Stippy17

iTrader: (6)

I'm wondering on what the best amp choice would be for my MTX Jackhammers that are rated at 250w RMS a piece. I'm thinking I should buy an amp rated for about 800w or so? Also, what brands are preffered by you?


I'm open to any suggestions & opinions..

bigal's1991

i would get the kicker zx300.1 mono.. my friend has one in his mustang with his 2 MTX's.. it sounds really good...and if you got a sealed box it would sound good... thats what he has....it has enought power to push both of those sub's...its a 300 watt rms, and 900 watt max (kicker under rates their amps)

Stippy17

iTrader: (6)

Alright Ill check that amp out. Any other suggestions?

British Rich

did I read right that u wanted an 800w amp to power two 250w speakers?

firstly that is overkill, unless the amp is cr*p.

Stick to the known "good" names (kenwood, pioneer, sony alpine etc) and you shouldn't need more than 300 MAYBE 400 depending on the bridging...

as a rule of thumb (with GOOD amps) u sholdn't need anywhere near the same wattage in the amp as the speakers...

for example I have Kenwood 650 powering my two 1200w subs and it is plenty...I cooooooould maybe push the amp up to 1000w but that would be it....besides I like my rear window intact! LOL

Lower wattage with better quality is ALWAYS the way to go - steer clear of "big" no name amps, asking for trouble!!

Stippy17

iTrader: (6)

I was under the assumption that I could run the amp on half of its true power (Meaning running at 400 RMS instead of its 800 RMS capabilties) so that in the future if I ever want to update to a better quality sub I wouldnt need to buy a new amp aswell. Was a wrong in thinking I could do that?

88iroc52387

iTrader: (2)

I must i've never heard the rule of thumb that any good amp doesn't need to produce near the power that subs call for you should be close to the range. Subs rms is all about the power that is needed to adequately control the movement of the subs. The more RMS you have available the easier it is for the amp to control the subs and the less likely you will be to blow the amp or subs due to voltage spikes. When you start under powering the subs they start fluctuating the voltage and the amp can spike. If the amp spikes it can simply pop a fuse or fry the amp, or blow a voice coil out of your subs or worse etc. Also make sure you know what ohms your speakers need to run at and what ohms the amp runs at. Some amp manfucators market their stuff 1000RMS at 1/2 OHM to bad nothing runs well at 1/2 ohm (unless u have competition stuff) its actually only producing 300-400 rms in the 4ohm range. Those subs i looked up are stable at 4 ohms with 200 rms-400 rms so get yourself something like
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...MRPM850&tp=115
OR
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=13878
Bridge the kicker amp. and make sure u wire the subs correctly you should be fine

good luck if you don't like those amps stick with Kicker, rockford, blaupunkets not bad and power acoustic has some decent ones

crytical point

pyramid crystal series for the win. They are cheap and reliable reguardless of what people say and they are good for 1ohm and will probly outlast the speakers. I am speaking from experience and the fact that I have 2 of them in my car and they have lasted me 2 years with alot of abuse on them and they are under rated.

woody88

get on ebay and look for a jbl 600.1 bp it would be perfect for them real good amp... but you could always get a bigger amp like what you want and not ohm it to its full power just make sure you ohm it right.. but they should be able to take 400 daily i am not much of a kicker fan but they can handle more than what they say...

DeboDaddy

Yea I wouldn't listen to this. This kind of mentality will cause clipping, and is much more likely to cause distortion and even harm your speakers.

Its much better off to go with an amp that can produce too much power for your application. You can always turn the gain down, and this way no matter how much you crank your stereo, the signal will be clean (assuming you choose a good quality brand)

ParkerTPIz

iTrader: (6)

i thought the mtx jackhammers where the 100lb subs that were on that gay show pimpmyride....???

any way check out an oldschool, LANZAR mono amp...o check out a MEMPHIS amp.....they both kick ***

RicksIroc86

if the subs are single voice coil 4 ohm or have dual 2 ohm voice coils get this amp here

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...e&i=489AP1000M

it has 500 watts rms at 2 ohm which is exactly what your subs are rated at and for the price and 3 year warranty its an awesome deal, i used to have one of them at thing was great

British Rich

Well we'll all have to agree to disagree then.

FYI - I am NOT running my amp at 100% (and never would) which is the only time distortion and blown fuses etc as mentioned above would become an issue.

I'm willing to bet some of u have blown a few speakers if this is how you do ur set up. Or do you run ur amps at 30-40% power?

I stand by my original statement and my example:
a Kenwood (or similar) 650w amp running at about 70% capacity will sound better (and louder) and last longer than a 1000w+ no name amp (unless u r lucky enough to find an unusually good one).

If you want to upgrade later then YES buy an overpowered amp, but if ur not planning to upgrade ur wasting ur money....as are a lot of other people apparently.....

lukn4trbl

Read this link on how to select amp power for speaker capabilities.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/car-...?highlight=rms

Speakers and amps are not rated, nor measured in the same fashion for
their power ratings (amps are electrical efficiency ratings, and speakers
are mechanical and electrical efficiency ratings).

The above link will get you close in any case.

stew_pidaso59

i run my 3 MTX tens on an old school Rockford Fosgate punch 800aII and I dont think there is an amp out there that I would trade for any reason. It is old school but it gets the job done fo sho. Any more and I'd be replacing the back glass....

Just my .02

DeboDaddy

I'd be willing to bet that you are unaware of the proper way to set the gains on an amp. Running an amp at "100%" does not mean having the gain and bass boost jacked to 100%. The poor mans way of properly setting the gains on an amp is by using a Digital multimeter.

And FYI, keep your bass boost down as well. All this does is boost the output in a certain frequency(usually around 45hz), and if your setup is working properly, you won't need this.

There is no agreeing to disagree here. Your ways are defective.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

What is the rest of your system and what other amp do you have?

I like the Focal and Audison amps. They are great quality but a bit expensive.

A good audison 5 channel amp to run front, back and subs will run around $1200.00.

Stippy17

iTrader: (6)

Thanks!



Ill look into these, thanks!



I have aftermarket 4x6's up front that were in the car when I bought it, but Ill be putting new 4x6s in. I have a brand new 4900iB Pioneer Head Unit w/ Ipod Dock, HD 6x9s rated at 150w RMS a piece, and my 12" MTX Jack Hammers rated at 250w RMS a piece. I still need to buy/build a custom box and get an amp.

Al Hasse

For that matter, any good 5-channel amp can efficiently power your whole system. I've been extremely happy with my Memphis Belle, which retails for about $900.00. Basically, it's a hybrid amp, class D 1100 watts into 1 ohm to the sub, and a class AB 75 watts X 4 into 4 ohms to the rest of the outputs. There are several others that can do just as well.

Stippy17

iTrader: (6)

I ended up buying the rest of what I needed yesterday.

I bought:

Custom 12" Sub Box - About $85 Shipped
Profile 1000W Amp - $104 Shipped
Pyramid 4x6 (x2) - About $40 Shipped
Pyramid 400w Amp - About $50 Shipped

I already had the 12" 250w RMS MTX Jack Hammers ($106 Shipped), the HD 150w RMS 6x9's (About $75), and wiring (About $40-50).

So for about $500 a got an all new audio system. Now I just have to wait for everything to arrive to set it all up.



What do you guys think?

The Project

iTrader: (6)

It doesn't really matter what we think. Install the components you bought and then YOU decide if it was worth the money and if it sounds good to you. It's your ears and you are the one who has to live with it.

What sounds great good to me may only be so-so and visa versa.

Bottom line...if your happy then that's all that counts.

Happy motoring

rockin rs

If you're looking for some clean power, I'd go with some high level name brand subs. You're going to get what you pay for, as every company has an entry level sub. Myself, I'm rolling with two JL audio W3's and an MTX 100001D Amp through a 1.0 farad capacitor. Beats mean, and beats clean.