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Higher wattage amp?

mick777wauchope

New member
I am going to be running a 1000 watt rms amp to my 500 watt rms sub. Will that hurt it (if i keep the gains lower)? I have been hearing that under powering your sub will make your amp run too hard which is bad for it?
 


As long as you aren't raising the average heat to the coil over a specific time frame you're ok. If your speaker design is able to cool the coil efficiently you're fine. What you should be worried about with more power is mechanical failure...i.e. exceeding excursion limits. Box calculators can help you figure that one out.

Short answer...it's not likely you'll damage anything. Only way to be certain is to start reading about speakers and box designs. Oh yeah...your gain. That's the other #1 cause for speaker failure. Try to dial it in correctly. Go to JL Audio's website look through technical to find out how to set your gains using a digital multimeter.
 
how about specs on the amp and subwoofer your using? and realistilay you will never see 1000watts with out the perfect electrical.
 
how about specs on the amp and subwoofer your using? and realistilay you will never see 1000watts with out the perfect electrical.

Very good point. Based on the specific amp, the ohm load how it is going to be wired, etc all come into play. It is very inlikely it will ever hit 1000 watts and vertainly not for an extended period of time.
 


thus i want some info, and if this amp has fuses let me know how many and rating of each, simple math will give you an idea of what it can actualy produce.
 
Even with perfect electrical you may never see the full power out of the amp. Impedance rise plays a huge factor into a discussion like this.

Also there is no such thing as under powering the sub.

The only ways to truly hurt a sub is over powering it to the point the coil overheats or clipping.
 
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