Amp Recommendations?

[Moriartii]

Why would a lower amp pushing a higher woofer be bad?
K

[mrray13]

Originally Posted by shevyman

running a low amp to your subs is actually bad for them. you would actually want an amp with more power.

Originally Posted by Moriartii

Why would a lower amp pushing a higher woofer be bad?
K

It's not. Underpowering a speaker isn't going to do anything, save introduce distortion if you crank the gains to try and achieve output.

In the case of the setup you bought Moriartii, the ICON doesn't need rms power to be impressive. You'll love it with almost 500rms on tap.

[Luvpilot]

I picked up an Alpine MRP-M500 for my single 10" sub install.
About $145 and I've been really happy with it.

YMMV

[Moriartii]

Thanks Mrray, I hit SSA up and seems I am just fine. So again your recommendation was spot on.
Cheers
K

[CamaroDreams07]

One other question here. I have the rubber cargo mat installed in my trunk, will the ******** enclosures fit over that? I think it's about a half inch thick if I remember correctly.

[Moriartii]

Which enclosure are you talking about?
If it is the one that goes acrorss the back in the pass through area (which is what I have) yes and no. Yes it fits but it is a dayam tight squeeze as it gets hung up on the little tree points that hang down for the trim pieces in the package deck. Also the 1/2 ridge on the outside of the matt causes it to sit up funny, it needs a brace to run between the inside of the matt and the box. Finally it is a complete pain to roll the matt back and get to the battery compartment. I plan on precisely cutting my matt to fit in front of the box.

Cheers
K

[2010SLVRBULIT]

better amps(w/ higher signal/noise ratio), even w/ lower power rating will out-shine amps that are rated higher power, but w/ lower s/n, along w/ cheaper, inferior guts..you can't always look at just power rating, look @ s/n ratios...

..look into class 'D'(digital) amps that tend to draw less current and won't tax your car electrical system. Since you're using it for subs, clarity isn't an issue w/ these amps.

VV tell me if you can tell the difference between a digital and a class A/B amp that has been set w/ a slope of 80hz on down. Clarity w/ the subs, definitely, but not so w/ amps..discerning listeners might pick it, but most consumers out there want maximum boom for a buck.

s/n applies to amps, sensitivity rating for subs..higher the sensitity for the sub, the fewer amplifier power needed to drive it. Enclosure type(ported/sealed) plays a signifcant role as well.

[Racer-X]

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

better amps(w/ higher signal/noise ratio), even w/ lower power rating will out-shine amps that are rated higher power, but w/ lower s/n, along w/ cheaper, inferior guts..you can't always look at just power rating, look @ s/n ratios...

..look into class 'D'(digital) amps that tend to draw less current and won't tax your car electrical system. Since you're using it for subs, clarity isn't an issue w/ these amps.

how do you figure clarity is a non issue for subs? I do not want my subs bass to be muddy or unclear when I am listening to my music. Digital amps are more efficient true.... (more power... less current draw) but this does not mean they are the right choice. some digital amps have a very stale or flat sound to them... no life to the music they reproduce. there are class H amps like the mini's from Arc that will do the job nicely with better sound quality. and small fott print class A/B amps from various companies that will sound even better and still not have a huge draw on your system. they dynamics and and "impact" a non digital amps will provide to your subs is very noticable.

[mrray13]

Originally Posted by IAS

how do you figure clarity is a non issue for subs? I do not want my subs bass to be muddy or unclear when I am listening to my music. Digital amps are more efficient true.... (more power... less current draw) but this does not mean they are the right choice. some digital amps have a very stale or flat sound to them... no life to the music they reproduce. there are class H amps like the mini's from Arc that will do the job nicely with better sound quality. and small fott print class A/B amps from various companies that will sound even better and still not have a huge draw on your system. they dynamics and and "impact" a non digital amps will provide to your subs is very noticable.

In a daily driving situation, with 99% of ears out there, a s/n ratio around 1% for subs is more then acceptable. Your ears are tuned and will pick out things in music others, like myself, won't. I can hear extreme distortion, but in subs, it's harder to hear then in the high end of things.

I'll also agree that class D is really only more efficient at lower volumes, when you crank things, the D class loses some of it's advantages to the cleaner A/B amps. I've not played with T or H class, so I have no real opinion on those, lol.

[CamaroDreams07]

Originally Posted by Moriartii

Which enclosure are you talking about?
If it is the one that goes acrorss the back in the pass through area (which is what I have) yes and no. Yes it fits but it is a dayam tight squeeze as it gets hung up on the little tree points that hang down for the trim pieces in the package deck. Also the 1/2 ridge on the outside of the matt causes it to sit up funny, it needs a brace to run between the inside of the matt and the box. Finally it is a complete pain to roll the matt back and get to the battery compartment. I plan on precisely cutting my matt to fit in front of the box.

Cheers
K

Sorry forgot there was more than one. I'm talking about the passenger side amp rack and the drivers side large sub enclosure.

[shevyman]

Originally Posted by Moriartii

Why would a lower amp pushing a higher woofer be bad?
K

i have also called around talk to techs asking same qustion on how to choose an amp.

i told the tech one day the amp i had and the sub and he mentioned under powering a sub is not good for it. now i am sorry i can not answer this the proper way cause since then i have stuck with maps with more power then my subs. and cause i forgot his reason. but i was told by a few people also.

well here for example. you have a 1000watt amp pushing a 800 watt sub and you have it hooked up to 12guage wire i am talking speaker wire and earth and ground wire. if you can not send the power to the amp you will over heat it cause its trying to hard to pull in the power which will also cause bad sound. so i take it its the same with the sub, it is asking for more power but the amp wont give it so it will struggle and sound like crap and wear out the sub. also could hurt the amp

also another guy posted about the signal to noise ratio. also is another thing i forgot and yes does make a big deal.

[shevyman]

Underpowering a speaker is likely to damage the voice coil due to the excess heat created by distortion. This distortion, called clipping, is created when the amp is not able to supply the power demand when the volume is turned up. If you turn the volume up very high without the power to back it up, you'll end up clipping the signal coming out of the amp. The speaker will try to reproduce this clipped signal, and if played under these circumstances for any length of time, the speaker will not last very long.

There is a mis-conception that if you're not giving the speaker as much power as it can handle you won't blow it, but that simply is not the case. The only way to really address this problem is to replace your speaker for one with a lower power rating, and a higher SPL rating, or replace your amp with one that better matches the speaker's power handling capability. An alternative to replacing the equipment is to simply keep your volume turned down!

Make certain that power and ground wiring for the amplifier is sufficient to deliver adequate current to the amp. Proper wire gauge and clean connections are critical for strong performance.

[Moriartii]

Shevyman-
I think you may be a tad bit off in your reasoning. Now I will preface this by saying I am new to car audio so I am not trying to start an arguement so please dont take it as such.
That being said the reason I believe you are slightly incorrect is, a speaker or sub make no such request or demand so it doesnt care what is being sent to it. I believe the rms rating on a sub or speaker is the continous rating it can handle and maintain cooling and other parameters. Obviously it can go higher for short amount of time for peak but then it begins to heat up which is what causes issues.

At the same time I believe a speaker or sub does need a minimum wattage to get the motor moving since, if I remember correctly, there is a magnet in there and the field excitement is what gets thing going.

Now regarding clipping, I believe that has more to do with your amp versus the speaker or woofer since the clipping causes issues with the sine wave and subsequent output through the amp. Since the signal is clipped the output is not smooth from the amp so the speaker or woofer has to work harder to keep up with the output from the amp which causes heat. This heat is what causes the speaker or woofer to become damaged.

Example, running my car on a dyno, I accelerate smoothly throught the powerband to where I need to be versus accelerating, letting off accelerating letting off accelerating letting off. The latter is going to create more heat even though I am technically doing the same thing.

I hope that makes sense in what I am thinking?

Cheers
K

[LS3SSRS]

you know, years ago i blew a couple subs by underpowering them. i blew 2 alpine type s 12's at slightly different times. i had them replaced, and they blew again lol the voicecoils were burnt up

so shevyman, you are spot on in my case.