Car Audio Newb: Assistance Needed

[pattywak]

Hello all, newly registered but not new to the site. Good stuff in these forums. Anyways, I was wondering what kind of amp I needed to run the subwoofers I recently acquired. I've tried searching google but whenever I find something that seems to be useful I run into a plethora of technical jargon I can't understand. Anyways, here are some specs.

Model: SPL ML12W
Size: 12"
1200 watts MAX
600 watts RMS
Dual 4ohm voice coil


That's just a little bit of info from the specs on the case for my subs. I can provide the full list if that is needed.

Thanks in advance. I hope to understand all that jargon one day, but until then what amp do I need to properly power the subs? I also have the factory radio in, if that matters.

 

[angelplus]

I'd look for something at around 500RMS x 1 @ 4 ohms, unless you're running two subs, then you'd need 500 - 600RMS x 2 @ 2 or 4ohms, I'll look here and try to find you an amp.


http://www.crutchfield.com/S-G8o8rDnRmaz/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?search=Alpine+MRD-M605&i=500MRDM605

thats 600RMS @ 2ohms, dunno, theres amps out there, but someone on here knows a lot more then I do, so try and take their advice

 

[pattywak]

Thanks for the fast response. To clarify, I am running two subs. Also, would I need to get a mono- or multi-channel amp?

 

[angelplus]

Thanks for the fast response. To clarify, I am running two subs. Also, would I need to get a mono- or multi-channel amp?

Oh for 2 subs, alright. You can bridge them or buy two amps But like I said, I'm sure that someone could give you some good advice about this stuff, better then me.

 

[djpm05]

depends on how much you want to spend.

better amps that I personally would stick with:

Zapco, JL, Alpine PDX

if you go with those people you're looking at about a grand for a JL 1000/1, or about $600-$700 for an Alpine PDX1000.1, not sure about Zapco.

before going with an amp, ask someone about it here because you don't want to spend money that's being wasted, like $200 on a sony 1200watt amp that pushes almost nothing. keep in mind that if you don't give the subs a decent amount of power it WILL hurt them.

 

[pattywak]

Oh..thanks for the site. It's kinda expensive for what i have right now, but maybe I just need to shift my monetary focus to accomodate my new love of car audio.

Any other suggestions?

I understand that putting too much power OR not enough power to my subs will harm them, that's why I want to get the right amp for the job.

 

[angelplus]

Oh..thanks for the site. It's kinda expensive for what i have right now, but maybe I just need to shift my monetary focus to accomodate my new love of car audio.

Any other suggestions?

I understand that putting too much power OR not enough power to my subs will harm them, that's why I want to get the right amp for the job.

Not having enough power shouldn't hurt them. They just wont perform as well as they should. Meaning, they won't pound as loud as you would want them to It all depends on your expectations.

 

[djpm05]

Not having enough power shouldn't hurt them. They just wont perform as well as they should. Meaning, they won't pound as loud as you would want them to It all depends on your expectations.

that's not quite right.

putting very little power to the subwoofer isn't a problem. it's when you have a small amp and it's obviously not pushing the subwoofer as loud as you want it, so you turn the gain's higher, raise the volume, etc. once you do that, the amp cuts off the top part of the frequency curve so rather than looking like:

it looks like this:

the cone of the woofer moves very similarly to whatever way the wave form looks, if you have a sine wave (or closer to one) it moves nicely up and down. if not, you will run into problems.

 

[pattywak]

Oh man...it's starting to get technical. I'm getting worried. ::

 

[djpm05]

tell me what sound you're going for. I did sales for a high-end car audio place here for a long time before going to install. before that I was at best buy, so I can build you a system from scratch, just tell me how much you want to spend.