Amp to run with 2 12'' Kicker L7's at 4ohms

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

Hey, New to the forum but not to forums in general. Looking for some help on what amp I should run with 2 kicker 12'' L7's at 4 ohms. I have searched around and have seen a few threads but nobody has given me an answer I really like yet. I am/was planning to run them at 4 ohms and would like to get all the power possible out of them without breaking the bank. If possible. I was looking at the Soundstorm 4000.1 because it seemed to meet the power I needed but reviews say its way over rated. Other thought was to get a kicker 1500.1 although I was told I should get a 1000.1 or 750.1 which seems WAY underpowered. I might be wrong. So what should I be looking at getting?Any advice is helpful and the quicker the better! I wanna get these things in!

Click to read more...

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

You would come out much cheaper grabbing 1500w @1 ohm and wiring the subs to run at that impedance. FYI, lots of people run the ZX1500.1s at 1ohm daily with no issue. You will need a fairly stout electrical in order to do so though.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

I have heard that you get better sound at 4 ohms or the higher the ohm. maybe not as loud but better sound. Is this true?

 

[Dtrom 10+ year member]

You want to run them at 4 ohm? So their dual 4's? Why not run them at 1 ohm on a nice 1500+ rms amp.

Skar sk1500.1

Rockford fosgate 1500.1

Sundown saz1500.1

Hifonics brz1700.1

Just a few good options there

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

I have heard that you get better sound at 4 ohms or the higher the ohm. maybe not as loud but better sound. Is this true?

While that is true, in the sub stage I'm about 99% certain you won't notice the difference to the ear. Especially w/ L7s. Arguably the worst sounding sub Kicker ever made. I would know, I ran them and even the Xs sound much, much cleaner. Run 1ohm and save yourself tons of money. You are going to get very good sound out of something like a Kicker, RF, Crescendo amp even at 1ohm. They are high quality amps with insane damping factors.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

I'm open to any suggestions. I just always heard that you get better sound out of higher ohm. This might be wrong though. Either way I'm going to get a ton of bass so I'd rather have good sound with it than more bass.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

While that is true, in the sub stage I'm about 99% certain you won't notice the difference to the ear. Especially w/ L7s. Arguably the worst sounding sub Kicker ever made. I would know, I ran them and even the Xs sound much, much cleaner. Run 1ohm and save yourself tons of money. You are going to get very good sound out of something like a Kicker, RF, Crescendo amp even at 1ohm. They are high quality amps with insane damping factors.

Well darn thats not what I like to hear after dropping 300 on the set... Any certain kicker amp recommendation then? Also another stupid quesiton. Its a 4 ohm sub at 750 rms. So if you drop it to 2 ohms does it go to 1500rms and so on?

 

[Dtrom 10+ year member]

I wouldn't run kicker amps at 1 ohm daily.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

Im looking at the Hifonic brutus right now. I'm sure sure why I thought like a 4 ohm sub when dropped down makes the RMS switch

Ex: 4 ohm - 750rms = 2 ohm - 1500rms = 1 ohm - 3000rms

 

[Jerhemy 10+ year member]

Im looking at the Hifonic brutus right now. I'm sure sure why I thought like a 4 ohm sub when dropped down makes the RMS switch
Ex: 4 ohm - 750rms = 2 ohm - 1500rms = 1 ohm - 3000rms

No. The rms of the sub will stay the same.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

No. The rms of the sub will stay the same.

So if thats the same then do amps decrease or increase by half (for the most part) as far as the wattage and ohms? And then why would anyone run something at a higher ohm?

 

[Jerhemy 10+ year member]

So if thats the same then do amps decrease or increase by half (for the most part) as far as the wattage and ohms? And then why would anyone run something at a higher ohm?

Typically your rms wattage output will double-ish each time you half the ohm load. ex: an amp does 600rms at 4ohm, 1200rms at 2ohm, and 2500 at 1ohm. Usually for subs you run at as low of an impendence as your amp can handle, in order to get the most wattage out of your amp. People will run at higher ohm loads because they simply have to with the coil configuration of their subs.

Just look at some amps on here or on ebay and check out the prices for a good amp that does rated at 4ohm, and then find another amp that does the same rated power at 1 ohm, the price will be dramatically different most likely.

 

[Brandon1024 10+ year member]

Yea I have seen that. The only amp that will run 4 ohms and give it the 1600 watt load is an alpine at around 700. while the hifonics is 1700 watt at 1 ohm for 200. So the 4ohm l7s I have can run at only 4 ohms or 1 ohm I believe? So why would anyone run them at 4 ohms if it cost so much more and you can run them at 1. Is there a big sound difference? Also why cant you run them at 2 ohms?

My real question is whats the difference between the 4 ohm sub running at 1 ohm off a amp providing full rms vs the 4 ohm sub running at 4 ohms at full rms

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Honestly, I would recommend RF amps over the newer Kicker ones. If you can find a decent KX1200.1, they were rated for 1ohm stability and were powerhouse amps. I had two of them and still kick myself to this day for letting them go.

Anyways, here is a great RF amp that will do well over rated (probably 1200-1400w depending on your voltage) for a decent price. This would be the route I would go. RF Power T1000.1bd

Don't take what I said wrong, I still liked my L7s and didn't think they sounded "bad" per-se (even though many here will tell you they do sound bad), but they are by no means an SQ sub. They are made to get loud, get loud with them, k?

 

[Jerhemy 10+ year member]

Yea I have seen that. The only amp that will run 4 ohms and give it the 1600 watt load is an alpine at around 700. while the hifonics is 1700 watt at 1 ohm for 200. So the 4ohm l7s I have can run at only 4 ohms or 1 ohm I believe? So why would anyone run them at 4 ohms if it cost so much more and you can run them at 1. Is there a big sound difference? Also why cant you run them at 2 ohms?
My real question is whats the difference between the 4 ohm sub running at 1 ohm off a amp providing full rms vs the 4 ohm sub running at 4 ohms at full rms

You can only wire to certain OHM loads as determined by the OHM configuration of the subs you have. Check out the diagrams here

Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams, Two 4 ohm Dual Voice Coil (DVC) Speakers

and as far as running them at 4ohm vs 1 ohm... as was previous stated, with the subsatge you're really most likely not going to be able to hear any audible difference is sound quality or clarity from 1 ohm to 4 ohm. Running an amp at 4ohm's it typically more efficient though, making it less tolling on your electrical system.

The biggest difference will be the amount of money you end up spending on an amp. I would just get a nicer amp that will run rated power at 1ohm instead of throwing money at a massive amp that will give you enough power at 4ohms.