I'd like suggestions on which amp would work well with my system. I've tried to do some research, but I don't have a computer right now. I'm an audio novice, so common sense to you might be educational for me. Thanks in advance for any help.

1991 Z28, T-top

Kenwood KDC-X896 eXcelon is powering:
Unknown 4x6s in dash (PO said he replaced them)
Pioneer 6x9s from Walmart, ~25W RMS matched to head unit

I want to replace the speakers down the line, but they're adequate for now since I have other priorities.

I just picked up two Rockford Fosgate P210S4 10" Punch P2 subs. I got the pair for $50 from someone in my Jeep club. My carpenter friend is making me a rear well box according to REZ's dimensions in post #26, here.

Sub specs:
2 10" RF Punch P2, 4-ohm, 200W RMS, 400W peak

Looking for an amp suggestion for the subs.

 

im no good with audio but what jeep club?

 

CherokeeForum.com in the regional section, the Maryland group is very active. I had a Cherokee, rolled it, and bought a Comanche. Feel free to stop in and introduce yourself. I have the same username over there.

 

I have a tj and am a member at marylandjeepclub and jeep forum

 

are they single voice coil or dual voice coil? an inexpensive yet good amp ive messed with is the new line of Power Acoustic. if your speakers are only 4ohm stable, then id sugest you find a matching amp @ 4ohms. makes life easy. a two channel bass amp id say something in the range of 300-400watts x 2 amp is more than enough. as long as it gives you 300-400 watts at 4ohms. later on if you wanna bridge it down to 2ohms for more power you have that option. but that would mean you need 2ohm stable subs later( if these arent already). price range ive seen is between $70-$100 for this amp brand. hope that helps

 

Subs: http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Mobil...5P210S4&tp=111

Single voice coil, 4 ohm stable.

If I understand correctly, I could wire each sub to a channel, or I could wire them together into one channel? If that's right, what's the difference, and what do you recommend?

 

Ok I have the rf p2 dvc 12 and am using the alpine mrp-500 from crutchfield to power it and am very pleased so far. The amp is also plenty small enough to be hidden out of the way. As far as wiring the subs, wire them in parallel to 2 ohms and to the amp, which only has 1 channel since it is a mono amp.

 

or, find a two channel amp, that at 4ohms pushes roughly 200-300 watts per channel. so that later on, if you decide to get more boom boom pow , you can bridge the amp, for higher rated speakers, like anything with a dvc ( dual voice coil). this way youre not overpowering the amp, it will run cool and noooo problems .

 

I was searching at work today and found some good reads on Crutchfield. Ordered a Kenwood eXcelon x500 mono amp. 500W RMS @2ohms. Also ordered a 4ga solid copper wiring kit, and went to Lowe's after work for a sheet of MDF and box building supplies.

Sound good?

 

thats a real good amp. but idk if your speakers are 2ohm stable. you can run the risk of locking up the magnet as soon as you turn up the volume if theyre not. do some research on your speakers, if it says it can handle 2 ohms, go for it. if not, look into what i previously wrote.

 

Crap. That was the first thing I checked, and I forgot all about it when I started looking...

So that Alpine amp is good for two 4ohm subs on one channel, 300W to each sub? And my best bet is to return or resell the Kenwood I just ordered?


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Okay, I found the page I was looking at: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-91ocQZf...mplifiers.html On that chart, I understand it as saying 2 SVC 4ohm subs can be wired in parallel to a 2ohm amp.

That's verified, I thought, by this diagram that shows the amp @2ohms and each sub @4ohms: http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...4-ohm_mono.jpg


If I'm wrong, can someone tell me what exactly I'm looking for on the specs of an amp that would allow me to power two 4ohm 200W RMS subs? I'm trying, but I keep confusing myself.

 

You should be good with the kenwood. By wiring them in parallel to 2 ohms , you will be fine, the subs can handle it. For example my dvc rockfod fosgate is 4 ohm but i wired the coils ( similar to two svc subs) to 2 ohms to match my amp and it runs great. If I added a second one I could wire them down the whole way to 1 ohm if the amp would be stable and be fine. So as long as the amp can handle the load there is no problem. BTW, that amp will work at 4 ohm stable so no need to send it back.
Edit: that 4 gauge wiring kit is way too big, it wont hurt anything but the wires will be a real b**** to get to fit in the terminals, I had to cut my 6 gauge alot to make it fit.

 

so do u have any clue what ur are talking about or r u just trying to sound like u know what ur talking about

it dont matter what ohm the subs are what matters is how many ohms the amp is stable down to in bridged mode, or how many ohms its stable to if its a mono amp


to the op u need to see how many watts rms ur amp puts out at
8 ohms
4 ohms
2 ohms
1 ohm

alot of amps are only 4 or 2 ohm stable unless u buy a more exspensive amp

once u know the power output of the amp at a given ohm rating and u know the ohm of each voice coil in the subs, u then have to decide on how to wire the subs to the amp to get the desired power level and make sure the ohms arent dropped to low for the amp

whats the ohm rating on the rockford p2's u bought and are they single or dual voice coils ,whats the rated rms power for those subs

never mind i seen they are single voice coils at 4 ohms each

u have a few options for wiring them
1 to each channel for a 4 ohm load on each channel
bridge the amp and wire them in parallel for a 2 ohm load
or
bridge the amp and run the subs in a series for an 8 ohm load


i recomend no more then 250 watts rms for those subs so looks at ur amp and see what it puts out rms power for each of those configurations and choose acordingly

 

looke dup the kenwoods amps specs , since its a mono amp i would not wire the subs in parallel
since in a 2ohm load that amp will put out 300 watts rms , u could very well wire it this way but u will have to be carefull with the volume so u dont fry the voice coils

unfortunatly i cannot find the rated power output at 8 ohms for that amplifier but im sure at 8 ohms u wont risk frying ur new subs as rms power output will prolly be more along the lines of 150-200 watts rms

 

Project, amp puts out 300W RMS at4ohms, but at 2ohms it puts out 500W RMS.
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Mobil...13X5001&tp=115

 

i dont know how i missed that lol that amp is overkill for what u have, i would wire them in a series so the amp sees an 8 ohm load.
the only problem i see is they do not list rated power output with an 8 ohm load so it could very well be underpowered for those subs

if it were me i would return the amp and get a different one more suited to those subs
or i owuld buy a second amp and run one sub off each amp and just be carefull to not turn them up to loud

 

this is the amp i would have gone with
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-JL-AUDIO-JX2...Car_Amplifiers

or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2011-KIC...item53f165229f

 

Wouldn't I need two of those since I'm running two subs? Each sub is 200W RMS, and neither of those you listed approaches 400W.

 

u do not add the power of the 2 subs together
each sub can only handle about 200 watts rms power
heres the specs on the jl

• JX Series 1-Channel Class A/B Car Amplifier
• RMS Power Rating (@ 14.4V):
  • 4 ohms: 175 watts x 1 chan.
  • 3 ohms: 210 watts x 1 chan.
  • 2 ohms: 250 watts x 1 chan.
  if u wire themin parallel to get 2 ohms each sub will see 250 watts rms max
• which is right were id want to put those subs

 

500 rms at 2 ohms is just about right for those two subs, they are 200 each so that value is within 20 percent, not perfect but acceptable and easier on the amp then if you were pushing that little jl to feed both of those p2's. My p2 is 400 watt rms and im powering it with a 500 watt rms alpine mono amp at 2 ohms and everything works perfect as long as you are careful with the gain and you listen for the subs bottoming out on hard bass notes. My old polk dxi was only 360 watts rms and was fine with my 500 watt kenwood as long as I kept the gain down. Had that 6 months before I sold it.

 

This is absolutely not true. The amp can only put out 250 watts rms no matter how many subs there are, if you have 5 subs at 2 ohms total the amp still pushes 250 rms TOTAL, so each gets 50 watts rms. If your reasoning was correct that amp produce 1250 watts rms with 5 subs, which would make spending 600 dollars on a true 1000 watt rms amp stupid. His setup is fine as long as he pays attention and takes his time tuning it in, the rockford kenwood combo is a good one.

 

Thanks, Savage. The problem with forums is you never know who knows what they're talking about. Nothing against anyone who replied here, but I got unanimous 'go aheads' on caraudio.com. Do you have advice or a resource to look at that will show me how to tune the system? I have a Kenwood eXcelon X896 head unit, and it has more audio customization options than I know what to do with. Would it be cost effective to do the install myself and take it to a shop to be tuned?

 

I'm no expert by any means but I try to help with what i know. Well what does your system consist of so far? If it is just the head unit and subs you can tune it yourself with a careful ear for free which is the most cost effective method. On top of that you can tune it to your preference. For the basic sub tuning, you will not want to use any of the options on the head unit, keep the eq at a middle ground setting without an bass boost or loudness. DO NOT use any of the low pass crossovers on the head unit for the sub, tune those one you amp when you hook up your system. Typically you set that anywhere from 80hz to 125hz based on what frequency you want to play through the sub, and is dependent on what music you usually like. Second, while bass boost sounds fun I highly recommend against playing with it, because only adds bass at one frequency and if your gain is up too high you'll fry everything pretty quick. The gain is what people have a hard time with the most, and in your situation like mine, it can be pretty tricky because if you set it too high you will fry the subs without ever getting tell tale distortion. Your best bet is to start with it at the minimum setting and slowly turn it up until you get the loudness you want at your highest listening volume, just dont get greedy trying to get everything they have, then you will want to pay someone with the proper testing equipment to do it for you.
I know this was really brief but crutchfield has everything you are looking for pretty much, I just cant find them right now.

 

god dam we have some real idiots here when it comes to car audio, go find a section u actually now about and go help there.it never amazes me how many ppl have no clue what they are talking about

u do not add or multiply total power by each sub installed, i was a profesional car audio installer for many years and had my own shop with many cars going on to win many sound quality and db drag racing events

i myself have a total of about 42 wins over the years , i was almost breaking the 150db barrier with 2 subs and one amp while ppl were struggling to break 150db with 4-6 subs and multiple amps


2 subs wired in parallel each sub gets the full 250 watts rms not half of the power per sub, it does not mean the amplifer output is multiplied by the amount of subs , no matter the amount of subs each sub still recives the same amount of power

using the kenwood amp he has wired in parallel to both subs will put that amp in a 2 ohm load and make the amp put out 500 watss rms , each sub will get the full 500 watts and each sub will fry within a matter of minutes

using the jl or kicker amp with the subs in paraller wiring will put either amp into a 2 ohm load and 250-300 watts rms to each sub


listen to these guys and wire those to junk rockford p2's in parrallel to that kenwood amp and u will fry both voice coils within minutes

 

You know what I never insulted you, but since you insist on throwing around wrong information with your insults Ill throw some information at you. These are all from crutchfield and all say the exact same thing
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-KJSEDh1...fers-ohms.html
Read the match power to power, maybe it will jog your memory.
http://community.crutchfield.com/car...-amp-questions
heres one from some veterans on caraudio forum.
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/ampli...its-power.html
I will however say it is a common myth as people go from one sub at 4 ohm to two at 2 ohm then yes power will almost double from the drop in load hence the myth that wiring in series gives both full power.

 

Thanks again, savage. I posted on my caraudio.com thread asking for a couple more confirmations. Everyone told me not to worry about it.

 

Ok, so as far as that turning two channels into one thing, that's called "Bridging." And what that does is it combines the channels into one, which in turn is combing the power from each channel, and sending it all through one. 4AWG wiring is some pretty heavy duty stuff, you probably didn't need that thick. I ordered a Rockford Fosgate Punch P300.1 amp, and a kicker comp 10" in a truck sub box, and it drops nicely into the well. When looking at amps for a sub, you need to make sure you match the "Ohms" (resistance) from the amp to what your sub calls for. So, my comp 10" was rated for 4Ohms, so my Rockford Fosgate amp puts out 4Ohms... Get what I'm saying? Also, try to make sure your RMS from the amp is close to, if not the same as, the RMS your sub calls for. RMS is the CONTINUOUS power your amp can take. Overpowering your subs will either blow your sub, or fry your amp depending on which is being over powered. Peak power is just how much your amp can put out or how much your sub can handle. That's a big mistake alot of novices make: they buy an amp thats rated at 400w peak, and a sub thats rated at lets say 600 w peak, then they typically crank up the gain (thinking its a volume ****) and they fry their amp, because they are sending the max (400 watts) to the sub from the amp, so the amp overheats and sometimes fries. I'm working on an audio overhaul for my 86 IROC, so if you have any other questions that you need answered, I may be able to help since I'm going through the exact same thing. Next step for me is the 4x6's under the dash.

 

wow... its strange to read the differences in opinions here, the fact is, every sub you add to an amp as long as you stay at the recommended ohm load needed to suply the power divides the amps output power. 1 sub= full rms output to that sub, 2 subs= each get half the rms, 3 subs= each sub gets 1/3 the rms output and so on. Its just the way it goes. As stated wrongly above would be saying my wall is recieving 10,000w from my Kicker zx2500.1 that rms's 2500w @ 2ohms. And as far as tuning the sub amp go to this website and use the calculator
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-ohm.htm
Set the deck to flat line all zero's and no loudness. Find a 60hz test tone and set it to repeat, disconnect the speaker wires on the amp, use a digital volt meter set to AC power, turn your deck upto 75% +- or your prefered max volume and attach your volt leads to the +- output of the sub amp and begin turning the amps gain and boost (if wanted) up to the volts given on the calc. Then reconnect speaker leads and set up the deck eq and listen. Use the sub output on the deck ( if you have one ) to adjust your amp volume or use the bass **** (prefered)(if you have one). If you dont have those and the amp is too loud then reduce the gain. Now at least you know you are not surpassing the amps volt matching- rca to amp. Your amp my not surpass the total capacity of your setup but can still cook coils by being turned up too far.
In example, my amp is rated 2500w rms @ 2ohm. ( birth sheet says 2757w so I will use this number).
Put this wattage into P and your ohm load into R and hit calculate.= 47.25 this is volts you gain match on the voltmeter with 60hz tone.