Amps 101

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Picked up a new amp (Rockford Fosgate 1501BD Subwoofer Mono Power Amp) but dont know what subs will work best with it. Really like the 10w7's but after reading other threads, Im not sure anymore. Any suggestions?

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[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

brahma, xxx, magnum d2, IA Death Penalty. It all depends on what kind of sound you want. SQ or SPL.

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Want that punch sound if possible. Also would a cap be needed for this amp?

 

[bcarpenterfhl 10+ year member]

no cap is necessary. from what i hear they are useless. you're gonna need bigger than 4 gauge cable.

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

ya 0 gauge works nice. Thats the biggest wire that still has lots of stuff that works for it. amp inputs, distrubution, ect. Plus the difference in price of 4 ga and 0 isnt too much so u might as well go for the 0 gauge. U can get it cheap at weldingsupply.com or if you want something more fancy looking and easier to work with, go with the one at knukonceptz.com

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Circuit Breaker or Fuses? Or is either needed?

Thx for the replies. Any help is good help.

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

Circuit Breaker or Fuses? Or is either needed?
Thx for the replies. Any help is good help.

What are u talking about? If ur talking about the wiring, well ur gonna need a fuse from the batt to ur amps. Then fused distrubution is up to u but thats kind of a waste. Amps already come with fuses so dont worry about that

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

also mtx 9500 , adire audio brahma ,and image dynamics idmax subs are great. caps imho are band aids at best read here and see lol http://www.carsound.com/UBB/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=020321

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Last audio system I had I was blowing fuses at the battery every other week. Want to make sure that I dont have to go throught that again. A buddy of mine said he was using some type of circuit breaker on his. Any suggestions to prevent that from happening again? Thx

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

i think its fine if you get the right fuse and make sure the wire is big enuff. For example if you amps max at a 95 amp pull get a 120 amp fuse or so but you gotta make sure the wire is big enuff also. Thats why its always good to just do it the first time with a good size wire.

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

What will prevent my lights from flickering using this amp? Should I upgrade the alt or is there a another way to prevent problems like this? Thx.

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Half of the threads I have read say caps are useless and half say they help?

Which is it? Just want to make sure I dont blow out my alt with this amp.

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

upgrade ur wiring to 0 gauge first. Do the Big 3 in 0 Gauge also. If that still doesnt help then i would suggest a new battery. Then if ur still not satisfied go for a new alt. BUT a point that i should bring up is, if you plan on gettin one of those good subs, It would be very helpful to put them in a ported box and then they wont need as much watts to sound twice as loud. Less strain on ur electrical.

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[RandyJ 10+ year member]

JoseMCeee, do you know what you are talking about? If his amp pulls a max of 95 amps, then 120 is a little too big of a size fuse, after it popped it would already of allowed something like 130-140A to the amp, and I dont believe the BD1501's are internally fused are they? So that fused distro stuff would not be a waste of money, it would be very helpful actually.

4awg will be sufficient for that amp, if you plan on upgrading later or running another amp then 0awg will probably be in order though. 0awg can bring up many difficulties when building your system if you do not have the space available or money, because the extra cost of 0awg will add up if you are on a budget.

A cap will help depending on your system and car. What type of car/truck is it? If you have a f350 with a big *** 180A alty and 900A deep cycle battery, you wont need one, but if you have a smaller car, a cap may help, or another battery, big 3 upgrade or an HO alty. That would take care of the flickering for the most part. I assume you mean light dimming?

Popping fuses, you were most likely doing that because your amp was pulling too much for the fuse. It opens up to alow a certain amount of amperage above what it is rated to flow through for only a certain period of time, after that it will pop. So if your amp was drawing 80A and you had a 60A fuse, it would pop after a certain amount of time, but not right away.

 

[AaronG909 10+ year member]

Thx guys, for all the suggestions.

Anyone have any suggestions on a good place to have all of this done in Southern CA or anywhere in CA? Tired of going to these places that do cheap installs with cheap material. Want this system installed right for a change. Thx.