my speaker setup for 4ohm. I have a 300 watt 2 channel amp bridged pushing a 1400 watt 2 voice coil 4 ohm sub. I have it parallel at the moment and it keeps cutting off my amp. I’m not sure what 8 ohms would sound like.. but Your the expert, so 8 ohm or 4 ohm? and This is a great article btw. Answered ALOT of questions. thank you
Hi Brian,
So Harry’s subs were dual voice coil, so he had to 1st series the voice coils on the subs before he could then parallel them. For your sub, you’d ideally want to get a mono amp. I think you’re saying you have a dual 4 ohm voice coil sub, is that correct? The reason your amp is cutting out is it is overheating as it is seeing a 1 ohm load. With your sub’s voice coils in parallel, the final impedance of the sub is 2 ohm. When you bridge a 2 channel, you cut that impedance in half meaning the 2 channel is seeing 1 ohm, very unstable.
So what you can do for now is wire the voice coils in parallel like the picture shown on the post. You’ll connect the inside positive and negative of each voice coil together. With the open positive from one voice coil, you’ll go to the left channel positive of your amp. With the open negative of the other voice coil, you’ll go to the right channel negative of your amp.
With your sub wired this way, your sub will have an 8 ohm load. After bridging it at the amp, your amp will see 4 ohms. You’re probably underpowering your sub risking blowing it. If you got a mono amp, you could leave in parallel and get more output as most quality mono amps (think Alpine, Kenwood, JL) start at 500 watts RMS. If your sub is rated 1400 watts Peak, the RMS is probably around 400-500. So you should really get a higher output mono amp and always look at the RMS ratings as that is the real power handling.
I”m glad the post helped you, let me know if you have any other questions.
i have two 12 ‘inch kicker cvx 4 ohm and a fosgate punch mono block 1000watt amp is this enough power i dont want to push the bass up to high and want to set it up just for sound quality. should i set it up in a series and what do you think of my set up
Hi Francisco,
The amp is slightly underpowered for the subs. If you’re just going for sound quality, you may want to consider only hooking up one sub. One sub would still be slightly underpowered because I think the amp you have will only put out 500 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Your subs are rated at 750 watts RMS. Just play around with the gains, as long as you tune it so there is no distortion going to the subs, especially at higher volumes, then you will be fine either way. But if you do wire up two, definitely wire it in parallel because at 8 ohms the amp definitely won’t put out enough power for two.
As far as what I think of your set up? Kind of depends on what type of car it’s for. If you came into my shop and told me you’re going for sound quality, but you still want to be able to crank it up and feel it, I would say go for a JL 12W6 in a custom built enclosure (build to spec for your car and the enclosure, doesn’t have to be fancy) and a 600 watt Mono amp.
If I have a kenwood 4ohm 720 watt amp and I’m getting a pair of mtx terminator 12″ That are at 2 ohms how would I hook that up to get maximum performance?
Hi Shane,
Are you talking about the 720 watt 4 channel? I’m just guessing based on Kenwood and 720 watt, that’s the only model I can find with that combo. If that’s the case, it’s really not the right amp for your application. The KAC-8405 is rated at 50 watts x 4 RMS. You could run the front two channels for your front speakers and bridge the rear two channels to your subs. You would have to wire your subs in series so that you have a 4 ohm load. With that set up your subs would be getting about 150 watts RMS total which is still pretty underpowered considering your subs will handle 200 watts RMS a piece, but it should work. Hope that helps! If it’s a different amp, let me know.
Hi Annie,
I am currently running an Alpine PDX-5 that is powering
Alpine SPS-610C
Alpine SPS-610
and 2
SWS-1043D.
My question is can that little amp take all that? I didn’t want to question the installer since they were an “Authorize” Alpine dealer and i’m authorize at nothing and just went with their flow. Can I get noticeable gains out of my subs if I put in a dedicated amp for the subs or would it be just a waste of money.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
Hi Dave,
Thanks for stopping by and I’m happy the posts have helped you out. Sounds like you’re on the right track here. The PDX-5 is a great amp, but it is not quite enough power on the sub channel for 2 type s subs. I would definitely recommend a second amp for the subs, you’ll get a lot more output. I did this for a customer once as he changed vehicles and we had a lot more room in the trunk to work with for subs in his new car. We kept the 5 channel and used it as a 4 channel for the interiors and did another 500 watt mono amp for the subs. The bass was not overpowering at all. With the right tuning, it will sound great with separate mono amp for the subs. Maybe the MRX-M50 or the PDXM6?
Annie
hi annie, i have two dvc 4 ohm (400watt rms, 800 watt max) kicker compvr aluminized 12 inch subs in a custom box of around 3.5 cubic ft. and a kenwood kac-9105D (1800watt max 900watt rms) mono amp which is 1ohm stable.
What is the best wiring option without the possibility of anything overheating or being destroyed? would 1ohm cause a problem for something or should i stick with 2ohm?
Hi Harry,
You can only really run your box as either a 4 ohm load or a 1 ohm load and 1 ohm is not going to work with that amp, it will overheat and shut down. The unfortunate thing is at 4 ohms the amp will only be putting out around 600 watts RMS. I think with the large ported box however, you’ll find the 600 watts to be sufficient. The way to wire it is to series each sub so they have an 8 ohm load, THEN parallel so your final impedance is 4 ohms. Your amp will never overheat like this either.
As with tuning any amp and speaker, just make sure there is no distortion even at high volumes, that is what will toast your subs, clipping the amp and playing it with distortion.
Hi Annie,
I have two Polk Audio Dxi 124 Dvc they run at 360W Rms and a 720w Peak they are 4 ohms. And a PA880 amplifier which runs at 300 watts at 4 ohms and 500 watts at 2 ohms. I was wondering what would be the best way to wire this set up and get the most bang but also keeping the not damaging the amplifier?
Hi Gavin,
You’ll want to wire the subs in parallel to the amp. Tie both positives together and both negatives together from your subs and run them to the respective positive and negative terminals on the amp. So your amp will see a 2 ohm load and put out the 500 watts RMS. Because it’s slightly under powering your subs, you just need to tune it properly to avoid damaging your subwoofers. When you run out of power from your amp, the amp starts clipping and producing a distorted signal, that’s what damages speakers, distortion.
So start with the head unit cranked, but without distortion, gains on the amp all the way down. Probably want your x-over around 80 hertz. Slowly bring the gains of the amp up just to distortion, then back it back down. Do this listening to a variety of music so that at peak volume, there is no distortion going to your subs. If you do this you should be fine.
Thanks for posting!
I have Pioneer TS-W3002D4 12 In. Champion Series PRO Subwoofer with 3500 Watts. Product Features
12-inch Champion Series PRO subwoofer with 3500 Watts maximum (1000 nominal) power handling
Basalt/carbon fiber reinforced IMPP cone with fiber-woven aramid surround
Dual 4-ohm voice coil for 2 or 8 ohm operation
20 Hz to 150 Hz frequency response with 90 dB sensitivity
188.8 Millimeter mounting depth
Im really new to this kind of stuff so i need your help on choosing the right Amp =)
Hi Alberto,
I would run that sub in parallel for a 2 ohm operation and buy something like Alpine’s MRX-M100 which will put out 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms, or Kenwood’s KAC-9105D which will put out 900 watts RMS at 2 ohms or JL’s JX 1000/1D which will put out 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Just make sure to use a good quality 4 gauge wire for both power and ground.
hi i have a Power Acoustik BAMF5500/1D amp and i had 2 Pioneer Premier TS-W3002D4 and i was just wondering sense my amp is a mono block with 2 positives and 2 negatives does that mean there bridged in the amp and if so does that mean it changes the ohms ? thanks
Hi Bobby,
I think I answered your email already, but this may help other people reading. The amp is still mono, it’s just making your wiring a little easier. So when you do use both terminals the amp will see parallel and cut in half whatever impedance you are running to it. So if you series those subs (8 ohm load each) and ran each sub to each terminal, the amp would see it as a 4 ohm load.
Hi,
Im new to car audio and i was wondering if a Rockford Fosgate Prime R1L-2X12 Double R1 12-Inch Pre-Loaded Enclosure would go good with 8 gauge wire and Boss Audio R1100M Mosfet Monoblock Power Amplifier ?
Hi Sean,
That amp will work for your set up. Your sub box is rated at 300 watts RMS and has a final impedance of 2 ohms. So you basically need a mono amp rated at 300 watts RMS at 2 ohms. The Boss amp will do it, I’ve never been a huge fan of their stuff, I think there’s much better quality out there for a bit more money. Other options would include something like JL’s JX 250/1 or their XD 300/1 or Pioneer’s GM-D7500M. And 8 Gauge wire is definitely sufficient.
I have 2 Alpine 1223D could you recommend a few amps and wiring suggestions for optimal outputs
Hi Andrew,
Definitely. You’ll want to wire the subs in series then parallel, so your final impedance at your amp will be 2 ohms. Then you’ll want a mono amp that does around 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Great options are Alpine’s MRX-M100, Kenwood’s KAC-9105D or JL’s JX 1000/1.
Thanks
I have bought a dvc 4 ohm sub and a 4ch amp. I am not sure of the best way to wire it for sound quality. The amp is 3000w and the sub 3500w. Dont know if that helps any tho.
Can u explain where to run cables from the amp which is in and works. Do i use the rca output or any of the front/rear outputs?
Cheers
Hi,
I need more details here because unfortunately it sounds like you have the wrong amp possibly. 4 channels are generally strictly used for powering interior speakers, they’re usually class A/B amplifiers which have better sound quality than mono amps which are class D, but they’re usually less efficient and have less power. The highest power 4 channel that I’ve seen from a good brand is usually at most 150 watts RMS per channel. Most likely the specs you are seeing are peak rating for both the amp and the sub.
Once in a while we will use a 4 channel in this configuration. Power front two speakers off amp and bridge rear two channels for a small sub. Definitely only for a SMALL sub as the 4 channel amp is not going to give us a heck of a lot of power for the sub even when the rear two channels are bridged. So normally the only time we use a subwoofer with a 4 channel amp is in this configuration and we’re usually doing this in a small car like a 2 door hatchback or small cab in a pickup truck where we don’t need a lot of power.
Give me brands and model #’s and I can explain more and let you know what wiring options you have if any for the equipment you’ve got. You may have to just use the 4 channel for your interiors and buy a mono amp for your sub, but with brands and model #s I can see the specs and tell you exactly what you need and how to wire it.
Hi:) I have a mmats m100.1d and two alpine r 12 10″ subs already in a box. I was just looking for some advice on how to properly wire this system to get its full potential. Thanks!
Hi, I need to know if you have the dual 2 ohm voice coil subs or the dual 4 ohm voice coil subs, then I’ll be happy to answer your question.
I received my dual 2ohm L7 10″ solos, a 750W RMS “ZX750.1″, I plan on hooking both the speakers together wiring them in series giving them each a 4 ohm impedance and wiring them parallel to the amp thus giving the amp a 2 ohm load. Does this mean that each speaker will get 750W RMS this way or will the split the wattage and get 325W each?
My only other question is, my amp says it can accept input from more than one set of RCAs from my stereo, since some songs seem to put all the bass up front would there be any benifit to hooking the front RCAs to the mono amp, or should I hook the front set to the 4 channel amp that will be pushing my 6x9s, 6” subs in kickplate, and my tweeters that are hooked to the 6″s with passive crossovers?
Hi, your amp will only be putting out 750 watts RMS total, so 325 per sub which is dangerously underpowered. A lack of power is usually what blows speakers, so you should definitely get a different amp. According to Kicker’s website, those subs handle 1000 watts RMS. So you’ll need to find an amp that can put out close to 2000 watts RMS at 2 ohms and to really get that kind of output, you’ll also need to upgrade the battery in the car, make sure you have a good alternator and upgrade the ground for the battery and alternator to 0 gauge and wire 0 gauge to the amp for power and ground.
Always use the subwoofer preout for the stereo, so definitely use your front/rear preouts for the 4 channel you’ve got.
i have 2 kenwood performance series subs (kfc-w301ps). i own 2 and would like them running at 2 ohms they are 400 rms 1200 peak single voice coil i was looking at the Lanzar MAXP2760 would this be a good math running it at 2 ohms. thanks ahead of time. Also would i want to wire it in series or parallel.
Hi Chris,
Don’t buy a 2 channel, wrong configuration for what you’ve got. You want a mono amp and you want to run the subs in parallel. By linking positive to positive, negative to negative, your whole enclosure will be seen by a mono amp as a 2 ohm load. Kenwood has a nice 900 watt RMS amp, the KAC-9105D, which would work great. It’s 900 watts RMS at 2 ohms and it’s a mono amp. So look for that or something like that.
Hi Annie,
i have right now a kicker compvr 12, dual 4ohm, 400rms (running in series) conected to a memphis power reference 16-PR2.150 which puts out 400rms at 4 ohms. it sounds pretty good, do u think it would still sound good if i hooked up a GT5-2402BR (i would pop it open and run them in series) which run at 550rms. (for my amp approxamently how much power is it putting out at 8ohms). do u think they would be way better than the kicker.
Hi Anthony,
I think it would sound better with the JBL box. Your amp right now is only putting out about 300 watts RMS to your Kicker and I’m sure it sounds pretty good, it should sound clean. With the double 12″ box, I would add a second terminal to the box and wire each sub to each channel. So you’d be running the enclosure in stereo. This will give you the same amount of power, 150 watts per speaker instead of 300 watts total to one speaker. By doubling the surface area (12″ one sub, 24″ two subs), you should have a little more output.
i need info – i want to wire two 12″ alpine type S DVC 4ohm into the mono M500 and i want to get maximum W500 at 2 ohms. i have one sub wired + – on inner and outter going into the other sub and then on from there going to amp. is that correct?.
Hi Chris,
Unfortunately with two of those subs, you can’t get to a final impedance of 2 ohms. You would have to have the dual 2 ohm version. Your only wiring options for your set up is to wire each sub series (which it sounds like you have), then parallel. But that means each sub acts like an 8 ohm sub, and after being paralleled the amp sees 4 ohms, only putting out 300 watts RMS. Not nearly enough power for two Type S’s. I would say if it’s an option, upgrade to the new MRXM100, it will put out 600 watts RMS at 4 ohms, 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms. OR buy the SWS-1223D, the dual 2 ohm version and wire it in the same manner and your final impedance would then be 2 ohms.
Here’s a great link for seeing wiring diagrams to get a better idea of series and parallel. Just punch in the number of subs and their impedance and it will calculate and show you the wiring options you have.
hi im wanting to use two JL hd 1200/1 amps and i wanna run 2 orion hcca 12inch but dont know which to buy, 2ohm, or 4 ohm dvc?
Hi Andy,
The cool thing about the HD amps is they have a regulated power supply, so it doesn’t matter whether you give it 2 ohms or 4 ohms, it will still put out 1200 watts RMS. So in this rare scenario, you can buy either one. If you get the dual 2 ohm, wire each sub’s voice coil in series so the sub acts like a 4 ohm sub. If you get the dual 4 ohm version, wire each sub’s voice coil in parallel so the sub acts like a 2 ohm sub. This way, either set up, you’re getting 1200 watts RMS to each sub with a stable impedance.
i have two “Kicker CompVR 07CVR124 12-Inch 4-Ohm DVC Subwoofer” they are 400wat rms and 800 peak. i am wondering what amp i should buy to get the most out of them without blowing them up? how many channels should i have 1 or 2?
Hi Brad,
Your only wiring configuration options for your subs is to parallel each voice sub, then series ending in a 4 ohm final impedance OR parallel each sub, then parallel again ending in a 1 ohm final impedance. I don’t recommend the 1 ohm impedance as it’s highly unstable, there are few amps that will play for extended periods of time at 1 ohm and even if it does, it’s with little control. So it will be loud, but not clean at 1 ohm.
At 4 ohms you will have a lot of control, but the mono amps out there will put out less power. So you’d want to find a mono amp that will put out 800 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Amps that will do that are going to be something like JL’s HD750/1, they have a regulated power supply so the amp will put out 750 watts for any impedance between 1.5 – 4 ohms. Most mono amps are unregulated power supply so the output will fluctuate depending on what impedance you give it.
2 channel amps are less popular these days as they are not as efficient as mono amps, but ideally that’s what you want for this set up. If you can find a 2 channel amp that puts out 800 watts RMS, that would be perfect. You could run your subs at 4 ohms and when the 2 channel is bridged it will see 2 ohms. 2 channel amps rated around 800 watts RMS would be something like PowerBass ASA800.2. It will put out exactly 800 watts RMS when bridged with a 4 ohm load.
Hi Annie,
Maybe you can help I recently bought 2 Memphis 15-CM12D2 they’re rated at 1100 ems and 2200 peak, I have a Memphis belle 16-MCH1300, obviously I’m only going to get half the potential these subs have, my question to you is what amp could I get preferably Memphis to power these bad boys? I travel a lot and don’t have time to stop at a local audio shop.
Hi,
Be careful there, the subwoofer channel is way too little output, you risk blowing the subs if you try to hook up both of them to it. They say it’s 1 ohm stable, but you can really only wire your subs together down to 2 ohms or .5 ohm (which would be way too low). At 2 ohms, that amp will put out only 600 watts RMS on the sub channel. So in the mean time, if you plan on using this amp for a bit, I would suggest only hooking it up to one sub.
I would probably recommend the 16-MC1.4000 which will give you 2000 watts RMS at 2 ohms. That would be a good power match for both subs. I hope that helps.
Hi I have one 15 inch Rockford fosgate punch p2 sub. I was wondering the type of amp the watt and all of that . I want it to be loud!!
Hi Emily,
Kind of depends which impedance you got to make the proper recommendation. Hopefully you have the dual 4 ohm version. You would want to wire it down to 2 ohms by paralleling the voice coils. Your sub is rated at 400 watts RMS. So you’d want to get an amp rated around 400 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Something like Alpine’s MRP-M500 or MRXM50 would work ($199 – $299) or JL’s JX500/1 ($299) is also good. Most amps in this price range will be around 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms which would be good for your sub.
More importantly, If you want it really loud, you need the right box! I would recommend you build a ported enclosure according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Check out the owner’s guide and follow their recommendation for ported enclosure. You’ll notice that ported enclosure will play louder than sealed enclosure in the frequency range of 20-60 hertz, which is where you’ll want that boost. The ported enclosure is also tuned to 32 hertz vs 35 hertz on the sealed, meaning you’ll get lower, deeper bass response.
i have purchased two 10″ jl audio subs. I was also lookin for an amp to power both of them but i have been reading a little bit and what i found was that this person said that a 1500 watt amp would probably blow them in no time but my friend told me i could turn the amp down but i was lookin into buying a jl audio 600/1 amp. Would that be more than enough to push the subs?
Hi Blake,
It really depends on which JL 10″ subs you bought. The XD 600/1 is a great amp. If it’s the W0, W1 or W3 than I would recommend the XD 600/1 from JL, it’s the right power match for any of those subs (two of them). If it’s the W6 or higher, you’re going to need more power. Given the choice between equal quality amplifiers, you are better off with too much power vs too little power. Too little power equals distortion/clipping which equals blown subs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sub blown from too much power, it’s usually from clipping the amp and playing the subs with distortion. So your friend is right, you’re better off with too much power. Ideally you’ll get an amp with an RMS rating that matches the total RMS of both of your subs and I think the 600/1 will match assuming you have one of the models I mentioned ealier. The other factor you’ll have to consider is how you can wire the subs and what the final impedance will be. Ideally you have two single voice coil 4 ohm subs that you can wire down to two ohms by paralleling them.
Hi Annie,
New thought – I bought a Soundstream L1.600d Monoblock amp for 250 (half price) i was thinking about getting a 750watt rms kicker sub.
The amp is stable for 1ohm at 600watt RMS. Would this sub and amp be a good match? If not should i sell the amp online and buy something cheaper?
Hi Jordan,
That amp would be under powering the sub you were looking at. With the dual 4 ohm subwoofer, the lowest you can wire it down to is 2 ohms. That amp will put out 400 watts RMS at 2 ohms. I would sell the amp and go for maybe something like Kenwood’s KAC-9105D. It’ll put out 900 watts RMS at 2 ohms and retail is $299. You’re better off with more power than too little.
Annie,
Thanks for your reply,
what do you think of the Kicker Solo Classic sub in my previous post?
how would it sound in my 01 Corolla? Also i have a generic 12″ sealed enclosure would this suffice for a box?
Hi Jordan,
I haven’t carried Kicker in a number of years, but they are still pretty popular. From time to time I have customers who come in and own kicker subs. I think they have pretty good output for the money, they’re not audiophile subs, but if you’re looking to add some bass to your car, I think you’ll be pretty happy with it.
You should probably invest in some sound deadening material as well, like Dynamat. Get yourself a dynamat trunk kit and you’ll get more output from your sub, cleaner, more solid sounding bass and less vibrations in the car.
Hi Annie,
I have a 2006 Chevy Colorado that I want to put a 10″ Kicker CVR in. I have the 4ohm version, and I want to wire it in parallel, making it have a 2ohm load. Any amp recommendations? And any other advice since this is a regular cab truck? (I know getting it to sound well with all types of music will be difficult in such a small cab, downside, I know)
Hi Dustin,
I used to have the same truck, I loved it! It was awesome in the snow. Anyways, smaller cabs are easy for getting good sound quality, really anything with an open cab makes things easy. We had a small 10″ sub in ours (I think Boston Acoustics), front components (don’t remember which ones) and a Kenwood deck and that thing sounded great. I think the key is to build a small sealed box with the woofer down firing into the floor of the cab. I’m not sure in the regular cab if there is room to do it down firing, otherwise build the box with the sub facing the back of the seat. For an amp? I would say something like an Alpine MRXM50, it will put out 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Alpine’s running a promo right now too, you can get a free subwoofer control knob normally worth $40 when you buy any of their MRX mono amps. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Annie
Hey guys,
I am buying a 12″ Kicker Solo Classic: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Brand-New-Kicker-Solo-Classic-09S12C4-DVC-4-ohm-1200W-12-Subwoofer-BARIC/150685396972?ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1&ih=005&category=18801&cmd=ViewItem
i was looking around for amps and came across this one: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BOSS-CX2000M-MONOBLOCK-CLASS-AB-2000W-CAR-AMPLIFIER-NEW-/150696184774?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2316314bc6
how would these go together?
Also what would be the best way to wire them up? Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Hi Jordan,
That would work fine. If you do one of the Kicker Dual Voice Coil 4 ohm subs, you would wire the voice coils in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) which would bring the impedance down to 2 ohm. The mono amp will probably put out around 750 watts RMS at 2 ohm (it doesn’t really say the RMS rating at 2 ohm on that listing, I’m guessing based on the RMS rating at 4 ohm and also based on fuse sizes of amp). Make sure you use 100 percent oxygen free copper 4 gauge wire for both your power and your ground. Enjoy!
-Annie
i have an orion hcca 250r which is 1 ohm mono stable, but i was wondering if i could manage 3/4 ohm stable, as i have 3 12s, 2 are single 4 ohm, and one is a dual 2 ohm, not the easiest setup to work with but they can handle the power, just not sure how well the ole hcca is going to take it. i had ordered a dual 4 ohm sub but the company i bought it from has since sold out of the dvc woofer and it has been discontinued by the manufacturer. its not a big deal, just would like a second opinion since a couple forums have had reported that it is possible to 3/4 ohm the amp as long as you have the electrical to back it up.
Hi Andrew,
I can definitely help you, I wish I knew what model the subs are. You would want to wire the dual 2 ohm sub in series, making it’s resistance 4 ohm. Then you can think of it as dealing with three single voice coil 4 ohm subs. Then you could wire them in parallel. That would bring your impedance down to 1.33 ohm. It looks like that amp will do around 800 watts RMS at 1 ohm, so figure if your subs are rated around 250 watts RMS a piece, you’re good to go.
Hi I have 2 alpine swr 1242d’s and a mb quart onx1.1500d amp will these work well with each other?
Hi Joseph,
Will they work together? Kind of. If you want to run it at 1 ohm it will. It will be more power than you need, it will be pretty loud, but it won’t sound pretty. To really do it right with that amp and those subs, you would want to get the dual 2 ohm version, wire each sub in series, then parallel. That would mean the amp would see a final load of 2 ohms and put out the 1000 watts RMS you need (since each sub is rated at 500 watts a piece).
With the dual 4 ohm version, you can only either wire the subs series, then parallel which would result in a final 4 ohm load, meaning your amp would put out only 500 watts RMS OR you can parallel each sub, then parallel again, bringing the final impedance to 1 ohm. 1 ohm is highly unstable. That amp says it will put out 1500 watts RMS at 1 ohms, way more than you need. Just remember it’s with less control so it won’t sound tight or clean at 1 ohm.
Hi Annie, I need some heavenly insights in my situation. Okay….I have a MbQuart fx1.600 mono amp that puts out 600rms @ 2-ohms, and 300rms@ 4-ohms. I want to match this amp with a 10″ mbquart woofer that reads 400rms @ 4-ohms. Should I be able to match it? (I have a good 10″ enclosure) or should I get a 12″ that puts out max 600watt and 300rms @ 4-ohms? Their prices are very similar to one another. What do you think?
Hi,
I think you’re referring to either the Onyx series vs the Formula series. Are you looking at the square sub? Either way I say go with the 12″, Not only does the power handling match better, but you’ll get better sound quality in a round sub over a square sub. I don’t like the way square subs sound, they’re not natural. The idea is they have more surface area so they’ll play lower frequencies, but that won’t matter anyways because you’ll get about the same thing with a traditional shaped 12″ sub. And look at it this way, if you ever want to add another one you’ll have the power to do that. With two of those subs, the impedance would go down to 2 ohms and the amp would put out the 600 watts RMS you would need for two of those subs.
I have a 2008 dodge avenger, and my head unit is a jensen vm9223. I just heard from some friends that polk audio’s mm6501 component speakers were suppose to be some of the best. Im just really trying to make my car as loud and as clear as i can, im open for any suggestions. (as for the bullet tweeters, i think i had the wrong thing in mind).
Okay. Loud and clear. I’m not necessarily a huge fan of the Polk speakers, I think Best Buy sells them ad Crutchfield. They’re pretty main stream and popular, but not necessarily the best sound quality out there. The other weird thing about them is they are 2.7 ohm speakers. They’ll play louder than 4 ohm speakers, but not as clean. For clarity on interior speakers, you always want 4 ohm speakers. When you use speakers with a lower impedance, the amplifier will put out more power with less control. Less control = less sound quality/clarity. The other thing is most head units aren’t designed to power anything other than 4 ohms.
Having said that, if you want loud and clear, definitely invest in a 4 channel amplifier. Your Jensen head unit has a peak rating of 40 watts x 4, RMS 13 watts x 4. That means if you invest in a 4 channel amp, say something like an Alpine PDXF4 (rated at 100×4 RMS), you’d be getting 8 times the power you’ve got right now. To play your system loud and clear you need good, clean power and speakers that will perform well with good, clean power. I think based on the fact you are running a 1000 watt RMS amp, you’re going to want a 4 channel amp rated around 75 – 125 watts RMS so that the interiors can keep up with the output of the sub. This way everything can be loud, clear and balanced.
For the price I see the polk’s are going for, $230-340, I’d rather see you go with something like the Hertz Energy series speakers (ESK165 $249). Hertz is a great Italian company. They’ve been over in Europe for many years and are recently starting to become popular as they are sold in the US through specialty stores. My customers prefer these speakers over Alpine, Kicker, Pioneer and even JL speakers that cost $400. They are an unbelievable value considering their sound quality and power handling. They’re very warm, detailed and smooth. For the rears you can do a matching set of the coaxial speakers, the ECX690 (I think you’ve got 6×9 front and rear, you can make adapter plates for the front components).
Check out Hertz website and try their dealer locater. Try to find them in a shop near you and take a listen, I think you’ll find they’re much better sound quality than many of the well known brands out there in car audio.
Hi Annie,
I was wondering if you could help me out.
I have a Subwoofer: Polk Audio – 10 inch – 4 ohm – 540W Peak – Single Voice Coil
Will I get good in Bass from this 1 sub? Would a 12 inch sub (Polk Audio, 12 inch, 4 ohm, 700 peak, Single Voice Coil) be much better?
Secondly, what amp should I get? Would you recommend a 2-Channel, 4 ohm, 500W Peak amp? And then bridge it to the Sub? or a Mono, 4 ohm, 500W amp?
Also, If I wanted to wire my speakers through the amp, can I use the same amp (a 2 or 4 channel)? or do I need a different amp for my speakers?
Thank you,
Chris
Hi Chris,
What kind of car is this going into? For good sound quality, in most vehicles, I prefer a 12″ in a sealed enclosure. The larger the surface area, the lower the frequency response on the bass. A 10″ will sound a little tighter, but won’t play as deep bass as a 12″ will. So generally speaking, a 12″ in a sealed enclosure plays clean, deep bass and is good for a variety of styles of music listening. I would recommend a mono amp. Also always look at the RMS rating on both the subwoofer and the amplifier. The 700 watt peak subwoofer is probably around 350 watts RMS. You would want to find a mono amp that produces around 350 watts RMS at 4 ohms (assuming you buy that sub you mentioned).
You would need to get a separate amp for the interior speakers, a 4 channel. Mono amps are strictly for subwoofer powering. A 4 channel is good for 4 interior speakers, a 2 channel amp can either be used to power 2 speakers or can be bridged to run a 4 single voice coil ohm sub. However, 2 channel amps bridged are generally not as efficient as mono amps.
Hey Annie,
I want to upgrade my component speakers to polk audio mm6501 6.5’s, and also put in another set of tweeters and a pair of bullet tweeters. I was wondering what would be the best amps to get for this set up. What brand and type would you recomend for the second set of tweeters and bullets? Lastly, i have two 12″ cvrs hooked up to a memphis prx1000.1 amp @ 1 ohm, will this affect the type of component speakers and amp to run them?
Hi Shay,
I have a couple questions.
1) can you tell me what kind of car?
2) what do you have for a head unit?
3) any reason you want Polk (have you heard them before)?
4) are you looking to add a lot of tweeters to try and compensate for the presumably over powering bass?
5) what is your desired end result, like can you describe your dream car audio system?
Bullet tweeters (also known as horn tweeters) are very popular in South America. Our shop is in a very diverse town with immigrants from all over the world (my family included). My customers from Brazil especially like horn tweeters, but they are used for a very specific application. They are long dispersion or meant to travel long distances. They’re perfect for tailgating, or cranking your system at a picnic or outdoor party. They’re not typically on the interior of the car. If you live in a warm climate want to cruise around town cranking it with the windows down, then I could see why you might want to install them inside the car. But keep in mind, they are ear piercing. In most applications, they’re usually integrated into a subwoofer enclosure. You park the car, open up your cooler, open up the trunk and crank it and kick back.
The reason I ask all these questions is I would really like to guide you in the right direction. If your overall goal for your sound system is loud, crisp and clear, it’s not necessarily about having a lot of tweeters. It’s more about having the proper speakers with the right power handling, correct installation position, amplified sufficiently and then making sure the entire system is tuned properly from head unit, to the crossover of your component speakers, to the mono amp and to the 4 channel amp. There are many different variables that effect your ability in a car to achieve a good, clean, loud system. Give me a little bit more info and I’ll tell you exactly what you need.
Hi there, i have this amp, Alpine MRP-M500 Subwoofer Amplifier, and a friend recommended this sub for me, Alpine SWR-1243D , now with the whole 4ohm/2ohm thing, is it best to getthe 2ohm version(Alpine SWR-1223D) of the same sub? aaaaand do you think its a good enough match up? Cheers, Gareth
Hi Gareth,
That is a great amp and the Type R is a great sub and a pretty good power handling match. Your amp is 500 watts RMS and your sub can handle 600 watts RMS. You would want to get the dual 4 ohm version, the SWR-1243D. Alpine actually has a really nice owner’s manual that comes with their subs and shows you how to use their convenient jumper wires to do series or parallel in a variety of configurations (one amp – one sub, one amp – two subs etc).
Kind of like the picture on the post with the JL Audio W6, you will connect the jumpers uniting both positives and then do the same thing with the other jumper, uniting both negatives. This will bring the subs impedance down to 2 ohms total so your amp will put out the 500 watts you need. I hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by.
Hello, i have two 10 inch Boss DVC Subs rated (XC104DVC) 1200 watts peak/600 watt RMS. I want to purchase either the rockford forgate r250-1 or the Sound Storm Evolution EV1500M Car Amplifier – 600 W (which are both mono block amps) which would be the best way to wire them on each amplifier.
Thank you very much,
Eric
Hi Eric,
Umm, how about neither? Unfortunately neither one of those amps is sufficient for two of those subs. You almost need one amp per sub based on the impedance you’ve got. You can only either run your subs either parallel, then series which would end in a 4 ohm load or you can run then in parallel, then parallel again which would result in a 1 ohm load. So you would then need either an amp that produces 1200 watts RMS at 4 ohms or an amp that will put out 1200 watts RMS at 1 ohms.
1 ohm is a very unstable impedance and you will be pressed to find a quality amplifier that is 1 ohm stable. Rockford is the better brand out of the two. You could buy a Rockford R-1200-1D which will give you 1200 watts RMS at 1 ohms. That’s great if you’re going for pure output. If you want sound quality too, you would need to either get 2 amps, one for each sub and run each sub at 2 ohms OR get an amp that will produce 1200 watt RMS at 4 ohms. JL and Alpine have amps that will produce that kind of power, either the PDXM12 ($850) or the JL Audio HD1200/1 ($1200).
I hope that helps!
I have about 1500 to spend on 4 speakers and a sub a and amp.
Which brand would you recommend. I am looking for good quality sound . my Car doors will only take a 6″ speaker. I was thinking about Focal or Fli.
Any suggestions?
Can I ask you what head unit you are using? And what kind of car this is for? Then I can suggest some products that will give you the best sound for your money and for your particular application.
Hi, Annie. Very informative article. I bought a Polk SR 104, (10″ 4 ohm- single voice coil), subwoofer in a custom box built by Fry’s Electronics. I’m planning on buying a Polk PA D1000.1 mono amp. My SR sub is rated: [ 700 watts rms ] and the PA D1000.1 amp is rated: [ 1200W x 1 RMS @ 1 Ohm; 800W x 1 RMS @ 2 Ohms; 500W x 1 RMS @ 4 Ohms ]. Btw, this is in my 2007 F-150 reg. cab worktruck. Will the subs 500W x 1 RMS @ 4 Ohms push the 7ooW RMS sub, well enough? I was considering returning the 10″ SR svc, (paid: 189.99, and I’ve seen online for 139.99), and purchasing same model with dual voice coil. Then amp would push 800W rms@2 Ohms. Which would be better? After reading your article, I ,now, want to stay at 4 Ohm for better sound quality. This is my work truck, but I don’t want to save 2-300 bucks and get only 70% of my subs potential… so confused.
Hi Tim,
Happy to hear you found the article helpful. You are pretty much correct with everything you said. You would be better off with the dual voice coil 4 ohm so that the amp will put out 800 watts RMS at 2 ohms. It’s okay to run mono amps at 2 ohms, that’s what most people do and it sounds good. It’s just 4 ohms is slightly cleaner and tighter, and 1 ohm is just really bad, avoid it. If you haven’t bought the amp yet, you do have other options.
Many of the newer digital style class D amps don’t care whether you give them 1.5 – 4 ohms, they put out the same amount of power and the same sound quality. These are called regulated power supply amplifiers. JL does this with their slash series amps and their HD series amps. Alpine does it with their PDX style amps. But it does sound like the easiest thing to do would be to get the dual 4 ohm version instead. You can always try it 1st at 4 ohms and see how you like it. It is a small cab so it should sound pretty good even at 500 watts. It depends on your listening style. Either way, make sure you run good quality 4 gauge. Check out my post on how to pick out a good quality wire kit for more tips. Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks for checking out the site!
Can i run a 4 ohm sub at 1 ohm iv got 2 mtx tt6510-04 10s and a memphis pr 1.500 what do u recommend
Hi Justin,
Your subs can only be paralleled and wired down to 2 ohms. When you parallel the sub by hooking up positive to positive, negative to negative, you are dropping the impedance in half. So if your subs are single voice coil 4 ohms, that means that by wiring them in parallel, they can only go down to 2 ohms. Your only other option would be to wire the subs in series, but series would increase the resistance up to 8 ohms, and you don’t want to do that.
Your amp is a decent amp, but it will be under powering those subs. If you want to hear the full potential of your subs, you should buy a mono amp that puts out around 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms and make sure you wire it up using 100 percent oxygen free copper 4 gauge power and ground.
i have 2 12 inch sony xplode subs on cone they say 1300w but back says rated power 380w the impedance is 4ohm svc what would be the best kind a box to put them in also have a baja 300 2 ch bridgable mosfet amplifier can i run them subs on that andif so what would be the best way to run them on it that would sound the best
Hi Chris,
Just pay attention to the rated power or RMS of 380 watts each. Unfortunately your 300 watt 2 channel is really only sufficient for running one of those subs and you’d want to bridge the amp if decided to do that. Otherwise, if you run each sub to each channel of the amp, your amp is only putting out about 150 watts RMS to each sub, assuming that 300 watt rating is RMS. I recommend finding a mono amp that is rated around 800 watts RMS at 2 ohms. You’d want to wire the subs in parallel so that your amp would see a 2 ohm rating. This will only work if you use a mono amp.
As far as what kind of box to put them in, sealed will give you tight clean bass and sealed boxes are capable of dropping down to frequencies in the 30 hertz range. That’s nice deep bass. Ported will give you more output but only at certain frequencies, and it won’t be as tight and punchy. Check out the owner’s guide for the subs (assuming this is the model you’ve got). Sony recommends a sealed enclosure of .77 cubic ft.
Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with. Thanks for checking out the blog.
Hi! I was wondering if it would be possible to wire down an alpine type x 12” subwoofer down to 2 ohms when it is intitially at dual voice coil 4 ohm? And could i possibly be able to wire it down to 2 ohms with a 1000 watt monoblock class d hifonics amp because i looked in the specs and it said that if it was wired at 2 ohms in the amp for 1 channel it would give 750 watts but could you please explain how this works. Here are the amp and sub specs and could you please tell me if I can be able to accomplish wiring the sub down to 2 ohms so i can power it with 750 watts of power from the 1000 watt amp? THANKS!
Hi Darren,
Yeah it sounds like you’ve already got it figured out. If your type X is a dual 4 ohm voice coil sub (I think they only offered it in dual 4 ohm), you would just need to parallel the voice coils. I believe those subs come with cool little jumper plugs that make it easy to parallel or series the voice coils. Yours should have come with two little wire jumpers, one black, one red. Just put the red jumper into both positive terminals and the black jumper into both negative terminals. Essentially this is just linking both positives and both negatives together which is how we parallel. Parallel drops the impedance.
This will drop the total impedance of the subwoofer down to 2 ohms. Just hook up speaker wire from one pair of terminals on the sub (one positive and one negative) and run that to your amp. Your mono amp will see the 2 ohm load and if it’s rated at 750 watts RMS at 2 ohms, that’s what you’ll get. I hope that helps.
It’s from best buys website. I guess they got it wrong. ” Handles up to 1000W peak output @ 2 ohms For powerful sound. Up to 600W peak power @ 4 ohms.”
Looking at it closer, they have peak and rms at the same value. But thanks for clearing that up!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Alpine+-+1000W+Class+D+Digital+Mono+Amplifier+with+Variable+Low-Pass+Crossover+-+Black/1807297.p?id=1218293979800&skuId=1807297&st=alpine%20mrx%20100&cp=1&lp=1
I looked at the alpine amp you recommened and I noticed that it said it has a peak output at 4 ohms of 600 watts. I was under the impression that peak output and rms are different (rms being smaller). Am I missing something?
Hey Jason,
I’m not sure where you read that, but here are the specs straight from Alpine’s website:
RMS Power Ratings
* Per channel into 4 Ohms: 600W x 1 (@14.4V Ƈ% THD+N, 20Hz – 200Hz)
* Per channel into 2 Ohms: 1000W x 1 (@14.4V Ƈ% THD+N, 20Hz – 200Hz)
I don’t know a whole lot about speakers but I was wondering if you could help me out. I just bought two 12″ polkaudio dxi 4 ohm dvc with a rms of 360 watts and a peak of 720 watts. What would be an ideal amp and wiring setup to get these working to their fullest. Thank you for your help!
Hi,
You could really only wire these subs either down to 1 ohms by paralleling and then paralleling again or you can wire each sub parallel then series and end up with a 4 ohm impedance. It’s never really a good idea to run any amp at 1 ohms as it is very unstable. The amp lets out a lot of power, but with minimal control and they often heat up in the process and will shut down and go into protect mode. So ideally you would get an amp that will put out about 700 watts RMS at 4 ohms and run the subs parallel then series.
You could get something like the Alpine MRX-M100 which is 600 watts RMS at 4 ohms for $399. JL Audio has the HD 750/1 which puts out 750 watts RMS at 4 ohms, but that’s around $700. The other ideal option would be to find a 2 channel amp that puts out 700 watts RMS at 4 ohms bridged, but I search online and couldn’t really find any reputable, quality ones. Every manufacturer is kind of moving towards mono and all class D amps because they’re way more efficient and more compact. So I’d recommend the Alpine MRX-M100. In fact they’re running a promo right now, you can get a free bass knob with the purchase of the amp from authorized Alpine dealers. I would definitely recommend a 4 gauge wire kit as well. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I have a question for anyone that know. I have a powerbass 1000.1 and I have 2 kicker solo-baric s15d subs. One of them is 8 ohms and the other is 2 or 4 ohm, I don’t remember but what I would like to know is there is a way to wire the 8 ohm and 4 or 2 ohm sub down to a lower ohm? These subs are old (stopped being made in 1998) so I can’t chance messing them up or the amp. I currently have an s15c and an s15d 4 and 2 ohm wired as follows + from the 1000.1 to one and – from to the other and so one gets it’s – from the other and the other gets it’s + from the other. I was told that would drop the ohms to 1.3 but I would like to know for sure and with this new s15d I have that’s 8 ohm also. Please let me know what can or should be done, thank you very much.
Hi Josh,
You can hook them both up even with different impedance, but one sub will play louder than the other. If one is 8 ohms and the other is either 2 or 4 ohms, you can parallel them and your amp will play fine. However, it almost sounds like your current set up is in series, not parallel.
Parallel is hooking up both positives from each sub to the positive on the amp and both negatives from the subs to the negative of the amp and parallel will cut the impedance down. Check out this helpful link for wiring diagrams and figuring out final impedance at the amp.
If you’re running an 8 ohm and a 2 ohm parallel you’ll be at 1.6 ohms, with an 8 ohm and 4 ohm 2.66. Your amp is considered 1 ohm stable, so either way it’s okay.
My concern is from what I can find on those older subs, they handle 750 watts RMS. Your amp only puts out 1000 watts at 1 ohm, 500 watts at 2 ohm which means either way you’re under powering them and you’ll risk clipping the amp, running into distortion and eventually blowing them. If one of them is 2 ohms, you’re better off running the single 2 ohm sub even though it’d be getting only 500 watts RMS. That’s still better than giving two subs roughly 750 watts, when then they need 750 each (assuming you had one 8 ohm and one 2 ohm and you’d be running the amp at 1.6 ohms). I hope that helps!
I have 2 cerwin vega pro-stroker 12s, and was wondering what the best amp to use that is not very expensive. puting in 08 shelby gt500. what like one amp but might go for 2.
Hi Blaze, I don’t think you’re going to find anything that’s not very expensive, but I guess that depends on what you consider expensive. Considering the price of the subs, I’d say Rockford’s T2500-1bdCP is a great option. Retail is $1899, but they’re online anywhere from $999-$1499. Also Orion’s HCCA-25001 would probably do the job too and similar price range. Trouble is all of these options are rated at 2500 watts RMS only, so to get optimum output, you would need to get two of them. You could also do something like Alpine’s MRP-M2000 which has been discontinued (not a big seller for Alpine) and those are going online for around $500, you’d be slightly underpowered with that option.
Keep in mind, with anything you do, you absolutely have to upgrade your alternator, upgrade the power wire to the alternator, the battery ground and the chassis ground. Many of these amps will require dual 0 gauge power and ground connections and no vehicle is designed for this kind of set up straight from the factory. You have to consider the fact that these amps have fuses rated around 250 amps and the average car alternator is rated around anywhere from 70-180 amps depending on the year, make and model. The average factory stereo is rated around 10 amps, meaning you need the rest of that available for the car to function. So before you install anything, make sure that’s taken care of first.
Hey there I have 2 12″ 1200watt pioneer DVC championchips and have a 3000watt targa 1channel 1ohm stable amp I have briged my sub from positive to positive and neg to neg what makes it 2 ohm’s per sub if I’m correct..have a lot of bass just want to know if I can do something to make more bass or do I need maybe a 5000watt mono 1channel 1ohm stable for more bass? Thanx
Hi Ruan,
Your subs may be rated at 1200 watts peak, but the RMS is only 400 watts (see here, just click on specifications). You are correct about paralleling your wires. Bridging is something that is done on two channel amps. Parallel is when you connect positive to positive and negative to negative on a pair of speakers or on 2 voice coils. This would bring your DVC 4 ohm subs down to 2 ohms each. If you then parallel again by hooking both positives to the amp positive and both negatives to the amp negative, you are down to 1 ohms.
I couldn’t find anything on the Targa amp you have, but what I did find makes me highly doubt it’s anywhere close to 3000 watts. For example they have a 5000 watt amp, but the true power, the RMS is only rated at 1500 watts with a 2 ohm load.
Can you tell me what size fuses are on the amp?
And also what kind of box do you have the subs in? Approximate cubic feet? Sealed? Ported? If ported, what kind of port?
And what gauge wire are you running for power and ground
And what kind of car is this in?
That will help me give you a proper recommendation, there are a lot of factors that can be effecting your performance here. Even though those subs are only rated at 400 watts RMS, they do sound pretty good when powered correctly and when they are in right enclosure.
if i buy a clarion xh5410 4 channel amp [90rms-320 bridged at 4ohm] and put 2 sets of infinity kappa 50.9 up front on channel 1,2 [85rms-225 peak rms at 4,.ohm].than bridged the 3,4 channel to a kicker dc124[2 sub box]says 4 ,ohm will that work? the 2 woofers from kicker say that,they are 4ohm.so if i bridge channel 3and 4 together,will i still have a 4,ohm load to the amp?or will that change to a 2,ohm load?the specs for the amp say its 2, ohm stable.im worried that the amp will run to hot.appreciate any input you may have,thanx
Hi Brad,
It sounds like the box is wired for a final impedance of 4 ohms, which means if you bridged it, the amp would see 2 ohms on the rear channel and it would be fine. The only question I have for you is for the front channel, you said you’re putting 2 sets of the kappa 50.9’s? As in you’re running 2 sets of components speakers off the front channels (like 8 speakers: 4 mids, 4 tweeters) or just one set of components off the front channels (4 speakers: 2 midranges, 2 tweeters)?
I’m looking to install some aftermarket speakers in my car and i was wondering if getting 75rms speakers at the front, 30 rms speakers at the back and power them with an amp that can produce 75 watt rms at 2 ohms to all 4 speakers (its 4 channel) would be ok? Would that be bad for the rear speakers? Or doesn’t it make a difference?
Thanks
Hi Theo, first off, don’t worry about the amp rating at 2 ohms because if you’re running a 4 channel on interior aftermarket speakers, they’re most likely going to be standard 4 ohm speakers. At 4 ohms that amp is probably rated at 50 watts x 4 RMS. So if that’s the case you should be fine, even though your fronts are rated at 75 and your rears are rated at 30. Those ratings are to guide you to what the speakers capabilities are and what to try to match them up to, but it doesn’t have to be exact. That’s where your ability to tune becomes important.
The amp should have separate gains and crossover settings for front and rear, so when you install it, just tune it accordingly. You’ll know if you’re pushing too much to the rears because they won’t play loud and clear at high volumes, they’ll pop and distort a bit. So make sure you start by turning the head unit volume to max and then back it down 2 notches. Then on the amp, start with the gains all the way down and your crossover around 80 hertz (if they’re around 6.5″ speakers). While listening to a variety of music, turn the gains up just to the point of distortion, then back them back down. This way even with the head unit cranked, you shouldn’t have any distortion on your speakers, so they should play loud and clear without any problems.
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How are you. I found this article very educational. I run a mwd tool for directional drilling but have no education on car electronics. I am purchasing 2 Alpine SWR-T10 Type-R Thin 10″ 4-Ohm Shallow-Mount Subwoofers. I am lost on what amp I should buy… Also, do you like these subs, I am stuck using shallow mount speakers. 4.25 inches. Thank you I looke forward to reading more on your site.
Mike Martin
Hi Mike, I’m glad you enjoyed the article! And I by the way, I have no idea how to operate a mwd tool for directional drilling, but if I ever have any questions, I know who to ask 🙂 So the Alpine SWR-T10’s are actually a really nice option for a flat subwoofer. I was surprised by how good they sound. I did two of those under the back seat of a Cadillac Escalade with an Alpine PDX-M12 and it sounded pretty sweet. The Alpine PDX-M12 packs 1200 watts RMS and it’s got a very small foot print. So if you have very little room, it’s a nice option. That amp is around $849. Another nice option from Alpine would be the MRX-M100 which is a little bit bigger, but goes for only $399. The MRX-M100 is rated at 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
With either one of them, you can plug in a nice optional bass knob, the RUX-KNOB. Even if your deck has sub level control, I always find it’s easier to just reach over and adjust a knob then going through any menus to adjust your sub level.
Also, I definitely advise buying your product from an authorized Alpine dealer. I know prices can be less from some online stores, but if you see the product below the prices I’ve mentioned, then you can be sure it’s not coming from an Authorized dealer. That means there is a possibility the product is B-stock, stolen or damaged goods and Alpine wouldn’t honor any warranty. Sometimes it’s perfectly good product and it’s just been sourced through a company that’s gone out of business and unloaded their inventory, but you never know. I’ve had a lot of customers get burned on “good deals”. So if you’re going to be investing in such nice products, just make sure you’re actually getting the quality product you intended on buying. Alpine has an authorized dealer locator on their website if you need to find someone in your area and I recommend going in the store to buy. You can usually work out a deal. Many authorized retailers would rather split the difference in cost and see you buy the product from them rather than a competitor.
When you build the box, definitely follow Alpine’s recommendations for the enclosure found in the installation guide. If you have to build a box smaller than what Alpine recommends, go ahead and put in some polyfil. It will slow down the air movements and make the box seem bigger than it actually is. Good luck and enjoy!
I have a jlaudio Sub I would like to know if a technique 500watts amp will do any damage to the sub
Hi Wilfredo,
Can you get me some model #s, both of the sub and the amp? JL makes a few different subs with different impedance’s and power handling ratings. It also looks like Performance Teknique makes a bunch of different 500 watt amps (some are mono, some are 4 channel, some are 2 channel). I really can’t answer that question without specifics, but I’m happy to answer it when you can get me that info!
hi annie,
i just bought a pioneer TS-W308D4 12″ 4 Ohm DVC 400rms would that be a good config with a Kenwood KAC-8105D 1000W Class D Mono Car Amplifier
features:
– 1000 Watts of Power with 30% Smaller Chassis Size
– CEA Rated: 300W (1.0% THD+N) (4Ohm/1Ch)
– CEA Rated: 500W (1.0% THD+N) (2Ohm/1Ch)
– High Quality Speaker Level Input and Blue Illumination
– Variable low-pass filter (50-200 Hz at -24 dB per octave)
– Bass Boost Control 0-18 dB at 40 Hz)
– Infrasonic filter (15/25 Hz, 18 dB/octave)
– Speaker-level inputs with signal sensing turn-on
– Preamp-level inputs and outputs
– 11-1/16″W x 2-3/8″H x 9-7/8″D
Hi Viv, do you just mean how to wire the sub or settings for the amp? If you want tuning advice let me know what kind of car this is going into, what kind of box you are using (ported or sealed) and any other aftermarket equipment you have in the car like what model head unit, speakers, etc. But as far as how to wire the sub, this ones pretty easy. Since it’s a dual 4 ohm voice coil, you’re going to want to parallel the sub’s voice coils by wiring positive to positive and negative to negative on the sub. Parallel will bring the sub down to 2 ohms and the Kenwood amp will give you 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
It’s me again i have a jl audio 12w3v3-2 in a jl audio stealthbox on my 2001 chevrolet silverado under rear seat on driver side and i like to now which sub fit on my stealthbox and can handle my amp ALPINE MRP-M500
Really, you blew it in that box? Huh. Check your amp and head unit settings before you put anything else in there. I am going to talk to JL tech department and see if a W6 will work in that enclosure. It looks like it will based on the specs, but the W6 is about an inch deeper and I don’t know if you’ve got the space. I’ve done that before with other stealth boxes, modify them to accommodate something larger with more power handling.
You got that from an authorized dealer right? You should have a 2 year warranty, regardless of what anyone tells you, unless you cracked the dust cap or the serial number is missing, it should be covered under warranty.
Having the right enclosure really helps to eliminate any chances of distortion or damaging a sub, so I’m kind of surprised it blew. If you were happy with how it sounded when it was working, I’d say get it replaced under warranty, then adjust your gains and settings on your amp and head unit to prevent it from happening again.
The other option is see if whoever you bought it from will help you do an upgrade. They do make a W6 stealth box (see it here). In fact you can do two of them if you want, that would give you about 3 times the output and power handling you had before, but you’d definitely have to upgrade the amp and gauge wire for that.
JL dealers can return a stealth box, but there will definitely be a restocking fee as JL charges their dealers a restocking fee. It would be easier if you could just get the W6 and use the same box you already have and that will work with the amp you’ve already got. Let me see what tech support says and I’ll let you know. They’re open Monday – Friday 9 AM – 5:30 PM (sorry I just missed them). So I’ll let you know what they say on Monday.
Hi Gabriel, I checked with JL and they said you’ll really just have to remove the sub and measure the mounting depth. They basically just told me what I already told you. They said that if you wanted to put the W6 in your stealth box you should make sure there’s at least about 9″ mounting depth so that even with the larger sub there will be room for air to ventilate the subwoofer. You don’t want the magnet right up against the bottom of the box. They couldn’t tell me the cubic space of that enclosure. You can make the box seem bigger for the W6 by putting some polyfil in the box and experimenting with different amounts of polyfil until you get the sound you want. Polyfil is like that stuff in pillows you can find it in arts and crafts stores, it slows down the air making it seem like the sub is in a larger enclosure than it really is. No matter what you end up doing, definitely re-tune everything as I mentioned earlier. Good luck!
Hey Annie, i have a question about buying a sub online, what should i look out for?
i remember going into some car audio store and a guy showing me two types of subs
one of them had the regular red and black receivers like in your picture above
and the other speaker had 4 receivers; two red and two black on opposite sides of the speaker(red&black on one side, red&black on the other.)
What is this called?
because I’ve got my basic mono amp and i need a new sub but i don’t want to buy one online, just to find out it doesn’t hook up correctly.
Hi Gavin,
What is shown in the picture is a dual voice coil 4 ohm subwoofer. A dual 4 ohm sub can be wired down to 2 ohms by paralleling it (positive to positive, negative to negative), If you have a mono amp, and you want one sub, you’d want to buy a sub that was either dual voice coil 4 ohms (and wire those voice coils in parallel) OR a single voice coil 2 ohms. Most manufacturers of dual voice coil subs these days put both terminals on one side like the JL shown in the picture. Some of the older subs out there, and maybe some other brands still do this, used to have one set of positive and negative on one side and another set on the other side. That was kind of inconvenient for wiring, so nowadays most dual voice coil subs will have both sets of positive and negative terminals on one side of the sub.
Besides matching your power handling, just make sure you get one sub that is either dual voice coil 4 ohm (and wire the voice coils in parallel) OR a single voice coil 2 ohm. If you’re buying 2 subs, that’s a different story.
Buy a Subwoofer Jl Audio 12w3v3-2 and an amp ALPINE MRP-M500 and I have two months with them and my subwoofer voice coil get burned . Why did this happen?
Hi Gabriel, I have such sympathy for you! I’ve had customers do this before with the same exact set up. Even though the power rating is correct for both amp and sub, it just comes down to, and I hate to say this, either abuse or bad tuning 🙁 I’m sorry. It’s REALLY hard to hear distortion on bass, your head is not in the trunk next to the sub when you’re cranking it. If you’re playing music that has distortion recorded onto it (which is like 75% of all popular music nowadays), even though there may be ample power, that recorded distortion can cause the voice coil to heat up and burn out. What I usually recommend when this happens is to upgrade as you’re probably just trying to get a little bit more out of the sub than it can really handle.
I usually offer my customers an upgrade and give them full credit for the w3 and upgrade them to the W6. You should upgrade the amp too, but if you can’t afford to do that right now, I’d say get yourself an Alpine Type R. They’ll handle the amp and any recorded distortion a little better than the JL.
How do you know if you were abusing it? Well, check your amp settings. Where are the gains at? What head unit do you have? Where is the crossover set? Do you have bass boost on on the amp? What about your EQ settings on the head unit? The tell tale sign with my customers is the gains are jacked, bass boost is on on the amp AND on the head unit and bass level is maxed on the head unit. Those things I just mentioned are really for level matching and tuning, not like subwoofer control knobs, but often times that’s how people use them and that’s how they end up damaging their equipment. I’m sorry!
I hope you bought your stuff from a good place. Tell them you want more and you’re willing to pay more as long as they’re willing to help you and give you credit for what you’ve already bought. Good luck.
Hey i’m getting a 12″ polk audio db1240 sub 4-ohm
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB1240/Polk-Audio-db1240.html?tp=972
what would be a solid amp for that preferebly not pushing $250
Hi Jordan,
I would recommend the Alpine MRPM500 for around $200, in fact Crutchfield sells that amp too. It will give you 300 watts RMS at 4 ohms which is right in range with what your sub can handle.
I plan on gettin 3 12 inch kicker cvr dual voil coils 800 watts max each. My question is what would be the perfect amp and how many watts would give me the best quality for the subwoofers?
Hi Jose,
I would recommend getting the CVR Dual 4 ohm subs (if you plan on doing 3) and wire each sub in series so each sub acts like a 8 ohm subwoofer. Then parallel each one which will give you a final impedance of around 2.66. Each sub is rated around 400 watts RMS, so you want a mono amp that will put out around 1200 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Even if you stick around 1000 watts RMS, you should be good. From Alpine there is the MRXM100 which is around $400, on the more powerful side they have the PDXM12 which is 1200 watts RMS for $850. From JL Audio there is the JX 1000 which is around $450, they also offer the HD1200 which is 1200 watts RMS for around $1100. If you can still find the Kenwood X-1200m, that’s a great amp for around $400.
Hi I have two 15 inch cvr kickers each 500 rms which amp is good to push both speakers and worth the money
Hi Junior,
Do you know if you have the dual 2 ohm version or the dual 4 ohm version of the kicker 15″ cvr? That will make a big difference in my recommendation.
how about just one of the RE subs? i know its still slightly under powered but it could still be an option?
yeah, you can definitely try one of the RE subs, it’s okay if it’s slightly under powered, it’s still a close match. If you’re only going to do one, make sure you get the Dual 4 ohm version. What have you heard about the RE subs? I never heard of them. Just curious.
Really trying to avoid buying another solo x , i just dont have the room for it or for a massive orion. I wish audiobahn still made a 10 ” immortal
yeah, I hear ya. As far as the Alpine type X goes, I was never a fan of those. I just remember when I was selling them, they never sounded as loud as other brand subs that were rated at even 1/2 the power. They’ve had some new generations of type X’s since then, but I’ve never really heard anything great about them. If you’re going ported, try one and see how you like it. With that amp you can always add another one later.
You’d probably have to build a sealed box if you wanted to do two subs, space wise. But with 2 subs, you’ll have more surface area means which more bass and it means your amp will put out more power. I don’t know, I would try to steer you towards doing 2 subs in a sealed box for maximum output. Think about it.
Have you done anything with the alpine swx 1043d 10″ is a dual 4 ohm 500-1000 rms with 3000 max ?
Hello i have a 08 dodge ram ext cab. I have a hifonics hfi3000d mono block. 750 w @ 4ohm, 1500 w @ 2, and 3000 @ 1 ohm. Its also 1 ohm stable. Trying to decide on a real 10″ around 1500w range. Going into a ported box under neath entire back seat ( seat is being raised 3 1/2 inches for enough room 🙂 i could really use the help ty. Its been too long with no bump.
Hi Coleman,
Hmm, from the brands that I sell, I would probably recommend going with a 10W7 from JL Audio. However, that’s only rated around 750 watts and they’re 3 ohms. You could maybe do two of those bad boys. Those guys are around $650 a piece.
If that’s a little too steep, I would check out Pioneer’s Champion series subs. I’ve had a couple customers bring these in for install and I was very impressed at the sound quality and output considering the price point they’re at, only around $200. You could also do one or two of the TS-W2502D2. With the amp you have, you could start with one running at 4 ohms (these subs handle around 800 watts RMS a piece) see how you like it, and you could always add the second one later.
If it was my truck and I wanted some really loud bass, but still wanted it tight and clean, I would do two of the Pioneer subs in a sealed box. If you do two in a ported, that would be some serious brain rattling bass. Also, either way you go, build your box to the manufacturer’s specifications for optimum sound quality and output.
But sorry, I don’t know of one really good sub rated around 1500 watts from any good companies.
Hi Annie,
i have an alpine mrp m500 and im in the market for for some new woofers. my question is can that amp handle 2xRE AUDIO SEX10D2. or any two subs where the rms is over that of the amp?
Hi Josh,
The RE subs want way more power than the Alpine will put out. If you wanted to do two of those subs, they handle 600 watts RMS a piece, so you ‘d need an amp that would do around 1200 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Your options for the Alpine MRPM500 would be 2 subs rated at 250 watts RMS each with either single voice coil 4 ohm, or dual voice coil 2 ohm (so you can wire the subs down to a final impedance of 2 ohms for the amp).
You don’t want to upgrade your subs and under power them. That may lead to them blowing by being too underpowered (check out my post why did my speakers blow for more info). Let me know if you need any more help.
Hi! I’m just starting out and was wondering what exactly my next move whould be, i have two 12″ sony xplod’s and two Dual 400 Watt amps (2channel) bridged. what should/could i do to make it better?
Hi Kc,
Have you upgraded your head unit yet? If not, that’s definitely next. Go for something with a high voltage preout, like 4 volts. Something with built in crossovers would be good. That will allow you to filter out the bass to your interior speakers, allowing them to play louder and cleaner. Then upgrade your speakers, then add an amp for those too.
Were you happy with the way the subs sounded currently? Either way, if you haven’t done the head unit yet, that should definitely be the next step as that will make your whole system (including your subs) sound better.
Hello very helpful website! I have a question I have a Alpine mrp-m500 amp and was wondering if it would work with: Two Kicker Comp 12” Single-Voice-Coil 4-Ohm Subwoofers: Handles up to 300W peak power (150W RMS); 27-500Hz frequency response; 88.3dB sensitivity.
Please let me know how I should connect it or if I should get another amp. Thanks!
Hi Oscar,
I’m so happy you found this website useful! You actually have a perfect set up, you’ll just want to run your subs in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) and your amp will see 2 ohms and put out about 500 watts RMS. Even though your subs RMS is around 150, it’s better to have ample power than too little power. When tuning your amp, just make sure where the gains are set, that there is no distortion and the subs don’t sound like they’re struggling or flubbering at high volume. If you tune it right, it should last you, it’s a good match up. Check out my post on tuning for additional help with that and if you have any other questions, please let me know. Also, I’m asking all viewers/posters, if you like the site, to please submit it to one of the social networking links like Stumbleupon, Reddit, Facebook etc. I absolutely love helping people with this site, but I would love to at least cover my hosting expenses with some ad revenue which might happen with more traffic. Thanks for stopping by and posting!
Also for the mcd 500 setup it will be in a 03 eclipse spyder (very small trunk) what things could i do to make the best of the setup? Like box choice
Is it even safe to run the 1000d at 1 ohm? I know the guys where i bought it from had it on display with a memphis mojo with dvc 2 ohm and it sounded amazing, but i don’t want to risk anything burning up 🙁
Thanks
Hey Damien,
Let me think about this. If you ran just 2 subs off the MCD1000 you can only configure the subs for either a 2 ohm load at the amp whether you series each sub, then paralleled to the amp (like the link showed, but only with 2) or even if you paralleled each sub, your only choice after that would be to then series at the amp. You can basically only make each dual 2 ohm sub act like a 4 ohm load or a 1 ohm load. Which means whether you series or parallel after that, you can only make the amp see a 2 ohm load. You couldn’t parallel each sub and then parallel again or the amp would see .5 ohms.
But at 2 ohms, I think that amp only puts out about 750 watts. If you run one sub off the MCD500, you can only run the sub at either 4 ohms or 1 ohms. That amp isn’t listed as being 1 ohm stable though, but the MCD1000 is.
That wouldn’t sound very good as it would be extremely difficult to tune properly so that each sub was really doing the exact same thing. Reason being is at 4 ohms the MCD500 will have a better dampening factor and will play tighter and cleaner than the subs running off the MCD1000 as those subs will be running at 2 ohms. As the impedance or ohms goes down, the amp will let out more power, but with less control, so it’s ability to correctly move the woofer according to what frequencies it should be playing goes down. That’s what dampening factor is 🙂
The only other issue with running 3 off two different amps is the power output is different to the subs. One will be getting a clean 250 watts (the MCD500) and the other two will be getting a little bit less cleaner output of 375 watts. Trying to get everything to sound like each sub is playing the same thing with tuning, even using a scope will be really tough.
If you really want to run 3 subs, try running everything off the 1 ohm amp. The worse that can happen, really (as long as you have the gains set accordingly and there’s no distortion when it’s cranked) is the amp will overheat and shut down. Then you would want to really just run 2 off of it or buy a larger mono amp that will definitely be stable at 1.33 ohms.
As for the car, the only way I can see you fitting those subs in there is a custom box. Alpine gives you recommended volume for their subs in their owner’s guide, which you can also find on their website. You can play with the length, width and height as long as the internal volume equals what each sub wants and you want them each to have their own separate chamber. I looked it up and they recommend .9 cubic feet and a box measuring 14.5″ x 14.5″ x 10.5″, but they say they will work in anywhere from .65 – 1.25 cubic feet. So that box can really be even 14.5″ x 12.5″ x 10.5″ as that will equal about .65.
Check out this awesome box building link and measure up your cargo area, see what kind of box would fit, then punch the numbers in and see if it’s the right cubic volume. Have fun box building.
Thanks again Annie. The info you provided has been very helpful. It’s nice to see women so passionate about car audio. =-) I would be happy to try and help to get your name out there on the social sites. My last post was rather confusing and the correct model number for those subs is swr-1223d. I am hoping to keep the two setups seperate. The mcd 500 and one of the subs at 2 ohms and the other setup, the mcd 1000 at 1 ohm with two of the subs. which if my understanding is right this would split the 1100 rms @ 1 ohm that its capable of into 550 rms per sub?
Thanks again you have been a total lifesaver and very helpful.
Annie,
i recently purchased an alpine swr-1233d, the dual 2 ohm model to go with my memphis mcd 500. Its nothing special but it seemed like a good fit. I haven’t hooked it up yet but I was thinking about getting two more to run off my memphis 1000d @1 ohm. If I were to do so would they be a good match? I’m still learning about how this all works. If I were to run a amp wired to reduce the ohms then the total rms be split to each sub? What is ur opinion on the alpine subs? I’ve heard mixed reviews but I reallywanted to give them a try. With those memphis amps being mono blocks but having two speaker outputs, how does that work?
Hi Damien,
Yeah that would work, you’d be slightly underpowered, but it would probably still work pretty well. Check out this link for wiring. You’re basically going to series each subwoofer, so each sub will act like a 4 ohm sub, then parallel them all together and your final impedance will be around 1.34. So yes your subs would receive 1000 watts RMS total or about 333 watts a piece, definitely in the range that the Type R’s want.
I like the Type R’s, I think they are a great option for a lot of people. They can handle a good amount of power, they sound pretty good and they’re reasonably priced. I think the JL W3’s sound a little better, but they’re also more money and can’t really handle as much abuse as the Type R’s will.
Don’t worry about the two speaker outputs on the amp, they just do that to make it easier to parallel two subs in case you just had two subs and you were just paralleling them. It’s still a mono amp, so you can just use one 1 output and it’s not like you’re using half of the amp or anything.
By the way, if you like the site, do you mind submitting it to one, or all 🙂 of the social networking links? I’m trying to get more traffic and it would help. Thanks, and let me know if you have any other questions, please. Thanks for commenting.
Dear Annie, thi may sound chauvinistic….but you often do not see or hear about a woman having alot of knowledge about car audio…..much less the algebra it takes some times….so….kudos…….and i have a quick question for you…….i have two jl 13w3v3-2 subwoofers…. and a jl j21000.1 amplifier………Rated Power 14.4 V:
400W x 1 @ 4 ohm, 700W x 1 @ 2 ohm, 1000W x 1 @ 1 ohm…..how would i wire the two???
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it! As for your question, I have a question for you. Have you tried running the subs at 1 ohm? At 1st I thought you made a typo, I didn’t think JL would rate any of their amps at 1 ohm, but you are correct, they do list that amp as doing 1000 watts RMS at 1 ohm. I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I’m so against running anything at 1 ohms, but based on your equipment, that’s the best way to wire it. But it may heat up and shut down on you. You’ve got to try it and see if the amp will really do what JL says it will. So you will wire it in parallel. Positive to positive, negative to negative and your amp will see 1 ohms and put out the 1000 watts you need.
If it ends up overheating and shutting down, you’re going to maybe want to get the 4 ohm version of those subs, wire them in also in parallel, but at that point, you’d probably want a bigger amp too, something that would put out 1000-1200 watts RMS at 2 ohms. So try it at 1 ohms and see what happens and let me know, I’m curious to see if it stays running continuously or if it heats up and shuts down.
Also, make sure you’re definitely running at least 4ga wire, 2 ga would be better and definitely 100% oxygen free copper for both power and ground. Thanks for posting and I look forward to hearing your results with this set up.
Got another question for you annie. Im going to wire up speakers to the amp with 8 gauge bc both can hold up to 8. Can i use power cable or just use regular 8 gauge cable. Any good places online to buy by the foot. Thanks
Hi Brandon, you should really be running a good 4 gauge for that. A sort of rule of thumb is 8 gauge is good for up to 500 watts RMS, 4 gauge for up to 1000 RMS and over that you want 2 or 0 gauge. I don’t know anyone online who sells it by the foot. Do you already have everything else? Fuse, fuse holder, remote, terminals, RCA’s? If not, Scosche makes a nice kit that’s pretty reasonable considering it’s a true 4 gauge wire, 100 percent oxygen free copper. You definitely want car grade wire, not like home wire or anything which is very stuff and hard to run in a car.
A lot of cheaper kits out there have aluminum mixed in and really have like a 6 gauge wire, but put a really thick sleeve on it so it looks like 4 gauge. I sell the scosche kit online or you could probably google the model #. If you get it from me I’ll email you a coupon code for $40 off, just let me know if you’re interested. I sell wire by the foot at my shop, so if there is a local shop near you, they may be able to help you there. Let me know if any other questions come up.
Sounds good. I had them n ported box but wont fit under seat so just gonna go with seald so i can have my backseat. Thanks for info
One more thing im putting those subs under truck seat. Will it make any difference in loudnesd if i put in one sealed box vs two seperate sealed boxes.
Hi Brandon,
Actually you should leave it at 2 ohms, your subs are 400 watts RMS and your amp puts out 800 RMS at 2 ohms, so it’s a perfect set up the way it is. The subs don’t want more than that. As far as boxes go, you can do a single box, but make sure they’re in separate chambers, so it’s kind of like 2 separate boxes put together. So it won’t make a difference in loudness whether you do one or two boxes, but if you do make one, make sure there is a separate chamber for each sub.
It will, however, make a difference if you build a ported box (or boxes) vs sealed. Check MTX’s recommended enclosure size for ported and build it to their recommendations and you’ll get more output without changing any equipment.
Annie thanks for info. Ive got two mtx 7500 12s and ma audio hk1000 amp. Ive been running parallel and they r at 2 ohms but the amp will go down to 1 ohm and will be 1000 rms instead of 800rms at 2 ohm. Parallel will be the loudest correct
I have two 4ohm single voice coil subs and an amps thats stable down to 1 ohn. Is there anyway to hooo them up so them are a 1ohm load and that way ill get the full power of the amp. Thanks
Hi Brandon,
Unfortunately no, you can only get these down to 2 ohms by paralleling the subs (positive to positive, negative to negative). What kind of subs and what kind of amp? You may be better off running it at 2 ohms anyways. Let me know and I can advise. Thanks for stopping by and posting.
Hey Annie,
I wrote you a while back about cheap subs for my memphis mcd 1000, looking for cheap subs to run it at full capability at 1 ohm. My neighbor has two boss P126DVC subs for sale that are rated at 2300 watts max that I was thinking about buying. Would you recommend those or a set of the Pioneer TS-W3002D2 s? Or neither? Thanks
hi Damien,
Kind of neither. Your amp will do 1100 watts RMS at 1 ohm. The Boss subs want too much power, about 1300 watts RMS each and the Pioneer’s are 1000 watts RMS each. So i’d say forget the Boss, the amp just doesn’t have enough to push them both and if you use one you’re only down to 2 ohms so the amp wouldn’t put out the power you need for those subs. The Pioneer’s can’t get to the right impedance using 2 of them, but if you use one of the Pioneer’s you’d be at the right power and the right impedance. So I would say one TS-W3002D2 and parallel the 2 ohm voice coils down to 1 ohm. I like those Pioneer subs, they’re pretty impressive. If you really want 2 of them, get the Dual 4’s and wire it down to 1 ohm. I’ve seen a 900 watt RMS Kenwood amp push two of those subs pretty well even though they were significantly underpowered.
Hey Annie
I have not bought the MRP-M1000 yet that’s just what I was leaning towards.However I did look at the MRX-M100 and was a little confused cause the specs showed a rms of 600 watts@4 ohms & 1000 watts@4 ohm didn’t know if it was a miss print or what.
I’ve been told not to worry about getting a cap and just do the Big Three Upgrade and a new battery.(I was looking at the Kinetic KHC800.)And if I saw dimming to upgrade my alternator.(The one I have now is 100 amps.)
I figured I would definitely have to a get a new fuse & fuse holder cause I am planning on running two amps.(Something I didn’t mintion before.)But I was thinking 1/0 awg from the battery to a distribution block and 4 awg to sub amp and 8 to the mid/high amp around 100watts rms x4 @ 4ohms.Which leads me to my next question.I want to use Alpine SPX-17REF component speakers(rms 75 watts) in the doors but have been told to do comp. up front and full range in the rear doors.Is there a reason for this or can I go with comp. in all 4 doors?
By the way none of the info I have been getting is from professionals so I appreciate you taking time out to help and if you see holes in my plans or just have a better way to do anything let me know.THANKS!!
Hi Brandon,
Yeah the rating on that MRX-M100 is a misprint, it’s 1000 RMS at 2 ohms, thanks for pointing that out. Ideally, you do want components up front and if you do anything in the rear, just coaxes. In my car I don’t even have rear speakers, front only, just components. Think about when you’re at a concert or listening to music at home, everything is coming at you from in front of you. So I’m not a huge fan of rear fill, but some people like it. I don’t recommend components in the rear (even though some cars come with that set up) as often times the rear tweeter is closer to you than the front tweeters which can make for an awkward sound stage. And it’s my pleasure to help, so any other questions, just ask.
I have 1 10″ kicker L5 4 ohm dvc solo baric sub in a ported box what ohm would be best to wire the sub at and how ? and with the configuration that you recommend what amp would be best to power it and how should it be wired? i appreciate any advice and I haven’t purchased the amp yet
Hi Scott,
I would recommend running the dual voice coils in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) so the sub will be basically a 2 ohm sub. And then I would recommend a mono amp around 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Depending on what your budget is and what head unit you’re hooking this up to I can tell you a couple amps that will work well. From Alpine you can do the MRP-M500 or the MRX-M50. From JL Audio you could do something like the XD 600/1.
If you have an aftermarket head unit with sub level control, you could do the MRP-M500. If you’re going high level in using a stock head unit, you may want to go for the MRX-M50 as that has a high level adapter built in and a direct plug for an optional bass knob ($40 for the knob). The MRP-M500 has the high level too, but if you wanted to do a bass knob you couldn’t use the built in hi level, you’d have to buy a convertor and 2 RCA’s, plus a knob so at that point the MRX-M50 becomes the nicer option. And if you have limited space, the XD 600/1 is incredibly small and efficient and also can do the hi level and has an easy plug in bass knob for $40.
You can run either 4 or 8 gauge, it depends which amp you go with. The MRP-M500 will want 8, you can go either way with the MRX-M50, but the JL wants 4 gauge. Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi I have a hifonics 2400 watt zeus class d mono amp and 2 jbl 15s at 1400 watt peak. Watt is the best way to run this
Hi Lisa,
That’s a vague question. All depends on the impedance of the subs. Are they single voice coil 4 ohm? Single voice coil 2 ohm? Dual voice coil 4 ohm? Dual voice coil 2 ohm? Dual voice coil 1 ohm? If you can figure that out I can help you, but without those details I can’t offer you much assistance.
Hi Annie. My question is i want to run efficient on my electric system. I currently run a Crunch 1100.1 to two 10 in type r’s ported tuned to 42. Bass is hard but I want harder. I am confused as to what to run? I dont want my lights to “dance to the bass”. I can run 1, 2 or 4 ohm loads. Most 4 ohm amps that can do 1000 watts are $500 or more. If I go 2 ohm i would need to get 2 amps, 1 per sub. Or i can get something 1 ohm stable. But again i dont want to dim my lights. Caps are a waste. Maybe a yellow top and 1 ohm? Any thoughts? Thanks.
Hi Monster71,
Can you tell me what kind of car you have? And I’m assuming the type R’s you have are dual 4 ohm since you’re saying you could wire it to 1 ohm or do two mono amps. You may not like what I’m going to say. It’s true, to get a good amp that will give you 1000 watts RMS at 4 ohms, you are looking at those regulated power supply amps from JL (HD series) or Alpine (PDX series) and they’re in the $800 – $1200 range. I never like running amps at 1 ohm because the amp has very little control at that low of an impedance. So yeah, the bass will be loud, but it’s going to be a little sloppier at 1 ohms than at 2 ohms.
I couldn’t find any info on the Crunch 1100.1, but I found a lot on the Crunch 1100.2 which is a 2 channel. Is your amp a 2 channel? Either way based on how Crunch rates their amps, you are definitely underpowering the subs. It looks like RMS on that amp running at 2 ohms is probably around 550, since the 1100 seems to be a peak rating.
My advice if you don’t want to spend a lot of dough, but you want to run one amp that is 1 ohm stable, check out Kenwood Excelon’s X-1200M. That is the only amp I have seen that will run at 1 ohms stable for a long time. I’ve sold a few and have had customers run them at 1 ohms without any issues. They go for around $400 which is a lot less than the other amps we were talking about and about the same price if you tried to run two good mono amps.
You are right about the cap’s being a waste IF you have a weak alternator that can never really charge it up. You could upgrade your battery and that’s always a good idea, but the alternator is always the weakest link as that’s what has to charge everything up. If you only have an 90 amp alternator and you’re running a 1000 watt RMS amp that draws 80 amps, that only leaves you 10 amps to run the rest of your car. You’ll never really get that 1000 watts out of that amp. So if you can get a high amperage alternator, maybe around 150 amps, you may find just doing that will give you the extra hit you’re looking for.
One last thing, if you do in fact have a 2 channel, that alone can be why your lights are dimming. 2 channel amps are class A/B amps, they sound good, but they’re not efficient. That’s why we generally only use class A/B amps for interior speakers which require a lot less power than subs. It’s harder to notice the difference in sound quality on subs running a 2 channel vs running subs on a mono amp. Mono amps are more efficient, they won’t kill your electrical system as easily as a high powered class A/B amp. In fact most amp companies are making class D 4 channel amps now too, and they’ve gotten them to sound pretty darn good.
So make sure you have a high amperage alternator, check out the Kenwood X-1200 M and make sure you’re running at least 4 gauge wire for your power and ground.
Hey Annie,
I have a few questions.I’m looking at runnig a 10″ Alpine Type X daul 4ohm voice coils paralleled to 2ohm.Rms is 500-1000 watts.In a custom fiberglass sealed box and, I was wondering if I would be ok goin with a Alpine MRP-M1000 Class D mono amp.?Rms 600-1000 watts.Or do you have a better suggestion for a amp?Also should I use a 1.0 or 1.5 farad capacitor or do I need one at all with this setup?Last should I use a 4 or 8 gauge wiring kit?I already have a system but it was bought and installed at a car audio store and looking to do this one myself so any advice you give will be greatly appreciated.
Hi Brandon,
I think the MRP-M1000 will definitely do the job. Did you already buy the amp yet? Only reason I ask is I once had a bad batch of those amps, literally 4 in a row. So if it was manufactured in 2010, I would probably stay away from it. 2009 or earlier and 2011 and up is probably going to work great. You can also check out the new MRX-M100 from Alpine in case you haven’t already purchased the amp yet. It’s kind of the newer version of that. It’s like their PDX amps so they’re small and efficient and sound good too. So that’s another option. The other nice thing about the MRX-m100 is there is an easy plug in optional bass knob from Alpine, the Rux-Knob and it’s only $40.
Definitely run 4 gauge for both your power and your ground. A 1.0 to 1.5 Farad cap is never a bad idea in any type of car, and that would be sufficient. It’s basically 1 farad per 1000 watts RMS when dealing with a traditional cylinder style capacitor. The hybrid caps are rated a little differently, a 5 farad hybrid is good for about 1000 watts RMS. Also, make sure you put a larger fuse in the existing fuse holder you have (you may need to get a new fuse holder anyways, but a lot of fuse holders accept 8-4 gauge so the one you have may already work with your new setup). You can look on whatever amp you get to figure out what size you need, but it’s probably going to be about an 80 amp fuse.
If you’ve never installed a cap before, read the instructions! The cap should come with a little resistor or light bulb, you have to charge it up before you connect it. And if you get a cap, make sure it’s a good quality one like Stinger. I’ve seen cheapo no name caps burn out really nice amps because something inside the cap shorted out and back fed into the amp. This happened to one of my customers with a $1200 Audison amp, it was not a pretty thing! Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions and thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog.
Hey i have some really important questions that i could use help from you answering! You seem like you know what your talking about. Contact me at [email protected]
Hi Kolton, read my post about tuning amps and subs here. As far as having a solid hit without too much rattling, I would recommend a sealed box as it’s tighter and punchier than ported. Ported will give you more output at certain frequencies but it’s more a boomier output. Also, sometimes no matter what you put in a car, you’ll still get rattling. Check out Dynamat. We sometimes do entire interiors for cars that don’t even have systems, just to cut down on road noise and plain old rattling. Sorry for a delayed reply, I also run a retail store full time.
i commented just a minute ago^^^^my car is a 97 toyoyta camry and i have a double ported box to also go with my subs..i want like solid hit to my speakers but not too much rattling or distortion
I just bought 2 10″ Legacy subs 600w a piece”LWFX107″ 4 Ohm at 300 rms a piece also with a Legacy amplifier “LA1110BK” 1100w Black Mono class D. How should hook them up and change the settings on the amp to where i can get maximum performance with out the risk of damaging them? Please contact me back!
Hi I’m getting a 1000 watt Boss amp and one jvc drvn 12″ what would I have to do to get the best performance out of both and be safe at the same time
Hi Jose, what’s the model # of the Boss amp?
Hi, i have 3 Audiopipe TS-012 in a ported box, when i put the multi meter to it, it said 1.7 ohms, will a 2ohm amp do it? or should i try to find one thats stable at 1ohm?
Hi TC, are they are 2 ohms each? Or is that the impedance for a single terminal that’s on the box? If there’s only one terminal on the box and it’d reading 1.7 for all 3, that will work fine with a 2 ohm stable amp. Sometimes when you go to measure a 2 ohm sub it can show between 1.5-2.5 ohms and that usually means it s a 2ohm load.
I HAVE A KENWOOD KA7202 920 AMP AND HOOKING UP 2 AUDIOBAN DUAL VC 10’S IN A 97 ESCORT NO RCA FROM THE RADIO I HAVE IT HOOKED UP FROM THE REAL SPEAKERS POS N NEG TO INPUT OF THE RCA INPUT HOW CAN I SEPERATE REAR AS SUBS THIS WAY OR DO I NEED A CONVERTOR OR JUST UNHOOK THE REAR SPEAKERS FROM THE CAR ? ANY IDEAS PLEASE …?
HI DAN THE COMPUTERMAN. ARE YOUR AUDIOBAHN SUBS DUAL 2 OHM VOICE COIL OR DUAL VOICE COIL? Sorry, just joking around with the capslock. Here’s what I think you’re asking, it sounds like you want a sub level control knob but you’re using the speaker level input to hook your subs up to your factory deck. If that’s the case, yes you would need a traditional hi to low level converter like Stinger’s SGN13. This way you’ll have RCA jacks that you can then run to a bass knob. JL Audio has a really nice bass control knob which also has a built in line driver. This will boost your signal, giving your more bass. Check out the JL Audio CL-RLC.
Hi I have 4mtx 12″ thunder 8000 subs not the new ones 400rms on a 2000watt 2 channel amp. It’s don’t sound like s*** what should I do?
Hi Demetrius, I’m a little confused by your comment, it doesn’t sound like s*** or it does sound like s***? Can you tell me the impedance of the MTX subs? Single or Dual voice coil and how many ohms each? And also the model of your 2000 watt 2 channel? That will help me answer your question, thanks.
hello there once again, im in a 03 dodge ram pickup 1500, I have a jvc deck on it serial number 073×0860, model number number is kd – s34 12v negative ground..the amp info is a pioneer 760watt GM 5100T 2 channel bridgeable…im looking for the best sub(s) please help me..thanks!!
Hey Annie,
One last question for you. I want to buy:
http://www.shopatron.com/products/productdetail/HO112RG-W3v3/part_number=93136/1451.0.1.1.48018.48076.0.0.0?pp=8&
This sub from JL audio and i’m looking into an Alpine amp. Should i get the Alpine MRP1000 (600 watts @ 4ohms) or MRP500 (300 watts @ 4ohms)? I want the MRP 500 because it’s cheaper but would that be a good idea?
Thanks again!
Ryan
Hey Ryan, it looks like that sub box from JL is a 2 ohm load, so you’d be better off with the cheaper Alpine MRP-M500. Enjoy! -Annie
i have a jl12w6 that says 2 ohm load on the banana plug connector i also have a genesis miniblock.will the miniblock be suitable and if so can i run it in bridged mode?
Hey Jim, can you get me a model # on the Genesis amp? If it’s definitely a mono single channel amp (not a traditional 2 channel bridged) and the amp puts out about 600-800 watts RMS at 2 ohms, you should be fine. If the Genesis amp is a traditional 2 channel it won’t work as the amp will see too low of an impedance bridged and will heat up and cut out on you.
Ive got a 2005 Subaru Forester 25X and i just basically want something that has a lot of boom and bass, and as you said rattles your brain but i’d prefer it to sound as clean is possible. Thanks for the help!
Okay, now we’re talking. I can guarantee you will be happy with two JL Audio 12W6’s in sealed box with a 1200 watt RMS amp. I did this set up in a Hyundai not too long ago and it’s brain rattling, but more chest pounding, feel your heart vibrate in your chest, bass. It’s punchy so it’s still tight and clean. We used an Alpine PDX-M12 and we built a custom box for the vehicle. Just a basic square box, but built tuned to 30 Hertz and designed around the acoustic environment in your car. Also if it’s in a Subaru Forrester, open cab, you’ll get plenty of bass with set up. You will definitely want to get yourself a Dynamat Bulk Pack as well!
i have 2 channel 800w amp with 2 ohm stable stereo.
what bub would you recommend me??i only want one for my amp,
im trying to get one 800w dual voice coil 2Ohm subwoofer
Hi Marvin, can you tell me the make and model of the amp? This way I can look up the exact RMS power handling and make a recommendation that will work properly with your amp. Thanks.
Thank you! I have decided to order the W3 and the hifonics amp today. Any suggestions on if I should buy the JL Audio sub box? or just buy a normal 12 in box. The JL premade one is much more expensive so im not sure. Also, im new to all this so what wiring would i need for the sub?
Hi Ryan, it’s well worth it to get it with the JL Box. If you follow the blog, you’ll see an article soon about how important a proper enclosure is. We not only design enclosures to manufacturer’s spec, but we also take into account the type of vehicle, length and cabin size as all of this greatly effects what sound you will get.
So by all means, spend the extra dough and get the box that was designed and fabricated by the manufacturer that was tuned for their own subwoofer. Then you know you’ll get optimal sound quality and performance.
Hey, im looking at buying a pair of 12″ subs with dual voice coil, 2300watt max for each sub (so 4600 in total) and i need help on what amp to buy… help? Thanks
Hi Theo, don’t worry at all about max power, it means nothing. Manufacturer’s can get those rating by playing 18,000 hz (most people can’t even hear that frequency as it’s so high pitched) through a sub with that power just to be able to slap that attractive peak power rating on their products.
The real question is what kind of car do you have and what kind of sound are you going for? This will allow me to guide you in the right direction to get the sound you are really going for. Have you heard anything you’ve liked in any friend’s cars?
It sounds like you’re going for serious output, but do you also want it to sound clean? Or do you just want loud boomy bass that rattles your brain? Or are you looking for output with chest pounding tight punchy bass? I’d say either way go with two JL W6’s or two Alpine Type R’s (the new ones) and a 1200 watt RMS amp like an Alpine PDX1200M or JL HD1200 or Kenwood Excelon X1200M. For tight punchy bass go with a sealed enclosure, for straight up output go for a ported enclosure.
Let me know a little more about what you’re looking for and what kind of car you have and I’ll give you some more details.
Hi, I am looking to buy a Jl audio 12w3v3 sub and a hifonics BRZ1200.1D amp. The sub is rated 100-500 watts RMS and 4 ohms. The amp is rated at 450 watts at 4 ohms. Would this be a good set up for just one sub? would it be worth getting the 4 ohm version over the 2 ohm?
Thanks for the help
Hi Ryan,
If you definitely get that amp, you’ll want to get the single voice coil 4 ohm W3. The other nice thing about that is if you ever decide you want two W3’s all you have to do is add another single voice coil 4 ohm W3 and your amp will put out 900 watts RMS which is exactly what the two subs would need.
hello there, im shopping for a sub(s), i own a 760watt (maximum prfmce) pioneer amp..thats all the info it says on the amp…im lost as far as the certain amount of watts i can get from a sub, ex. can i even run two 12 off this 760 amp…or 1. 4ohms or ??????, im lost…
Hi Tony,
I’m happy to help you, but I do need a little more information. On the amp, there should be a model number somewhere, it may be pretty small. But it should be somewhere near where the 760 watts is printed.
Also, what kind of car do you have and what kind of head unit? Is it stock or aftermarket? If aftermarket, can you get the model number and brand? This will help me give you the best recommendation. Unfortunately I really need the model number of the amp to recommend anything for subs. Thanks, I’ll wait for your reply.
what kind of amp would u use on this sub and how would u wire it for max performance without blowing it??
Kicker S10L5 10″ 600 Watt Car Sub Dual 4 Ohm L5 [08S10L54]
SKU: 08S10L5D4-N
RMS Power Handling (Watts): 450
Peak Power Handling (Watts): 900
Subwoofer Size: 10 Inch
Basket Material: Steel
Cone Material: SoloKon Polypropylene
Frequency Response: 24 – 100 (Hz)
Hole Cutout Diameter: 9-5/16″
Impedance: Dual 4 Ohm
Mounting Depth: 6-3/16″
Recommended Ported Box Cubic FT: 1.25 – 2.25 (CU. FT)
Recommended Sealed Box Cubic FT: 0.66 – 1.00 (CU. FT)
Sensitivity (dB): 88
Subwoofer Type: Square
Surround Material: Santoprene Rubber
Hi Brandon, since the RMS is around 450 and you can wire the sub down to 2 ohms by paralleling the voice coils (positive to positive, negative to negative), I would suggest a mono amp rated around 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Like an Alpine MRPM500 or MRXM50 or JL JX500/1 or Kenwood KAC-8105D. If you’re looking for more output, go with a slot port box. That will give you about 5DB more output than sealed around 50 hertz. If you’re going more for a tight and punchy bass, go with sealed.
Here are the dimensions for ported:
23″ x 14.25″ x 8.75″ for the box. Slot port needs to be 1.68″ x 19″ x 29″ (slot ports can wrap internally kind of like a maze to get the correct length).
Hi, I have 2 pairs of 4×6 alpine speakers type s, two jl audio 10″ w1 subs and one alpine MRV-F357 5 channel amp. Can you tell how i can connect the subs for more power? Thanks i appreciate
Hi Miguel,
The amp you have is rated at 50 watts x 4 for the interior speakers, and 150 watts at 4 ohms for the sub channel (assuming sub channel is mono, could find detailed description in owner’s guide). The 10″ W1’s are rated at about 125 watts RMS a piece and should be single voice coil 4 ohms. You should wire them in parallel, positive to positive, negative to negative. This way, the mono channel on the amp will see 2 ohms and should put out a bit more power than the 150 watts, probably closer to the 250 your subs really want.
If you are looking for more output, build a ported box. Go to JL’s website and check out the recommended enclosure specs for ported on your subs.
I plotted both sealed and ported in my box building software based on JL’s recommended box sizes and ported will get you 4 DB more output around 40-50 hertz which is equivalent to doubling your power.
Hey Annie,
I have a quick question as to what setup would be better to run my two Polk Audio MM series DVC subs (rated at 250wRMS at 4Ohm). At the moment, i’m considering buying either a single monoblock from Rockford Fosgate (R1000-1D) that is capable of issuing 500wRMS to run both subs off – this is the cheaper option. Or, my second option is to buy two Alpine MRP-M500 amps that issue 300wRMS to power each individual subwoofer – this is the more expensive option. As far as I can tell, I will want to be running these subs on 4Ohm. I’ve been told to “have more continuous power from the amps than the RMS of the speakers”. Does this mean I should go the alpine amps to ensure maximum power (with a clean sound at 4Ohm) from my subs?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Damian,
Can you tell me if they are 4 ohms each voice coil? Or 2 ohms each voice coil and you were planning on series them to a 4 ohm load per sub? This will help me give you your options.
I have 2 15″ Kickers L5 1500 watts dual voice could @ 2ohms.
What amp should I use if I parallel wired down to 1ohm
Right now I got them wired to 4ohms to a Kenwood 1000watts and its 2ohms stable would that be enough for the amp the amp is fan cooled
That’s really never a good impedance to run anything at. Yes you can get a lot of output if you can find a good 1 ohm stable amp, but remember as you drop the impedance, your amp is letting out more power with less control. Think of it like a garden hose. At 4 ohms, the nozzle is tight and the water comes out in a controllable, tight, clean fashion. As you open up the nozzle, you let out more water, but with less control. 1 Ohm is like taking the nozzle off completely and just letting it rush out and dribble everywhere. In other words, it sound bad. It’ll be loud, but it won’t be clean.
The only reputable amp I know of that is truly 1 ohm stable is Kenwood’s Excelon X-1200M, but even then, you’re slightly under powering those subs. Your subs want 750 watts RMS a piece. You could run 2 separate mono amps, one for each sub, run them at 2 ohms to each amp. if you decide to do this, you should have it professionally tuned using a scope to ensure the subs have the same exact output and are hitting at the same exact time. Otherwise if it’s slightly off, it can put your bass out of phase running it this way. This would probably be the most cost effective solution as well as the best sounding solution.
Hi Anne.
I have 2 Kicker 6 X 9 100 RMS in the back, 2 Alpine type R component speakers in front, 1 Alpine type R 10″ Sub 500 RMS @ 2 ohms
Right now I have a Pioneer Mono Class D amp 300 RMS @ 4 ohms / 600 RMS @ 2 ohms. I have it at 600 RMS @ 2 ohms powering the sub.
I want to get a new amp to replace the Pioneer class D with a 5 channel amp that will be able to power my entire system. I was looking at the Apline PDX-5 and the Kenwood XS5.
I wanted to know which of the two would be able to power my entire system with no problems. Also the PDX-5 has a 300 RMS @ 2 ohms rating for the amp. Will my Sub be damaged since its 500 RMS and the amp only has 300 RMS?
Will the sub sound good or do I need more power?
Thank you.
Hi Cristhian,
That’s a great question. Unfortunately, the 5 channel’s you mentioned really aren’t enough output on the sub channel. It will work, but you would definitely be underpowering the sub, so you’d want to watch your gains and listen for distortion. Also, the PDX-5 is part of Alpine’s original line of Class D digital amps. I’ve noticed through experience selling and installing them that that particular amp doesn’t have as clean sound as the newer Alpine Class D digitals or even JL’s or Kenwood’s Class D digitals. So I specifically would avoid that amp.
Something similar to that output, but better, cleaner, output would be JL’s XD 700/5 for $549.95. We sell a ton of them and they’re even a little smaller than the Alpine or Kenwood. If you don’t want to skimp on the subwoofer output, check out JL’s HD900/5 for $999.95. It’s 100×4 RMS (better match for interiors too) and 500×1 to the sub.
Or if you want to keep your mono and just add a 4 channel, check out JL’s XD400/4 (75×4). By the way, if you do the 5 channel and you haven’t done this already, you’ll need to make sure you run 4 gauge for power and ground. If you just add a second amp you’ll want to run a dedicated 8 gauge or split off from 4 gauge if you already have that run. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Hey Annie,
I have two Quantum Audio Q12D2SPL which is rated as 3000 watts peak and 1500 watts RMS Dual voice coil 2 ohms, hooked up to a Lanzar VCT2610 6000 watts 2 channel. I’m new to this and so far have been trying to wing it, pretty sure I probably bought some crap but it seemed like a good deal at the time. My question to you is how would I hook them up for the best quality sound, because the first time I hooked them up the amp overheated after like 20 mins of playing, and the second time I reconfigured them in what I believe to be in series…not really sure though. Individually on both speakers I hooked a positive to a negative on vc1 and then vc2 the same way then ran it to the amp. the problem I am now having is that it doesn’t bang like it used to. its like real short booms not like before when it was like booooooom boom lol not sure how else to say it. Did I hook it up correctly or should I try a different setup? I hope you understand what I am trying to say here.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Hi,
Okay, this is another great example of misleading claims from sketchy companies. You always want to look for the RMS rating of the amp, which I had to go all the way to the owner’s manual to get that. Here is what it says:
RMS Power at 4 Ohms: 300 Wattsx2
So that 6000 watt amp is only 600 watts really. I couldn’t find the owner’s guide on the subs, so we have to assume they are 1500 watts RMS.
I’m assuming you originally had the subs wired in parallel, (positive to positive, negative to negative) which brings the total load down to 1/2 ohm after bridging the amp, which is why is was overheating and shutting down on you.
You are correct about needing to wire them in series, but it sounds like you’ve got series incorrect. Please check out this post again and scroll to the pictures to see the difference between series and parallel.
You want to take one positive and one negative from each voice coil and tie them together, not the same voice coil. That leaves an open positive from one voice coil and an open negative from the other voice coil. This will bring the load of each sub down to 4 ohms each.
Then you need to run each sub to each channel individually. You can’t bridge the amp as if you do that, the amp will still see too low of an impedance, 1 ohms and you will still have that problem of overheating and shutting down.
I advise hooking up only one sub up. You’ll get more power out of the amp that way with one, than with two. You would still wire the one sub in series as described above, but then you can bridge the amp. That way the amp will see 2 ohms after bridging and will put out about 900 watts, far closer to what your subs actually want for power.
Put that baby in a ported box and I’m sure it will be louder than how you had it before, but quieter than you had it originally, but it shouldn’t shut down on you this way. Hope that helps!
Hello there Again Annie,
Thanks for the reply. The car I’m installing into is a VW Golf (Rabbit to you in the US) series V.
I appreciate the heads up on the Alpine amps, I took a look at them just now & they seem quite impressive.
The Hertz speakers I selected for the car are as far as I can see rated at 125 W for continuous playback. However the Alpine PDX-F4 seems to be rated at 100 W x 4.
So I was wondering if I might be better off with the PDX-F6 which is rated at 150 W x 4 (Not that I’m very likely to be listening to music that loud all the time, but just to make sure the speakers can reach their potential).
The Alpine PDX-M6 looks sweet for the sub, I think I’ll grab that! 🙂
As far as the Audison amp is concerned, I’m afraid it would stretch the budget a bit too much & it is also a bit too big. I appreciate the suggestion however! 🙂
So…. the PDX-F4 or the PDX-F6 ? :S
Hi Alex, sorry about missing your post and yes, I got my specs backwards! Yes the PDX-F6 would be the better bet.
Hi I got a w7ae 13.5 dual 1.5ohm with a pdx.m12 how would I wire this?
Hey Mike, I would wire in series for a 3 ohm load as the Alpine would not support parallel .75 ohms. Remember that amp is regulated so it’s going to put out 1200 watts RMS from 1.5 – 4 ohms so you’ll still be getting plenty of power in series.
Hi,
I hate to break it to you, but that amp is really only 300 watts x 2 or about 900 watts RMS bridged. So you could hook up one of those subs to it, but not two. But that won’t really work either unless you get a Dual 2 ohm subwoofer.
So if you really want that Brand X sub, you need to get one sub rated around 1000 watts RMS, dual 2 ohm, wire it in series, then bridge the 2 channel amp. That’s probably why they’re on Overstock, they’re really not right for each other and they’re just trying to unload them.
If you’re confused about how I came to that conclusion on the amp here is a link to the owner’s guide, scroll down to page 7 and you’ll see the ratings chart for their amps. Here is what it says under your model. Please keep in mind, I’m not doing this to sound mean or anything like that at all, I just want to point out how misleading companies can be and what to look for when you’re buying your equipment.
RMS @ 4 OHMS 2 X 300W
RMS @ 2 OHMS 2 X 450W
MAX OUTPUT 2 X 2100W
BRIDGE MODE 1 X 4200W
Okay, so what does this all mean? Well the last two ratings you can just toss out as they don’t mean anything. MAX output is literally what manufacturer’s can get when they throw the amp on a test bench and they can be playing ANY frequency through it, maybe only one frequency, maybe it’s 18,000 HZ which is barely audible to human ears. And then they see what the amp will do at that tone and try to see the max they can get out of it. It will never do that in your car, forget MAX ratings, they’re crap. And that last rating is assuming the MAX ratings bridged, never gonna happen.
Okay, now we’re left with this:
RMS @ 4 OHMS 2 X 300W
RMS @ 2 OHMS 2 X 450W
You’re never really going to run a 2 channel amp with 2 ohms to each channel. You’re either going to run 2 interior speakers that are 4 ohms each to each channel (like a set of high output component speakers), or you are going to bridge the two channels to one subwoofer with a single 4 ohm voice coil (or dual 2 ohm, wired in series down to 4 ohms). They don’t even give you the bridged rating. It’s usually 3 times what a single channel of the amp will do with a 4 ohm load, or a total of whatever they rate the two channels at 2 ohms. So that’s how we conclude it would really be doing 900 watts RMS when it’s bridged with a 4 ohm load.
My advice? Save your money and buy something better that will actually work together! You could get a Kenwood KAC-9105D that will give you a true 900 watts RMS with a 4 ohm load, and you could get two Alpine Type R’s. It would cost about twice as much, but it’s much better quality and from manufacturer’s that will back their product. You don’t want to spend $300 on this stuff to find it’s not really going to work right together. If that’s all you’ve got, check out an Alpine MRP-M500 and a single Type S 12. Should run you with a box around $350. Do you have a local car stereo shop? If so, give them a chance, they’ll probably have what you need and you’ll be supporting a local business. Just tell them you want the best sounding/best quality amp and sub $300 can buy.
good luck!
Annie
Hi there Annie,
It has been a long time since we last talked and despite the fact I said I would get back to you soon concerning the speakers (from the Hertz lineup), work & summer on Crete kept me from doing so until now! :/
I’m interested in the Hertz Hi-Energy HSK 165 & HCX 165 speakers for front / rear placement accordingly. Their price is afterall easily within my budget.
I was thinking about using the JL 12W3v3 which also seems quite affordable, it seems to be rated at 500W which is within the range you advised me in your previous post.
What is your opinion on that speaker choice? What choice of amp(s) would you suggest to power that arrangement (providing of course you agree with it!).
I am looking to keep everything working well within its comfort zone, since Crete is an island with extremely high temperatures & I don’t want things getting hot under normal operating conditions. If you recommend the use of two amps then that is also fine with me! 🙂
As I mentioned earlier, I already have the head unit, which is a Pioneer MVH-8300BT, so that is not a part of the budget anymore. Steering weel controls will also not be installed.
Many regards! 🙂
Hi Alex,
Good to hear from you, well it sounds like you’ve made excellent choices, I think that’s a great combination of speakers and subwoofer. You’re picking the excellent quality components from each company, cherry picking is the way to go.
As far as amps, I understand with the heat and also there really isn’t a lot of room in cars for big amps anymore. So I would recommend one of these newer class D digital amps from either JL or Alpine.
I know people hear Class D and they think it’s going to be poor sound quality, but they’ve gotten very good at making these amps sound excellent, even better than some class A/B amps.
With JL, they’re XD series are great, around here they’re in the $400 range each. Like the XD400/4 and the XD600/1. The Alpine newer PDX series are even better sounding and better output for the interior speakers. The PDXF4 even borrows some technology and circuitry from Mcintosh Labs. So with Alpine the PDXF4 (150 watts x 4) and the PDXM6 (600×1).
The 600 watts may be more than you need, you could go with a 300 watt mono, but more power is always better. Lack of power gives you distortion, damages speakers.
Also, I forget what kind of car this is in? For the JL W3, I’d rather see you with a single voice coil 2 ohm, this way you can have the additional output from the amp if you desire it.
Now if you have the room and the budget, the Audison LRX5.1 is AWESOME. It’s part Class A/B/D. It’s what I have in my car, so I’m a little biased, but it’s a great sounding amp. It is a little temperamental compared to a Class D, but summers here get around 90 – 100 degrees some years and I haven’t had any issues with mine cutting out. That amp is usually in the $1500 range. Let me know if you have any other questions while you build your system.
Annie
thnx annie… 🙂
Hey sorry to be a nooby bother to you but I’m really confused with everything about this… Can you lead me to the right direction of two 12’s or one 15 that would give me the best results with this amp…
http://www.rickiesdiscountelectronics.com/logic-soundlab-lsx2002-2000-watt-2-channel-mosfet-power-amplifier-21312.html
Any kind of help can work thank you!!
Price doesn’t matter I just want something that will tear my car apart!!!
Hey Michael, this is my pleasure, don’t worry about asking. If you are going to buy that 2 channel amp, you could either do one 15″ rated around probably 750 watts RMS with a single voice coil 4 ohm impedance. You’ll want to bridge the amp (so use outside positive and outside negative). Check out page 8 in the amp’s owner’s guide.
You could also hook up two 12’s that are single voice coil 2 ohms each, or dual 4 ohm voice coils wired in series, then parallel.
For a 15″ sub, I’d recommend the JL Audio 15W0v3 which is a single voice coil 4ohm sub rated at 500 watts RMS. With this sub, you could safely bridge your amp and the amp should put out about 750 watts RMS without heating up or shutting down.
For two 12’s, you could do something like the Alpine SWR1243D’s which are rated at 500 watts RMS a piece. You’d have to wire the voice coils in series, then parallel, which is shown in the Alpine Manual on Page 2 example 4.
Getting two 12’s that are single voice coil 2 ohm would probably be easier to figure out how to wire. It’s just series. The JL W3’s are nice like the 12W3v3-2.
Any way you go, you’ll want to bridge the amp. You don’t really want to wire the subs in stereo, you’re better off running the amp mono and having the subs play the same thing. When you hook up each left and right channel in stereo, sometimes you have different outputs or tones going to each sub which can cause phasing issues.
Please let me know if you have other questions : )
Hey i have 2 power acoustik mofo-12s the discontinued ones and a Directed 2400d the 2007 models i believe. So my subs have a 2 ohm load and at 2 ohms this amp pushs 800 watts Rms and 1200 rms at 1 ohm…. so are my subs getting 800 rms each or does it split in half and 400 go to each? And the subs run out on one wire from the box so i believe they are bridged??Correct? I know its done right cuz the kid works at ABC wearhouse and he built me the custom box.. So could u answer my question about how many watts are going to each sub.
Thanks
Taylor H
Hi Taylor. I apologize for the delay, but I’ve got some info for you. So here’s what’s going on. Your amp is actually a mono amp, even though it has two separate terminals for each sub, some amp companies do this to make wiring the subs up easier. Here’s a link to the 2400D owner’s guide, it has a picture that kind of explains that.
The amp will also put out 2400 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Now it’s a little trickier than it might seem, but it’s the right equipment for those subs. Your subs are Dual 2 ohms. So you need to see how they’re wired in the box. Most likely, whoever built it, just ran positive to positive, negative to negative on each sub, then did that again when they linked the 2 subs down to one terminal. That’s called parallel, a lot of people think it’s bridging. Bridging is actually when you have a 2 channel amp and use the outside positive and outside negative to bridge the two channels down to one. They both have something in common though. When you parallel a sub or bridge an amp, you’re cutting in half the impedance that the amp sees. SO, If that’s the case, you’ll need to change the wiring as that is not really going to work. Wired in that manner means they were paralled twice resulting in a box with a 1/2 an ohm load.
I will email you a diagram I drew out for you. But basically you’re going to need to series each sub in the box (criss cross one positive to one negative, use open positive and negative to go to terminal inside box, do the same to the other sub). So now you have a 2 ohm load, then run that positive and negative to one of the positive and negatives on the amp. Because it’s a mono amp, it doesn’t matter what side you use, it will internally figure out what to do.
At this point your amp will put out 2400 watts RMS which is perfect; from what I can find online, the subs you have are rated at 1200 watts each RMS. Let me know if you have any other questions. And by the way, you better be running 0 gauge and have a pretty beefy alternator! Good luck.
Annie
hiii..
i have SOUNDSTREAM PX1.2000D 2000W MONOBLOCK amp
n the RMS Power Rating:
4 ohms: 750 watts x 1 chan.
2 ohms: 1300 watts x 1 chan.
1 ohm: 2000 watts x 1 chan.
can i run soundstream REFERENCE R1 15 – 900w rms on my amp?
plz can some1 help me with this..
thnx
Hi Ash,
Yeah that’s an easy one, perfect match up. Since your sub is a dual 4 ohm voice coil, you’ll want to wire it in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative on the sub terminals), this way the amp will see 2 ohms and put out 1300 watts RMS. More power is better than too little power. Too little power causes distortion and damages speakers. Just adjust the gains accordingly so even at max volume the sub is not distorting at all and you should be fine and make sure to use a good quality 4 ga wire for power and ground. You want 100 percent oxygen free copper like Stinger, Scosche or JL.
hi there,
I have 2x 4ohm dual voice coil alpine type s SWS1043D 300W RMS.
I am wondering if the pdx m6 is suitable for both. It is a 600 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (600 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms) amp
When wiring, in parallel, this should give the amp a 2 ohm load, correct? Is it possible to give it a 4 ohm load instead? if so what are the pros and cons of that?
Thanks in advance,
T
Hi Thiago,
The way to wire those babies is to series each voice coil (inside positive to inside negative, one from each voice coil; outside positive and negative go to terminal on box) so that each sub will act as an 8 Ohm sub. I believe the Alpine’s come with a nice little jumper cable for that and nice detailed pictures in their manual to give you a better guide. If for some reason you don’t have the manual, you can go to Alpine’s Website (www.alpine-usa.com) and download one in the “Support” section. Okay, so each terminal on your box is acting now as 8 ohms each. Then we can parallel from there, positive to positive, negative to negative. So your amp will see 4 ohms as the final load.
The PDX-M6 is what we call a regulated power supply, so the output does not fluctuate between 2 or 4 ohms. So you are correct, it will put out 600 watts RMS (assuming you give it 100% oxygen free copper 4 gauge wire for power and ground).
In an unregulated power supply, like the Alpine MRP-M500, the amp will let out more power, but with less control when you drop the impedance down to 2 ohms. So with the MRP-M500 and a 4 ohm load, the amp will only put out 300 watts, but it will be very clean and tight. With a 2 ohm load, it let’s out more power, but with less control. It’s also more work for the amp, so it will heat up a bit more at 2 ohms than it would at 4 ohms. That’s why when you try to give most amps a 1 ohm load, they tend to overheat and cutout and when it does play, it’s loud, but sloppy bass.
Think of it like a garden hose. When the nozzle is very tight, the spray is very narrow, the water comes out with a lot of control in a neat, tight manner. This is like a 4 ohm load with a mono amp. When you open up the nozzle a little more, you get more water coming out at a quicker rate, but it’s with a little less control. The spray becomes a lot wider, this is like a 2 ohm load. And think of when you take the spray nozzle off the hose, a lot of water comes out, but with no control. That’s basically how the ohm load effects an amp.
Hi Annie,
Thanks for your quick reply. I forgot to mention that my head unit is a recently purchased Pioneer MVH-8300BT. So I am not calculating the price of a head unit / source as part of the budget.
I will probably build a sealed enclosure around the sub as you suggested.
The only reason I was thinking about mounting it on the parcel shelf was due to the fact that the car
is an every-day car & the boot gets used quite a bit. However I understand what you mean about the subwoofer being designed to operate inside a properly designed enclosure (right internal volume & dimensions). Its just a shame that it means sacrificing so much space!
Unfortunately building an enclosure in the spare tire well is not a solution for an island with roads that look like they were built during a drinking binge. (If you have ever been to Crete you will know what I mean, this is not a place to travel without a spare tire – no seriously – never!!!).
Many thanks for the amplifier recommendations by the way. I am considering using two amps, one for the speakers & one for the sub.
I am definetely considering the Hertz line of car speakers, however due to the fact I live on Crete (Greece), there is no place I can go localy to hear them!
I will take a good look at the line of Hertz speakers you mentioned & get back to you.
Many thanks for your time & your quick response!
Regards from Crete 🙂
Annie,
How much are the JL 13W6V2??? What do you think about JL Audio 12W3v3-4? And I’m not sure if you said that the 12 inch solo baric L7 is a good one or not.
Hi Manny,
Sorry for the delayed response. The 13W6V2 goes for $649.95 through JL Audio’s online website, they can have the closest dealer ship one to you. I can email you a price from me as well. And the 12W3’s are nice too. I think the power handling is a better match with the 13W6 though, but the 750 will still power the W3’s nicely, they can handle more than that though. If you decided to go with 2 of those you would need to purchase the 12W3V3-4 (Single voice coil 4 ohms) and wire them in parallel.
And the Solobarics are good for output as they do have a larger surface area, as for sound quality, square is not ideal. In order to get near perfect sound reproduction, you need circular speakers, it helps to reduce back wave reflections which in turn gives you cleaner sound.
I forgot to ask one more question. How can I get the best sound out of my four JL Audio TR690-TXi 6X9s? How can I get the 120 Watt X 4 for this amp. Would this make them sound better? They are amazing 3 way speaker.
Hi Manny,
I’m not saying your amp is a bad amp, I just haven’t had a lot of experience with that brand. I also tend to question a manufacturer when I see them posting ratings at 2 ohms for your interior speakers (they show it does 120 x 4 at 2 ohms), since all standard car audio speakers are rated at 4 ohms. And I also seriously question manufacturer’s when they rate their amps as being stable at 1 ohms. If you are an amplifier company and you specialize in sound quality, you would never want your customers running their amps at 2 ohms on their interior speakers or 1 ohm on their sub channel.
You see, what happens as you drop that impedance down, yes the amplifier will put out more power, but with much less control. And with less control, comes less accuracy and less sound quality. Most amplifiers are not stable at 1 ohm, that’s an extremely low impedance for an amp. Typically when manufacturer’s rate their amps at this rating, they’re simply trying to sell their products based on their output capability, not their sound quality capability. At 1 ohms, an amp has a lot less control over how the subwoofer moves and responds to the frequencies the amp is directing it to play. This means the bass can be really loud, since the amp is letting out a lot of power, but it will be very sloppy bass. It will not be very tight or punchy, especially with a ported box. If you were to get the Kicker Solobaric, you will have more output due to the larger surface area, but necessarily the best sound quality. Round speakers produce the most accurate sound reproduction. You are correct about the Solobaric L7 being the correct power handling, 750 watts RMS, but if you get that sub, make sure you get it with a “Dual 4 Ohm Voice Coil”, this way you can parallel the voice coils and your amp will see 2 ohms and produce the 750 watts RMS that the sub needs. You would also want to consider a sealed box, as sealed boxes produce tighter, punchier bass while ported boxes tend to be louder and almost a fatter bass response at certain frequencies, but it’s a much boomier (if that’s a word) sound.
But my suggestion based on what you’ve told me, the type of bass you are looking for, I would say the JL 13W6V2 is the ideal subwoofer for you. It’s actually a 13″ and it’s round, so you will get the deeper bass you are looking for with the larger surface area, but the sound accuracy as well. It’s rated at 750 watts RMS and it’s a dual 4 ohm voice coil, perfect for your amp. The only thing is you would have to do is build the box for it. They don’t sell a box with it from JL, but they provide you with the exact dimensions and instructions for the type of box you need to build. Build a sealed box for that sub and you will get heart pounding, tight, clean bass. It will blow you away if you build the correct box and tune your amp properly, I can guarantee you all of your friends will be asking you to build their systems after that! JL is one of the few car audio companies out there that still manufacture their subwoofers in America and trust me, there is a HUGE difference in sound quality and manufacture quality. You can see and hear the difference between JL’s 300 watt RMS W0 made in China and their 300 watt RMS W3 made in America. So if you can swing it, the 13W6 is your best bet. I’d rather see you buy that from a real JL dealer so you get the warranty with it, so let me know if you want me to email you a price if you don’t have any JL dealers in your area, I could always ship one to you.
As for your interior speakers, I suggest you definitely run the 4 TR JL 6×9’s you have off of that amp. The TR-690cxi’s are rated at 60 watts RMS and your amplifier will put out 60 watts RMS at 4 ohms. So that’s a perfect match, you’ll get the right output for your speakers and the amp will be running at the 4 ohm impedance, giving you the best sound quality it can produce.
So if you can purchase the 13W6v2-D4, that will complete your system and give you the best sound quality and your amp will be efficiently putting out the proper power that your 6×9’s and subwoofer need and at the impedance that will allow your amp to give you good, clean, loud output. As far as rumbling is concerned, it’s always a good idea to do sound dampening in any car audio system. Think of it this way, you wouldn’t mount a subwoofer in an aluminum garbage pail as your enclosure would you? That’s basically what your car is, so sound deadening creates a much more acoustically friendly environment for your speakers. And when it comes to tuning everything, you want your 6×9’s playing around 70-80 hertz and up, and your sub playing between 70 and 80 hertz and down and make sure you have the x-overs turned off on your head unit (playing full range). My next post will be about how to properly tune your amplifier, but that should get you started. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hey I could not find where to post a regular post. I have 5000.1 Orion amp 0 guage wires throughout car. Solo x 10″ 2500 RMS 2 ohm. My amp is one ohm stable. I added a yellow top battery in my trunk. Everything was great for a week. Now anytime I turn it up it flips my fuse and I have to either turn the car off or flip my fuse. My amp gets super hot. I’m guessing that my 90 amp alternator just can’t keep up with the draw. My voltage drops after about 10 seconds of bass and goes into protect mode. What I’m wondering,is is my amp ok to run 2 ohm is that the problem I’m facing? I’m guessing it’s my alternator that jus can’t feed the amp enough power so it gets hot and shuts down.
Hi Sheldon,
Based on the details you’ve provided, yes I would suggest you invest in a high amperage alternator that is better suited to handle both the power demands of your vehicle and the stereo system. Right now it just sounds like you’re starving both your car and the stereo for power.
Hi there Annie,
I spent quite a while reading all the posts on your blog & I must admit I’m extremely impressed by the extent of your knowledge!
The vehicle I am intending to work with is a Golf/Rabbit V Series.
I was thinking of a pair of JL 10″ 10W1v2 subs, though am not sure what amp I would use to power them (suggestions). Those subs are available in both 4 & 8 ohm versions.
I read your comments about Hertz speakers and spent some time looking at their website, do you have any recommendations for me? Both as far as speakers are concerned & an amp to power them?
I am trying not to change the car a lot, so to use the original manufacturer speaker dimensions. Therefore 6.5 inch both front & rear, with tweeters located near the side mirrors. The rear seat speakers I guess
would have to be 2 way coaxial speakers since there is no space to mount tweeters without making
modifications. The speaker mountings both front & rear are circular.
I am not looking for loud sound volume, but high quality sound at reasonable sound level.
Or at least the best I can get for around 1500-2000 USD
By the way, how much performance loss would I sustain from the subs, if I mounted them on the parcel shelf of the car (of course a custom built one made of the appropriate materials), instead of a sealed enclosure within the trunk?
Sorry for the length of this post, but no matter how many hours/days I spend reading about all this online, I’m obviously many long years behind your accumulated knowledge & expertice!
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the compliments, and I’m happy to help. I used to have the same car, so I’m very familiar with the set up and can give you some really good insight. Did you already pick out a head unit? If not, for the price range you’re looking at, I will price out for you the best sounding system for your budget. Keep in mind your materials costs that you will need no matter what:
-Dash kit (around $25)
-Amplified antenna adapter ($20)
-wire harness (depending on what year your car is and what type of stereo you are installing $15 – $119, you’d be on the higher side if you need Can Bus interfacing for features like steering control interfacing, retained accessory power, vehicle speed sense, reverse wire, parking brake wire, amplifier turn on etc.)
-Steering control interface if your car is so equipped and you want to retain it, will also need that $119 Can Bus interface mentioned above ($65)
-amplifier wiring kit and RCA cables ($59 – $149) depending on how many amps and what RMS power they are running
-speaker wire (probably $20 worth if doing a 4 channel amp too)
So you’re looking at $119 to $398 in materials plus your equipment. So let’s go on the lower side $1500. In this case I would recommend an Alpine head unit because Alpine offers this really cool, very affordable, inline 4 channel amp called a power pack that’s only $119 and it gives you 45 watts x 4 RMS. It’s also very easy to install, it’s only for Alpine stereo’s but it plugs in line and is usually small enough to hide behind the head unit or a glove box. The Alpine deck I would recommend for a good mix of features and sound quality would be the CDE-123 for $199. It’s an AM/FM/CD/USB/iPod/iPhone player and has 3 high voltage preouts (4V), if you have an iPhone you can control Pandora Radio from it and it offers either front or rear USB. For speakers, I would recommend the Hertz Dieci series. They are probably the best sounding speakers for an entry level price range. They sound better than JL’s TR series and they’re less money! The front components go for $149 and the rear coaxes go for $99. They’re rated around 60-80 watts RMS, but they’re very efficient, meaning they’ll play pretty loud with minimal power.
For an amp and sub, I wouldn’t recommend the 2 10’s or trying to build an enclosure that would come down from your rear shelf/privacy screen. Most subwoofers are not designed to work in a free air environment, and to build the right enclosure underneath them and be able to support that weight seems like it would be an awfully time consuming process that wouldn’t really gain you any sound quality. If you are going for sound quality, but decent output, for that sized car, I would recommend a single 10″ or 12″ rated around 400 – 600 watts RMS. If you want to build something cool, that will sound awesome as well, you can build an enclosure that would sit in your spare tire well. This tends to resonate much better within the car, you will feel the bass much quicker than a box simply sitting in the rear cargo area. A JL W3 single voice coil 2 ohm in a 10″ runs $229 and the 12″ $249. Figure you will need probably about $75 in materials for building the box. As for an amp, you could do a JL XD 600/1. That will give you really good clean output and it’s a very small and efficient amp, you could probably conceal it in the rear left cargo area near where the factory amp is mounted. By the way, you will want to bypass that stock amp. You don’t want to run your aftermarket speakers and aftermarket amp through VW’s factory amp as well.
So what does that add up to, let’s see…if I added correctly with the 10″ W3, 4 ga wire and sound deadening material (about $200 worth), you would be around $1643 assuming you don’t have steering wheel controls and don’t need to interface with them.
The next step up from that would be doing maybe one 5 channel amp and a little bit better quality speakers and maybe a Kenwood Excelon deck instead. The Excelon decks from Kenwood give you a lot of features for your money. They have good decks to build systems with starting as little as $149. So, from them I’d recommend the KDC-X995 (2 year warranty, 3 sets 4 Volt preouts, rear USB/Aux, iPhone pandora control, bluetooth phone/audio, 5 Band EQ and digital time alignment) for $329. Digital time alignment means you can digitally delay the closest speakers to you by milliseconds so you can completely center your sound stage to right where you’re sitting, every speaker hits you at the same time. It’s very cool. For speakers, maybe the next step up in Hertz is the Energy series, (a bit warmer sound, smoother tweeter than the Dieci series, but require more power to fully appreciate the better sound quality) $249 for your fronts, $149 for your rear coaxes, same subwoofer could be used, but with JL’s XD 700/5 $549. This is also a very small, efficient amp which sounds great and can be easily hidden behind an access panel, it will power your interior speakers and your subwoofer. You’d have to definitely do the 4 ga wire and would need additional RCA’s and speaker wire, and I also recommend a little sound deadening material (either Dynamat or Stinger Roadkill or similar, about $200 worth would cover your doors and hatch) so with this set up you’d be around $1995.
For sound quality, go sealed, definitely, for the box, that gives you the most accurate sound reproduction and it’s tight and punchy bass. With either of these setups, tuned properly, you will have great sound quality and output. If you are installing all of this yourself, please check back soon for a new post on how to tune a system. And I know a lot of people have not heard of the Hertz line, they’re Italian, they’ve been over in Europe for years. They’re part of the same company that makes Audison (high end car audio from Italy), I definitely recommend trying to find a dealer in your area to listen to them. I was hesitant when they 1st came in the store, but once I heard them I was sold. They have a $450 pair of speakers that beat out my $1500 Morel speakers. Other good speakers in that price range are the JL C2 series. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Annie,
Thanks for your advise. I dont believe the sub is blown. But instead the amp keeps shutting down. From day one out the box. I have contacted the dealer and they are going to replace it for me. The alpine you suggested is very nice. I was also looking at the Kicker – Solo-Baric L7 12″ Single Dual-Voice-Coil 2-Ohm Subwoofer with Enclosure. On best buy’s website it says “•Handles up to 1500W peak output (750W RMS) @ 2 ohms
For powerful sound.” What do you think about the Kicker subs? I have heard they are equally as good as Alpines if not better. I read somewhere that a square 12 inch sub is as good or has as much surface area as a round 15 inch sub. Is that true? Whats your take on the square subs and particularly the L7? And will this ported box sound good in my 05 Camry’s trunk? I want a smooth powerful bass that is clean as well. I don’t want just the constant rumbling bass. But I do want to feel the bass. Also do you not think that the amp I got is a good amp? I have heard nothing but good things about it. Its like 2 amps in one. Its got the class A/B 4 channel and a 5 mono channel that is 1000Watts at 1@. So there are no subs that will play at 1000 Watt at 1 ohm at all? I apologize for so many questions but you seem like you have really deep knowledge and you like giving advise. Thanks for all your help.
I just bought this Hifonics 5-Channel Zeus Series Car Amplifier (ZXi 60.4+1K, ZXi60.4+1K). From day one when it was installed it has been going into protection mode. It will play for few mins and then go into protection mode. Now after 5 months it won’t even stay on for 30 secs. This amp is like 2 amps in one. It has a Class D mono 1000W @ 1 ohm. I have it hooked up to an Audiobhan ALUMQ15 which is a dual 6 ohm and 1100 watts RMS. Is this sub not made for this amp or vice versa? Do I need to buy another sub or amp? Please help me find a solution that is not expensive. I bought the amp online so I’m stuck with it. Its an awesome amp because I have read good reviews on it. Help!!!
Hi Manny,
You may have a few issues going on that could cause this. I looked up the ratings on the amplifier and based on what you’ve told me, you’re most likely running to your interior speakers, 60 watts x 4 RMS at 4 ohms. Your subwoofer is probably paralleled down to 3 ohms (positive to positive, negative to negative). At 3 ohms, your amp is probably only pushing out about 600 watts. Your sub is rated at 1100 watts RMS, meaning you’re severely under powering your sub. And if you check out my other post, “Why did my speakers blow?”, you’ll see that it’s actually a lack of power that damages speakers.
So you very well may have been running the amp with distortion and clipping and you may have blown your sub in the process. If you have one bad speaker hooked up to a head unit or any type of amplifier, the speaker often reads an improper impedance, often lower than 1 ohm. This will cause the amplifier to heat up, shut down and go into protection mode. If your sub was gradually being damaged over time, that may explain why it worked for a while, but now won’t play at all (or for 30 seconds at a clip).
If you have a multimeter, I suggest putting it to the ohm position and check the resistance on each terminal of your subwoofer. If it’s below 1 ohm, you know that’s probably your problem. In that case you should probably replace it with a sub that will handle around 750 watts RMS and is either single voice coil 2 ohms or dual 4 ohms and parallel that down to 2. Even if an amp says it’s rated as 1 Ohm stable, I’ve never seen one that lasts more than 8 – 9 months running at that load, it’s just really taxing on the amp and the sound quality is not as great. The lower you go, the less control the amp has over what it’s actually playing, meaning the bass gets sloppier and not as tight and clean sounding.
The most cost effective, but good quality 15 I can think of that matches up with your amp’s power rating would be Alpine’s SWR1542D which is a dual 4 ohm rated at 750 watts RMS. At 2 ohms your amp will put out 750 watts which is a perfect match up.
Now here are some other things that can cause what you’re describing:
Bad ground. You want your ground to be the same gauge as your power wire, as short as possible as well. If you have a bad ground it can cause the amp to overheat and eventually burn it out.
Another possibility is you could be starving your amp for power. Based on the power rating of the amp and what you had it hooked up to, you should have at least 4 gauge wire ran. And good quality wire. There’s a lot of the cheap crap online and it is really a very thick plastic shield and more like a 6 gauge wire inside and also the quality of the actual wire is terrible. They’re usually not 100 percent copper, they mix in aluminum to make it more cost effective, but it’s not as conductive. You need 100 percent copper, oxygen free, 4 gauge wire. Good brands for that would be Stinger, JL or Scosche.
Other issues: you may have the correct wire, the proper ground, and your speakers may be fine, but if you have a very weak alternator or battery, even with everything we said above being correct, you could still technically be starving your amp for power. I doubt this is the issue though.
You could also just have a bum amp. One way to test for this is to take off the sub wires and all of your speaker wires and RCA cables to the amp and just give the amp power, ground and remote. If it does the same thing, and you have a good ground and proper gauge wire, your amp is probably shot. If that’s the case you should really get two separate amps as that sub wants some serious power. Audison makes a 5 channel that would power it perfectly, but it’s a $1500 amp. You could buy a 900-1200 watt mono Kenwood amp for your sub between $299 – $399 and a 50×4 name brand amp for around $199 for your interior speakers.
Let me know how the testing goes and what you find out, good luck!
Hi Annie,
Thank you for your prompt reply!
I’ve got the 10w3v3-4’s and I’m putting them under the rear fold down seats in my ’07 F150 Supercrew. There aren’t many good options as far as enclosures for this space. So I’m only working with about .6 – .635 cubic feet per enclosure. This was the reason for choosing the 10w3v3-4’s.
I wanted a an amp that will maximize the sound and output of the subs without operating at full gain and without being put through the ultimate workout every time its in use. Something that will stay relatively cool to the touch. I have a line on a good price for a brand new Audio JX1000/1D, just wanted to be sure before I bought it.
The sound I’m looking for: most BANG for my buck, considering the space available!
I want basically the same quality sound weather I’m taking a 6 hour drive on the interstate or just running over the the grocery store.
The head unit is a Pioneer AVIC-Z120BT. Eventually I’ll get around to replacing the factory door speakers with 2-way’s in the rear doors and 3-way OR 2-way+tweeter in the front. That way I can match the amount of output and sound quality I need from my mids and highs for the sound I’m looking for. I’ll probably need another 2 channel or 4 channel amp to run my the door speakers. I’ll probably attempt the same thing…a powerful reliable amp made by the same company as the door speakers. One with an ample surplus of unused power so the gain is turned down.
Anyway, I’ve digressed…
I really want to get the bass “right” then go from there.
I appreciate your help!
Hi Derwin,
I would definitely recommend going with the JL JX 1000/1D. You won’t have to run it at max power, and it’s designed to run at 2 ohms and I definitely think it’s your best bang for your buck as far as sound quality and output. Other than that, there’s Kenwood’s KAC-9105D which is rated at 900 watts RMS at 2 ohms and that guy goes for $299.95, but the sound quality is not as great.
Do you mind me asking how much you’re paying for the JL amp and where you’re purchasing it from? Reason being, is you want to make sure it’s a legitimate amplifier from an authorized reseller, and if you’re buying it off of a friend, make sure it has a S/N on it. Anything else is typically stolen or B-stock (like one of those pallets that fell off the truck type deal) and should you ever unfortunately have an issue, JL won’t even look at it if there is no S/N.
So let me know, I’d rather you buy it from me, an authorized reseller and I could try to cut you a good deal and this way you get it legit.
Anyhow, that amp should not overheat on you and you definitely have room to build that box under your back seat there. I recommend sealed for best sound quality, you want to either make sure there is some type of angle in the box to break up the sound waves. A perfectly square box can cause distortion as there are not only sound waves bouncing off the front of the speaker, but also the back side on the inside of the box. And if they bounce straight back, hit a flat service, it just bounces straight back onto the back side of the speaker cone. Having either a small piece of wood wedged in or polyfill, or just an angle built into the box will give you best sound quality. You will have tight, deep punchy bass with the size enclosure you are talking about.
That Z120 is a sweet deck, I had one in my Honda Element and just swapped it out for the Z130. The only other thing you might want to get is JL’s RBC-1 bass knob. Even though your deck has sub level control, you have to go through like 3 menu’s to get to it. It’s nice to be able to just reach down and tweak it song to song.
Just a tip for you on speakers, I don’t recommend 3-way’s unless the car has a factory 3 way set up. The more you separate the frequencies and where they are coming from, the more you mess with the sound stage: in a typical factory 3 way set up, Mid bass hits your ears 1st usually, mid range hits your ears second and tweeter’s last based on where and how you would probably place the 3-ways in your truck and where you sit in relation to the speakers. Ideally you would want them to be as close as possible for the best sound stage, so each speaker hits you in relatively the same time. I once sold a car because the factory 3-way speaker placement messed with the sound stage so bad, they were way too far apart and we could never get it perfect, so we got rid of the car 🙂 It was a 2006 VW GTI, I think they’ve since corrected that speaker placement.
You have room in the doors (5X7) to do a 5.25″ component system, if you don’t already have a factory tweeter location, there should be room near your side view mirror area. In the rear’s I would stick to a 5×7 coax.
I always recommend to my customers to cherry pick among brands, take the best of what each company does and that varies from company to company and price range within each company.
For speakers, we really love Hertz and Audison. To give you an idea of how awesome their products are: I had a set of Morel Elate 3-ways for my factory 3-way set up in a BMW 335xi. These were $1500 speakers. We spent 3 days trying to get them sound right, but they just sounded kind of flat. They were smooth, but no life to it. Just for the hell of it, we put in a set of Hertz 3-ways, $450 speakers. They BLEW them away, all of a sudden the system came to life. So even though one company may make one product that’s awesome, it doesn’t mean everything they do is awesome. JL for example, your subs are made in the good old USA. Their interior speakers? China. Hertz and Audison are Italian.
As far as 4 channel amps, JL makes some great amps, but Alpine has an edge when it comes to output, sound quality and size. Their PDX line and new MRX line are the best sound class D 4 channels I’ve ever heard. They sound very close to the original Class A/B amps we used to use 10 years ago that were like 4 times the size.
Depending on your budget, the Audison LRX line blows the Alpine and JL away, but there are larger, less efficient, Class A/B amps and I don’t know where you’d mount them if you did that in your truck. I can’t remember if there is any room behind the upper back seat or if it folds down at all.
Anyways, let me know if you have any other questions, it’s my pleasure to help everyone out.
Hi, you seem very knowledgeable… I’d like to ask you a question about my set up that I’ve been planning for about 3 months. Planning to run 2 10″ Dual 2ohm Alpine Swr subwoofers. 1000 watts RMS a piece, with a Hifonics Brutus 3016.1D Amp rated 2000 watts RMS @ 2ohm x 1. I drive a 02 Lincoln LS V8, stock battery in the trunk . I ran 0 gauge power wire from my battery and my ground is in the trunk(not ran yet). I’m thinking of adding a second battery, someday… To achieve a 2ohm load I’m thinking of paralleling then series to the amp. I think I have my concepts just about right. Any added input would really help. I have a double din GPS DVD unit installed already. I do my own installs, but I’ve learned a lot by reading the last 5-8 months.
Hey Carl – that all sounds good, just make sure your battery and alternator are up to the task!
Good Day,
I have purchased two (2) JL Audio 10W3v3 subs. I am pretty sure that these are the only subs that will fit in the space I am working with. They are going in two separate, sealed, down firing enclosures.
From my limited knowledge and “extensive” web research, I was planning on using a JL Audio JX1000/1D to power them.
Is that over kill or not enough power?
How should they be wired?
Is there another JL amp that would be better suited for my application?
Any guidance or advise you can provide will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in Advance.
**REFER TO**
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?series_id=24
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_amps.php?amp_id=606
Hi Derwin,
Did you get the single 2 ohm voice coil W3’s or the single voice coil 4 ohm W3’s? If you got the 10w3v3-4 (4 ohm), that’s perfect for that amplifier. What kind of vehicle is this going in? If you’re really tight on space, check out the Alpine PDX-M12, 1200 watts RMS at 2 ohms. And 1000 watts RMS is not necessarily overkill for those subs, they’ll handle 300-500 watts RMS a piece, it kind of depends on what kind of output you’re going for. Generally speaking, more power is much better than too little power. If you’re not going for crazy output and more of a punchy balanced bass, more for sound quality, you could even run the XD600/1. Let me know what impedance the sub’s are, what kind of vehicle this is going into, what kind of output you’re looking to get and any other equipment that may be going into the vehicle. Then, I can give you some better advice, thanks.
Hey, thanks for the imput. I actually ended up returning my pioneer subs and got some kicker 2ohm dual voice coil subs. Hopefully these work out =) Thanks for all your help
Hey, Ive got 2 Pioneer TS-w308D4’s subs right now (DVC, 400rms, nominal is 4 ohm I believe). I was hoping to run them with the amp I just bought. The amp is a JL Audio JX1000/1D. What would be the best way to run these subs with this amp? Or would it be worth my time to attempt to return the amp and get a dual channel amp? When I bought the car I’m putting all this stuff in I found a legacy LA970 amp, which is a dual channel. My problem is I have no idea wether or not the legacy amp even works. Any help would be really appreciated as Im lost on this one.
Hi Spencer,
That’s a tough one. The JX1000/1D is a sweet amplifier. The quality of the Legacy is questionable. I looked at their website and there was very little information regarding the company, how long they’ve been in business. The amp itself also looks like an old Sony refurbished amp and the Sony that it looks like was rated 1200 watts, but at 1 ohms and it really wasn’t 1 Ohm stable. I think you’re better off trying to sell the Lanzar and and using what you get from that towards new subs.
With the JL amp, you either want to get two dual 2 Ohm subwoofers, or two single voice coil 4 ohm subwoofers, or if you go with one high powered sub, you should get either a single voice coil 2 ohm sub or a dual voice coil 4 ohm sub.
You could use your Pioneer’s and wire them in parallel, then series, the JL will see 4 ohms and push out 500 watts RMS, but even at 4 ohms, I think the JL is superior quality and I think in general, JL is a more reputable company.
I went to Lanzar’s website and they didn’t even have any “About us” information. It looks like maybe they recently got bought out by someone else. I think a long time ago they used to have really high quality products, like back in the late 90’s early 2000 when most car audio amplifiers were actually made here in the United States. But, if I were you, I’d sell it and run the JL for now at 4 ohms.
I have 2 12 inch Alpine Type-S SWS-1223D subwoofers dual 2-ohm voice coils which peak power is 900 watts and 50-300 watts RMS and not sure what amp to get for it
Hi Brad,
The best thing to do with those subs is wire each one is series so they are basically 4 ohms each, then parallel to a mono amplifier rated at 600 watts RMS at 2 Ohms.
Alpine has a couple nice amplifiers that would work. The MRP-M500 for around $199.95, (500 watts RMS, but still would work) or the MRX-M50 for $299.95. This amp is awesome, it’s basically like their PDX line of amplifiers, but without the fancy PDX look. They’re typically underrated, meaning they really push out more than 500 watts RMS and they actually come with a little birth certificate, which shows what they actually bench tested at. Either of those would be fine amplifiers to push those subs or any name brand mono amp rated around 600 watts RMS at 2 ohms.
Hi, i am having 2 pioneer TS-W1208D4 DVC 4 ohm SUBS, 400 watt RMS each, 1400 peak each. My local car audio shop guy told me to power them with a kenwood kac-8105D, maximum power output =1000w, rated out put power =300w x 1 (14.4v / 4ohm) or 500w x 1 (14.4v / 2ohm). but the time i powered up the subs wiring them at 2 ohm load, the amp was not able to play them loud it just kept tripping and goinG in protection mode after just playing for 40 sec,, i was so depressed,,, its been a week now, i am not able to get a good amplifier for my subs… “I WANT TO POWER THEM WITH a, 4 CHANNEL 2 OHM STABLE AMPLIFIER ,BECAUSE THEY ARE AFFORDABLE IN MY COUNTRY, IF IN CASE I GO FOR MONO BLOCK, WHAT WATTAGE MONO BLOCK AMPLIFIER TO BUY??? AND WHAT OHM LOAD TO PROVIDE TO MY SUBS FOR MAXIMUM BASS OUTPUT FROM MY SUBS PLEASE HELP …. 🙁
Hi Kamy,
I am so sorry to hear you were misinformed by your local car stereo shop. What you are trying to do right now is run that Kenwood amp at 1 ohm and it is not 1 ohm stable. That’s why it keep shutting down on you. What you need is either a high powered 2 channel, which are sometimes hard to come by or 2 mono amps, one for each sub.
If you were to just buy another one of the Kenwood KAC-8105D’s that would be perfect. You could run each sub at 2 ohms, putting out 500 watts to each sub. That will also be more cost effective that buying a 1000 watt RMS 2 channel, those run around $500 for a good one like an Orion HCCA-10002.
Just make sure you’re running 4 ga wire back to the amps and from there you could get a distribution block and split it off to two 8 ga wires for both your power and your ground.
Here is how you have to wire it. You have to parallel each sub. So positive to positive, negative to negative, and I think that is how you have it wired right now. What that does is it drops the impedance of each sub. So think of them is being 2 ohms each now. So now, if you run one amp for each sub, the amp will put out 500 watts for each sub. Just make sure you get the exact same amplifier for both subs, otherwise, you can get a very large 2 channel amp like that Orion, and wire each sub to 2 ohms, THEN series them, so the amp will see a 4 ohm load. Series is using the outside positive from one sub and the outside negative from the other sub to go to the amp, and also connect the inside positive and inside negative together between subs. Then the 2 channel amp will see 4 ohms, when you bridge the amp, it sees half that load, 2 ohms and will put out 1000 watts stable.
Annie,
I also have a memphis mcd 1000 that I would like to run at one ohm. Now I know the memphis mojo is designed to work perfectly with the amp. Do you know of anything else I could use to get the same result but for less. Currently the amp is hooked up to a alum12n that has been wired in parallel.
Thank you.
Hi Damien, honestly from what I can see online, the Memphis CM12D2 for $469 is a great price for a sub that can truly handle 1100 watts RMS. Keep in mind many manufacturers plaster peak ratings on their products.
Sony is a perfect example, I used to sell their amps and they would have the peak rating across the top if the amp in huge lettering, claiming it was 1200 watts. In reality, the RMS was only about 400. So for a legit 1100 watt sub, that’s actually pretty good. To give you an idea, if you went with Alpine you’d be looking at $449, JL Audio you’d be looking at $849, Rockford Fosgate T2 12″ you’d be at $480 and that price is off of Amazon.
If you want to keep your costs down, you could do 2 subs that were rated at 500 watts RMS, like the Alpine Type R’s which go for $199 a piece. You just need to make sure if you get 2 of anything that’s 500 watts RMS, they need to either be single voice coil 2 ohm, or dual voice coil 4 ohm so that you can wire it down to 1 ohms.
Hi annie, I have a memphis mcd500 and two 4ohm single voice coil subs that are rated at 500 rms. What would be the best way to wire my subs? Thanks for the help
Hi Damien, the MCD500 is rated at 500 watts RMS at 2 ohms, so you’re kind of under powering your subs if the subs are also rated at 500 watts a piece. Best bet is to wire your subs in parallel if they are single voice coil 4 ohms. So positive to positive, negative to negative and your amp will see 2 ohms. Just be careful with the gain and don’t ever play your subs with distortion, that’s what kills them. At some point you should probably consider upgrading to a 1000 watt RMS mono amplifier like JL’s JX 1000 or Alpine’s MRP-M1000 or a Kenwood Excelon X-1200. Thanks for the question.
I have a kicker CXA600.1 2ch mono amp I want to put a 12″ Dual 4Ohm voice coil sub on it in a small ported box. How
should I wire it for best performance?
In parallel – positive to positive, negative to negative. The amp is mono so it will see a 2 ohm load.
i have a spl 2 ohm 2 channel class d 1250 watt amp. i also have two jl w3’s dual 4 ohm subs. how would i hook them up to get the maximum power out of the amp?
Hi Clayton, your amp sounds like it is actually a class D mono amp and unfortunately it’s probably not powerful enough for the two JL W3’s you have. I’m assuming the amp says 1250 watts right on it. Usually that means it’s around 400 watts RMS at 2 ohms. Also, the subs you have are not really the right impedance for the style amp you have. The only way you could wire those subs so the amp wouldn’t overheat would be to parallel the voice coils on each sub (positive to positive, negative to negative) so you would basically have two 2 ohm subs, then you would have to series those two subs (tie in one positive of one sub to the negative of the other sub and hook up the left over positive and negative to the amp).
The problem with this is the amp will see 4 ohms and only put out about 250 watts RMS, far too little for a W3 which means you are risking blowing the subs. You could either use that amp with one sub and with one sub paralleled, your amp would see 2 ohms and put out about 400 watts which would be perfect for one W3. Otherwise you’re better off getting a high powered 2 channel amp, which would allow you to wire the subs in a manner that would allow you to get the most output out of the 2 channel amp, but it’s hard to come across a 1000 watt class A/B two channel amp. They’re just inefficient and usually quite large. So mono class D’s are usually used for high powered set ups as they are more efficient, take up less space and generally put out more power than a 2 channel can. But in order to do two W3’s with a class D mono amp, you’d want a 1000 watt RMS mono amp, kind of like JL Audio’s JX 1000 ($449) and two of their 12W3V34 (single voice coil 4 ohm $249 each).
Can you tell me the exact model number of your amp?
hey there i have a pair of pioneer 4ohm dual voice coil 2000watt max subs. i seem to blow up every amp i get. i think the subs would be 750rms watt maybe
what sort of amp would you recommend me. I want a lot of bass.
Thanks
shaun
Hi Shaun,
Before I respond, can you tell me what kind of car this is in, what kind of box the subs are in, any other equipment that is in the car, and what gauge wire are you using? That will help me give you a better response. Thanks.
Ow also the guy mentioned going in for a Kenwood mono amp… I don’t know anyone who uses any Kenwood products so that’s why I stalled the install… Are kenwood any good though?? If yes, will I get what I’m looking for out of the subs?? Thanks..
Do you know which Kenwood amp? Kenwood has a lot of products and certain amps in their line up are excellent, especially their Excelon series. Their X-1200M is really nice, but that’s a mono amp and at 4 ohms will only put out 800 watts and 1200 at 2 ohms. So it’s not really enough power for what you plan on doing in the future.
Kenwood claims it’s 1 ohm stable. At 1 ohms it puts out closer to 1600 watts RMS, but again, I never like running amps at 1 ohm. It’s very hard for an amp to do for a prolonged period of time and typically, even the Kenwood’s, the amp will eventually burn out in a couple years being run at that impedance. That’s been my experience anyways.
Hi.. I am a total novice when it comes to this subject so please bear with me… I went to my local car audio installer today searching for an amplifier to power my 2 x 12inch Soundstream Piccaso subs (I have the older ones and not the new).. He told me that it would be best to hook those up to a mono amp… I looked up the specs of the subbies and found out that they have Dual 4 Ohm coils and operate at 350w RMS… So I wanted to know if the guy is right (going in for a mono amp)… Also what amp would you recommend to be used in order to get the max out of them?? (money ain’t an issue)
Also, will getting a higher output amp harm my subs in any way?? Just wanna know this as I’ll be switching out these subs in a month or two for a Polk SR series 12inch sub/s … Please help… Thanks!
Hi Manas,
Actually, no, you would not want to get a mono amp if your subs are dual 4 ohm voice coil, you’re better off with a higher powered 2 channel amp. The best set up would be to wire each sub in series, so each sub is now acting as an 8 ohm subwoofer. Then parallel them down to 4 ohms. This way, with a two channel, you can run the 2 channel amp bridged. When you bridge a 2 channel amp, it will cut the impedance down to 2 ohms, and the amp will put out a good amount of power, but with control and it shouldn’t over heat. A nice 2 channel with 700 watt RMS power handling would be something like Hertz EP 2X which retails for $399.95.
If you were to wire it that way with a mono, the mono amp would only see 4 ohms, so you wouldn’t get as much power out of the amp as it is capable of producing. Now, if the subs you plan on upgrading to have a different impedance, then it may make more sense to run a mono amp at 4 ohms for now until you change the subs.
If you end up getting the Polk’s it’s going to be hard to find a 2 channel capable of producing the output you would need. The Polk’s are rated at 700 watts RMS each and they are also dual voice coil 4 ohms.
If this is the set up you plan on going with, I say you’re actually better off doing two small, efficient mono amps and running each sub with their own mono amp. They’d have to be two of the exact same amp. In that case, I would recommend something like JL’s XD 600/1 for $399.95 or Alpine’s PDX-M6 for $499.95.
Be careful who you buy it from though. If you see either of these products being advertised below the prices I just mentioned, then they are being sold through unauthorized distribution networks, which means they will not come with any warranty, sometimes serial numbers are scratched off, and even worse, sometimes it’s B-Stock (like fell off the pallet or original packaging was damaged or got wet during shipping). The prices I just mentioned are the manufacturer’s minimum advertised price, also known as MAP pricing. As authorized resellers of their equipment, we agree not to advertise their products below a certain price, so that’s an easy way to tell if it’s a legit place to buy from.
If you go to either manufacturer’s website, there are links to authorized sellers, and they even allow you to purchase online direct. I would be happy to also sell something over the phone and ship it to you if you were interested.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi… Can you please help me out. I want to wire two Sony XS-L124P5B (350watts rms, 1300watts peak, single voice coil, 4 ohms) subwoofers to a Sony XM-GTR3301D (1100W at 2 ohms or 600W at 4 ohms max, rms 600W at 2 ohms or 330W at 4 ohms) Class D Amplifier. Need advice on how should the wiring be from amp to subs to get a stable system running at max power. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks, Nauman.
Hi Nauman,
With two single 4 ohm voice coil subs and a mono amp, you want to wire the subs in parallel. So if you have a box with two terminals on it, one for each sub, simply tie in both positives and both negatives to the one positive and negative terminal on the amp. With this wiring, your amp will see 2 ohms, and Class D amps are 2 ohm stable. I hope that helps!
ok well this hifonics amp has two psitive terminals on right side then 2 negatives on left its a hifonics brutus 1200 class D monoblock amp how is it mono when I see hook ups for both subs on the amp and leaving the subs wired parallel how would I hook it up to that amp I bought it from sonic electronix they say that amp will work for those subs.
Hi,
Sometimes manufacturer’s will put two terminals on the amp, similar to a 2 channel, but the amp is still mono. They do this assuming you will hook up two subs and the box you use will have two terminals, so why not put two terminals on the amp, just to keep the wiring a little neater. So even if you do that, hook each 2ohm (after they’ve been paralled down) to each terminal, the amp is internally Paralleling the wires again, bringing the load down to 1 ohms.
As I said in the earlier response, some amplifier’s are rated for 1 Ohm stable, but I’ve rarely seen one sound good at that impedance or play very long at that low of an impedance. 1 Ohm is very taxing on an amplifier, they heat up very quickly.
You could wire your JL sub’s in series, then just hook each sub to each terminal on the amp. Then the amp will see a 4 ohm load and will run stable. It will only be putting out 450 watts RMS, which is severely under powering 2 JL 10W6’s. At that point you’d be better off hooking up one sub in series so the amp will see a 2 ohm load and at that point it will be putting out 900 watts, which is good power for a single 10W6.
I sincerely apologize about the delayed response, please let me know if you have any other questions.
X12 MRV-F720 Car Amplifier and
X12 Prp Plus EQ-8 Car Equalizer what i do with this what i put i want the loudest sound ever built in this kind of product what i put etc. can you help me pls email at [email protected]
That looks like a 4 channel amplifier designed to power 4 full range door speakers. I had a hard time finding any specifications about the amp to see what the true power is. If you want really loud, I see the amp is 2 ohm stable, I would recommend JBL car speakers. They are usually 2.3 ohms and JBL is known for their loudspeakers at their concerts. I hope that helps!
i have 2 10″ jlw6v2 subs i have hooked up parallel and hooked them up to a brutus 1200 class D monoblock amp the amp cuts out at certain volume what would be the problem?
Hi,
Well it sounds just like the last issue and last question we had. You have the JL W6’s which are a dual 4ohm voice coil subwoofer and you have them paralleled as was shown in the picture on the article, right? Positive to positive, negative to negative. This brings the impedance of each subwoofer down to 2 ohms. Then you’re using a mono amplifier, so it sounds like you’re paralleling them again, because you’re just running positive and negative from each sub straight to the one terminal on the amp. This cuts the impedance in half again, meaning the amp is seeing 1 ohm.
Now I know Hifonics claims their amps are 1 ohm stable, but very few amps really ever are or are stable for a long period of time at that low of an impedance. What’s most likely happening is the amp is just getting too hot, and shutting down to protect itself, and then when it cools off again it starts playing again. You would also have to be using 4 gauge or higher for wire for an amp like that for both your power and your ground. If you are running too thin a gauge wire, you are basically starving the amp for power, making it work extra hard and making it play inefficiently. Also if you have a low output alternator, you can run into this issue as well. But most likely it is the 1st thing I said and the amp is just getting too hot and unstable at 1 ohms.
You really need a high powered 2 channel if you want to keep those subs. Then you could wire them as your have, but then series them and then bridge the 2 channel amp so a 2 channel would see 2ohms and play efficiently. The other option is to get a second amp, has it to be the same exact model and use one amp per sub. If you wire each sub as you had, parallel and hook only one sub to each amp, the amp will see 2 ohms and will put out about 900 watts each. If you wanted to still use those same two subs and that same amp and didn’t want the subs to cut out ever, you’d have to then series the subs right before the amp.
So leave the subs voice coils paralleled, positive to positive, negative to negative on the dual voices coils. But then series the subs to the amp. Hooking up one positive from one sub to the amp then one negative from the other sub to the amp and then tying one positive and one negative together from each sub, linking them. This means the amp will only see 4 ohms, it will run way more efficiently, but you will now be severely under powering your subs as the amp will only put out about 450 watts at 4 ohms, but it will be extremely stable.
This is why it’s important to try and shop at an independent mobile electronics specialist store. Make sure you talk to a professional about what you are trying to achieve before you buy your equipment, so you can ensure that you get the most bang for your buck and the proper equipment for your application. It also helps to then buy that equipment from the specialist so that they may be of assistance to you for any questions or concerns you may have in the future. It’s definitely worth a few extra bucks to go into a store and get the right stuff, then try your buddy’s suggestion and buy stuff online. For all of you that don’t have a specialist near you, I’m happy to be at your service! Please let me know if you have any other questions, thanks for posting.
I have 2 orion hcca 4ohm 10″ subs at 3000watt, 1500rms each. With a 5000watt orion hcca amp,could you tell me the best way to wire them together for best results.
Well if you just want straight up output it looks like that amp is designed to handle 1 ohm, I don’t know for how long, but you could wire them in parallel, then parallel again for a final 1 ohm load. Otherwise that amp wouldn’t be enough power at 4 ohms (only other wiring option). Ideally you return those subs for the 2 ohm version and then you could wire in parallel then series for a final 2 ohm load and have exactly the right RMS power from the amp.
i got a mtx thunder 5601 mono amp 2 ohm stable one channel and i have (2) 2400 4ohm dvc subwoofers so to get better power wire both subwoofers for 2 ohms?
Hi, ideally you would want to use a high powered 2 channel. Reason being is in order to use the mono amp and run it at a stable impedance, you will have to parallel the dual voice coils. So on each sub there are two 4 ohm positive and negative terminals, correct? You would need to wire those positive to positive, negative to negative (Parallel). This will make each sub have a 2 ohm load. You couldn’t then go from each subwoofer positive and negative directly to the amp at that point, because you would then be paralleling the subs again, bringing the load down to 1 ohms which is highly unstable and a load the amplifier will not tolerate. You will need to parallel each sub, but after that you will have to series them so the amplifier sees a 4 ohm load. Your amp won’t put out as much power at 4 ohms.
If you were to get a high powered 2 channel, you could bridge the 2 channel amp and that would cut that 4 ohm load down to 2 ohms on the 2 channel, allowing you to get optimum output out of your 2 subwoofers. The other option you have is to check the RMS of each subwoofer. If they are rated at 2400 watts that’s probably a peak power rating, RMS is usually a 3rd of the peak power rating. So we can assume your subs handle 800 watts RMS. Which means either way you are severely under powering your subwoofers risking blowing them. You’re better off using one subwoofer, paralleling it down to 2 ohms and using your 600 watt amplifier to power that one sub. You’ll be less likely to damage your speakers by underpowering them and you’ll get optimum output out of your amplifier. Hope that helps, any other questions, please let me know.
I have a 5500 watt boss onyx amp if I turn it to the max will it blow my two mtx road thunder 9500 svc wired at two ohm
If the amp sends a distorted signal, yes you will blow your subs.
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