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How many watts?

thanks for the replies. I am thinking i might just go with a sealed box to keep it simple. Can anyone suggest a good amp that wont kill my wallet for 700-900watt rms? I will be buying a 15 inch type R unless anyone can convince me to buy another sub for similar price.
 


That depends on how you wire it. If you get a dual 2 ohm voice coil sub and wire it to 1 ohm and get a 1 ohm stable amp. No recommendations can be made without knowing exactly what you're gonna get.
 
You can normally get more watts with wiring it to 1 ohm since it is less load on the amp but the amp has to be 1 ohm stable or you will fry it. you can check out this amp Hifonics HFI1000D 1000W Mono Class D Amplifier : $123.95 : VMInnovations.com
That's the one that I have on my 12 right now and it will have enough power for you without killing your wallet. It also have a remote level knob which I like because I can adjust the bass to different songs. Mine is wired to 2 ohms and has too much power for my kicker cvr so I have the gain turned down on it. It is rated at 1000W rms at 1 ohm. Hifonics also makes higher levels of the amp I listed or brutus amps which are good as well. I had never tried a hifonics before this one, but I read a lot on an audio forum before making the decision to get it and I'll never go back to the higher ones. You could buy a rockford or alpine or pioneer that would do the watts that would easily cost 2 to 3 times as much.
http://www.vminnovations.com/Product_4200/Hifonics-HFI1000D-1000W-Mono-Class-D-Amplifier.html
 


i have an SPL amp 4-channel. i wouldnt recommend my amp. it powers my door speakers and rear speakers but its not as powerful as my old 1000 watt pioneer at all i dont think
 
accuab said:
You can normally get more watts with wiring it to 1 ohm since it is less load on the amp but the amp has to be 1 ohm stable or you will fry it. you can check out this amp Hifonics HFI1000D 1000W Mono Class D Amplifier : $123.95 : VMInnovations.com
That's the one that I have on my 12 right now and it will have enough power for you without killing your wallet. It also have a remote level knob which I like because I can adjust the bass to different songs. Mine is wired to 2 ohms and has too much power for my kicker cvr so I have the gain turned down on it. It is rated at 1000W rms at 1 ohm. Hifonics also makes higher levels of the amp I listed or brutus amps which are good as well. I had never tried a hifonics before this one, but I read a lot on an audio forum before making the decision to get it and I'll never go back to the higher ones. You could buy a rockford or alpine or pioneer that would do the watts that would easily cost 2 to 3 times as much.
http://www.vminnovations.com/Product_4200/Hifonics-HFI1000D-1000W-Mono-Class-D-Amplifier.html
Click to expand...


Less "load"(ohm) actually increases the amplifiers work. Watts = heat. Work = heat. Bass knobs are nothing more than an extension of the gain. Bass knob = gain. Typically it's utilized for two reasons:

1) Level match mids and sub
2) Ability to maximize signal going into amplifier without clipping the signal.

It is NOT to be used a volume knob ;P
 
I would go for the higher impedance setup because generally speaking it goes like this:
-less impedance = more noise
-more impedance = more SQ

At least that's what I've come to believe lol
 
I'm also kind of surprised that no where in this thread anyone has mentioned a multiple woofer setup. Seems like all he is interested is a hard bass, not so much of the quality but the quanitity. Also, what's with everyone needing 1kwatt amplifiers to drive a single sub? Not only are you taxing your stock alternator, but there are better ways to achieve this, mainly 2 subwoofers with 250watts each will achieve the same 3 decebel increase as the 1000 w single when compared to a 500w single. Long story short, buy a reasonable amp that you car is cabable of powering ie: less then 1000w should be plenty, stick two of your 12in type r's in a ported box to raise your output at more reasonable frequencies and be done with it. Plenty of boom your car is capable in producing.
 


@blackgtp-----what are you going for crazy lows that make your teeth shake or just low enough to be tolerable and have plenty of sound quality.

FWIW the last 4 subs i have put in my different cars have been Infinity Reference 12's. i have run them 1 sealed, 2 sealed, 1 ported, and 2 ported and i have to say that they have performed great in every application, just enough bump but without sacrificing sound quality, and they can be had for a pretty cheap.

Also make sure you get the right head unit. Pioneer does wonders for subs\bass because most of them have HIGHLY customizable EQs rather than 3 or 4 presets. If your HU doesnt have a tweakable EQ then consider getting at least a 5 or 7 band external EQ and mount it either under your HU or somewhere inconspicous. Also your headunit should have a sub control in it, you don't want to have to run a remote knob for your amp if you don't need to.

@chamilton89 --- i totally agree on the amp comments. even at 300w you can get a sub to hit pretty well. also keep in mind the more power you are trying to dump into your subs the more likely you are to need a capacitor, and the more power you are trying to push the bigger cap you will need.
 
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I800C0LLECT said:
Less "load"(ohm) actually increases the amplifiers work. Watts = heat. Work = heat. Bass knobs are nothing more than an extension of the gain. Bass knob = gain. Typically it's utilized for two reasons:

1) Level match mids and sub
2) Ability to maximize signal going into amplifier without clipping the signal.

It is NOT to be used a volume knob ;P
Click to expand...

Some amp knobs are a remote bass boost and you should steer clear of those. Bass boost will introduce clipping. I got one because I'm utilizing the stock head unit and I needed a way to match the bass between different songs. Since everyone records their music at different levels, there's no one way to set your gain and be perfectly happy with it. I run a bigger amp because I like to have headroom. Plus I have options if I decide to change it or sell it. If you got a 400w rms amp, you are limited to just what you have. If you have to turn the gain all the way up on the amp, you are probably clipping it. And you can do more with 2 subs as opposed to 1 but the op mentioned getting 1 15. My box for 1 12 spans the entire width of the trunk. I didn't want to lose all of my trunk like I would have if I went for 2 or more subs.
 
chamilton 89 i was considering 2 type R 12's but at 600watt rms each wouldnt i need to run an amp with at least 1000watts rms to fully utilize the two subs?

timreams as far as if i am going for BOOM or SQ i want something in between. and my HU is the pioneer DEH 5300UB

so basically i am debating between 1 15 or 2 12's.
 
oh and i am noticing that on the alpine type R's and kicker L's the sensitivity is not that high (85-87db) compared to some other brands at around 90db or higher . does this really matter?
 
blakgtp said:
chamilton 89 i was considering 2 type R 12's but at 600watt rms each wouldnt i need to run an amp with at least 1000watts rms to fully utilize the two subs?

timreams as far as if i am going for BOOM or SQ i want something in between. and my HU is the pioneer DEH 5300UB

so basically i am debating between 1 15 or 2 12's.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of things there that need to be considered. First of all, a speakers rms value is just what the speaker is rated for. Doesn't mean you have I meet that value. So no, you don't have to get anywhere near 1kw. I personally run two 12s with about 600 rms And am more than happy. That being said, I'll also Adress the sensitive thing. Sensitivity of a speaker is just one more measure of how we look at a speakers ability to reproduce sound. You will find that as power handling goes up usually sensitivity goes down because the voice coil is larger. And as for the difference between 90 and 85, it would be hardly noticeable. Anyway, I would do the two 12s. More sound, tighter bass, less power required.
 


Not sure how big you are on sound quality, but headroom is a good thing.

A trend as of late in home audio has been a draw to pro audio and/or high sensitivity systems.

Some sacrifice frequency response in favour of dynamic range.

It really depends on the material you listen to as well.

If its mostly modern tracks they will already be heavily compression and you probably won't notice much of a difference.
 
ok so i have changed direction slightly but have pretty much decided on 2 12's in a sealed box. i will be getting an amp that puts out 600-900watts rms at 1 ohm. Which of these subs do you think will work the best?: alpine type r, cerwin vega vmax124, jbl p1224, re audio sex.
 
blakgtp said:
ok so i have changed direction slightly but have pretty much decided on 2 12's in a sealed box. i will be getting an amp that puts out 600-900watts rms at 1 ohm. Which of these subs do you think will work the best?: alpine type r, cerwin vega vmax124, jbl p1224, re audio sex.
Click to expand...

Should give you great sound with 2 12's in a sealed box with that power input. All of those brands are good, so I'm not going to suggest anything to you. I'm not sure why the one ohm, but if you are going to wire your subs so they present one ohm to your amplifier, then make sure you know the amp can handle a 1 ohm draw and the power output is where you want it. Good luck!
 
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