Can somebody please explain subs and amps for me?
 

I'm looking at buying this package:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...P ackage.html

But it I read on the site that you should run 75-90% of the recommended RMS to reduce your risk of blowing the sub. Are you able to adjust the power comin out of the amp? I'm just confused..

I just don't know what to look for and how to really choose one I would want or what to even look at. I've done research and still don't understand.

yes u can adjust the gain on the amp

cashdollar, afugy, or ryan should be able to elaborate

Doesn't that just adjust the distortion?

it adjusts how much power is coming into it. if its turned down all the way your subs will not move. i have a 1000rms amp powering a 300rms sub currently. the gain is set so when my volume on the headunit is maxed, its seeing close to 300rms. its ok to add more watts, just depends on what youre playing and if the sub is beefy enough to handle it. anything that sounds overly sloppy is probably hurting/clipping the sub

Also, if I chose the JL package, what spec box would I need? Also what wiring kits and other things off of the site?

You'll want an amp that puts out approx the amount of RMS that the sub wants, at the correct ohm load.

IE an amp that puts out 400rms @ 4ohms would be great for a 400rms single 4ohm voice coil sub.

An amp with 400rms @ 2ohms would be good for 2 SVC 4 ohm subs in parallel, or one 4ohm DVC sub with the coils in parallel. Pretty easy stuff.

The gain is actually an adjustment based on the RCA input voltage. If you're running from a 2volt RCA source, the gain would be adjusted to approx 2V on the amp (usually they're numbered). Turning it up higher than that will introduce more distortion.. although I've done it on underpowered amps before.... try not to do it.

Honestly, it's best to have an amp with MORE power available than the subs can take, then turning it down based on how much extra power the amp has. This keep the signal cleaner, less chance to blow via distortion, etc. It's much easier to blow a sub by feeding it, say, 100watts less than it can take of a suuuuuper clipped signal, rather than feeding it 100 watts more of a perfectly clean signal.

Hope that made some sense.

I would just recommend saving up a little longer to get better subs, amp, and have someone make you a box just for your subs tuned the way you like it. They say set the gain lower because the subs and amps are over rated, they are able to do what they can but not all the time. Good subs are often underrated and can be safely run 15% over spec.

Clutch has it exactly right.

Best advice I could have gotten when I first got into car audio was to save my money for better equipment, even to start out on, as I learned more about the different system components in their purposes and how I was to utilize them safely to achieve the overall best sound possible.

When you start playing with aftermarket stereo, you will soon realize that it is more than just plugging in some wires and twisting some knobs. I'm taking a study break now so i'll just share you some links for you to look into a bit in your free time.

Wiring configuration: understanding voice coil configuration.
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/wo...igurations.asp

Here's basically a big car audio dictionary to look into too as a lot of terms may seem a bit confusing at first:
http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/boa...out-car-audio/

A few more things... There are a lot of tutorials explaining this, but I can simplify it. When setting the gain on your amplifier:
1. Play a 50Hz test tone with ALL setting on your head unit/equalizer/ everything flat.(no adjustments, all on "0") *Set volume on head unit (radio) to your maximum usual listening level.
3. Unhook speaker + and - from amplifier and insert dmm + and - into the same spots, turn your voltmeter to read VAC.
2. Use the formula VoltsAC = (RMS x Impedance)^1/2
Pronounced: Volts AC equals square root of (desired watts times ohms).

For example, if I wanted to run 500 watts rms to a 2-ohm load:
(500x2)^1/2 = 31.62 VAC

^^^^ This is obviously incomparable to using an actual oscilloscope in setting gains, but those are much more expensive as well as less common to have laying around. This is a general rule used widely throughout the car audio community.

Note: You can get your 50Hz test tone from here:
http://www.realmofexcursion.com/downloads.htm

A little personal advice, since you are new to this, go with a sealed enclosure. This will be a "low-power" application and a pre-fab enclosure off of eBay will do the job just fine, and save you a good bit of money in the long run. Also, save up a bit more money and you will be surprised how much you options will go up. Come up with a budget and even post it up here in the audio section. Either Ryan From Ohio, Afugy, MattismodderX, some others, or even myself probably wouldn't mind helping you out.

For the time being, check out and join some of these forums for some good reading. Enjoy! :)
http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/index.php?
http://www.caraudioclassifieds.org/forum/
http://www.caraudio.com/
http://downsouthbassproductions.com/forum/
http://down4sound.com/forum/

I'm sure I missed a few things... But oh well, that's all you get for now! :p

This is the package I'm deciding on, http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...P ackage.html
Won't be getting it until I get another job. From reading what everybody says, and wiring it in series down to 2 ohms in series will give me the best quality.

Parallel, to get 2x 4 ohm drivers to 2 ohms you would wire them in parallel.

Check out these calculators to understand. http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxcalcs.asp

Afugy, you will not have more posts than me.

Edit: I have that link in my previous reply. Dude not look? I love typing a lot of crap all of the time...

Seeing how he still got it wrong, I gave him the more direct link. No, I don't read your post when it take up more then half the screen and I can trust that you post correctly.

Post counts...... :p

That's what I meant, just tired, but series just made sense when I thought about it, neg to neg, pos to pos. It's all good as long ad I knew what I was talkin about. Lol,


This is gonna sound stupid but I'll ask anyways. How do you wire in parallel anyways? Aren't the connectors go right in the hole or around the connector? And would you just drop on another wire, and then put it to the other sub? If anyone could just show a picture of an actual application, I would appreciate it.

I learn better through visuals, but of the actual thing I'm trying to do, not diagrams.

Ok, since you got 2 inputs on your box it'll be easier to wire parallel outside the box. Hook up 2 speaker leads into the 2 box inputs, then stick the neg from both subs into the neg speaker terminal on the amp, and the pos from both subs into the pos speaker terminal on the amp. Then they'll be wires in parallel down to 2 ohms.

Why's the picture show a 2 channel amp though? weird.

So each speaker output would have 2 wire coming from it, and one goes to each sub output of the same sign?

This is pretty basic.

You will take 2 lengths of speaker wire, each length has a + and a -. If the wire is not marked then the copper wire is + and the silver wire -.

Hook one wire up per sub, + to + and - to -.

This will give you two lengths of wires total hooked up to two subs separately.

Now you will have to consult with your amps manual to see where you hook in for a bridged operation. Then you take both +'s and run it into 1 + on the amp. Then you take both -'s and run it into 1 - on the amp.

You have now bridged your first amp!

If you think this is complicate look itno an old school SoundStream Ref amp. Its goofy enough to throw off veterans of the hobby...

Thank you, summed up my previous posts pretty well. BUT, the amp I wanna get cannot be bridged, it is the one seen in the link in the first post.

Bring
Up
My
Problem

just do this