Anyone use Alpine PDX-1.600 or 1.1000? Measured output numbers?

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

Just wondering what wattage these things are putting out in real-world bench/ birthsheets what have you....I've heard that the 1.1000 usually puts out close to 1100w@4 and 2ohms @14.4v real world. What about the 1.600?

I need to decide between the two to power a single Polk SR124-dvc sub which is rated at 700w rms. 1.1000 is significantly more costly, so if 1.600 is underrated and putting out around 700w rather than 600, I'd think it would be sufficient and save me at least 150-200$.

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[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

You do not have to feed a given subwoofer all of its rated RMS input capability to get satisfactory performance out of it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

If budget is an issue and the 1.600 fits your financial needs better then even if it only outputting rated wattage (600w) then that should be more than sufficient to get that Polk moving well. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Just my $0.02

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

yeah...that's what people have been telling me. But I listen to music that has quite a lot of subsonic bass information at fast transients....punchy electronic bass and kick drum sounds (minimal techno). People have been warning me that these types of sounds require a healthy wattage to produce with control....question is whether this Polk sub rating of 700w rms means a true 700w amp(which I think the 1.600 is pretty close to...maybe 650w) will handle this sort of stuff. I won't be listening at SPL's over 120db, and 90% of the time I'll be closer to 95-105db.

Am I gonna have a healthy enough headroom if running 650-700w to 700w rated speaker?

The guy I bought the sub from said his pdx-1.1000 was making the sub start to distort with the gain set at halfway...this sounds like slight overkill for that speaker then no?

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

Come to think of it, I already have a Boston2-channel amp that is supposed to put out around 500w@ 2ohms @14.4v, bridged mono. I could save myself 400$ and just use that. But will that be obviously under-powering?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

yeah...that's what people have been telling me. But I listen to music that has quite a lot of subsonic bass information at fast transients....punchy electronic bass and kick drum sounds (minimal techno). People have been warning me that these types of sounds require a healthy wattage to produce with control....question is whether this Polk sub rating of 700w rms means a true 700w amp(which I think the 1.600 is pretty close to...maybe 650w) will handle this sort of stuff. I won't be listening at SPL's over 120db, and 90% of the time I'll be closer to 95-105db.
Am I gonna have a healthy enough headroom if running 650-700w to 700w rated speaker?

I think you're misunderstanding headroom. That term is generally reserved for having an amp setup purposefully to output less than its potential. This way when a particularly demanding musical passage asks more from the amplifier than it is accustomed to providing there is that little bit of extra 'Oomph' on tap available to be sent to whatever speaker(s) the amp in question is powering.

The guy I bought the sub from said his pdx-1.1000 was making the sub start to distort with the gain set at halfway...this sounds like slight overkill for that speaker then no?

Actually to me it sounds more like the person you're speaking of isn't familiar with the proper technique for setting the input sentivity on his amp(s).

Example - I'm running my single sub, which is factory-rated for 600w RMS off of an amp rated for 750w @ 2 Ohms (the load I am currently presenting it with a Dual 4 Ohm sub with the coils wired in parallel) but will exceed factory ratings easily.

I've set the gains for 700w and the amp has considerably more to offer if I ask it of it - and thus far haven't had any problems with bottoming out. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Come to think of it, I already have a Boston2-channel amp that is supposed to put out around 500w@ 2ohms @14.4v, bridged mono. I could save myself 400$ and just use that. But will that be obviously under-powering?

Well - while it is possible feeding it 700w as opposed to 500w might (and I stress the "might") make an audible difference in output I cannot see where it would make a difference worth spending $400. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

my birth sheet is 739 for my 600.1 but thats at 14.4 so I would say solid 600 for sure in the 13.6 range, thats at 2 or 4 ohm the pdx cares not

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

I think you're misunderstanding headroom. That term is generally reserved for having an amp setup purposefully to output less than its potential. This way when a particularly demanding musical passage asks more from the amplifier than it is accustomed to providing there is that little bit of extra 'Oomph' on tap available to be sent to whatever speaker(s) the amp in question is powering.

Actually to me it sounds more like the person you're speaking of isn't familiar with the proper technique for setting the input sentivity on his amp(s).

Example - I'm running my single sub, which is factory-rated for 600w RMS off of an amp rated for 750w @ 2 Ohms (the load I am currently presenting it with a Dual 4 Ohm sub with the coils wired in parallel) but will exceed factory ratings easily.

I've set the gains for 700w and the amp has considerably more to offer if I ask it of it - and thus far haven't had any problems with bottoming out. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Well - while it is possible feeding it 700w as opposed to 500w might (and I stress the "might") make an audible difference in output I cannot see where it would make a difference worth spending $400. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

I simply want to know if you've got an amp putting out an honest 700w (or the 500w for that matter)to a speaker rated at 700w rms(the speaker is 1200W max supposedly), which would be the limiting factor? Would the speaker begin to bottom out before the amp or vice versa if you were testing the limits of the system. If it is the speaker that would bottom out first, then I don't see what the point would be to use anything of higher wattage than the 700w with that 700w speaker.

Bottom line is I am wondering what advantage if any I would gain by powering the 700W sub with an 1100W amp over the 700w amp. Yes the 1100w amp would have more headroom theoretically, but if the speaker would bottom out before the 700w amp would, why would you need more headroom? Yet, I keep hearing that one should ideally power a speaker with an amp that is rated ABOVE the speaker's RMS rating rather than right AT its rating?

also, I'm not as concerned about the relative audible differences in output as I am with control and articulation of demanding bass passages; for instance the aforementioned fast transient+sub-bass heavy electronic bass/kicks often found in minimal techno/tech-house, or, say rapid sequences of long-decay 808 kicks or analog sub-bass , as is often found in Drum 'n Bass. In terms of SPL, I listen to such music most often at around 95-105db, and occasionally higher, but never past, say 120db or so.

 

[JonJT 10+ year member]

I simply want to know if you've got an amp putting out an honest 700w (or the 500w for that matter)to a speaker rated at 700w rms(the speaker is 1200W max supposedly), which would be the limiting factor? Would the speaker begin to bottom out before the amp or vice versa if you were testing the limits of the system. If it is the speaker that would bottom out first, then I don't see what the point would be to use anything of higher wattage than the 700w with that 700w speaker.
Bottom line is I am wondering what advantage if any I would gain by powering the 700W sub with an 1100W amp over the 700w amp. Yes the 1100w amp would have more headroom theoretically, but if the speaker would bottom out before the 700w amp would, why would you need more headroom? Yet, I keep hearing that one should ideally power a speaker with an amp that is rated ABOVE the speaker's RMS rating rather than right AT its rating?

also, I'm not as concerned about the relative audible differences in output as I am with control and articulation of demanding bass passages; for instance the aforementioned fast transient+sub-bass heavy electronic bass/kicks often found in minimal techno/tech-house, or, say rapid sequences of long-decay 808 kicks or analog sub-bass , as is often found in Drum 'n Bass. In terms of SPL, I listen to such music most often at around 95-105db, and occasionally higher, but never past, say 120db or so.

Your asking for an answer that cannot be given because an amplifier/transducer system is far more complicated than what you think.

The amount of power a speaker can handle depends on its alignment. How large the box is, how well it is stuffed, how ridged the box is, what kind of box it is, if it is even in a box. And at power levels you are talking about, power compression can be a serious problem. What you need to do is model the woofer in question in a speaker modeling program within a box that you are likely to use.

You cannot get an answer without doing that.

Generally what you do is you model the woofer in an enclosure that you are going to use (like I told you to do), then you find the amount of power that you will need and buy an amp above that rating. This process keeps the amp you buy out of its clipping range and will protect your speaker.

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

Your asking for an answer that cannot be given because an amplifier/transducer system is far more complicated than what you think.
The amount of power a speaker can handle depends on its alignment. How large the box is, how well it is stuffed, how ridged the box is, what kind of box it is, if it is even in a box. And at power levels you are talking about, power compression can be a serious problem. What you need to do is model the woofer in question in a speaker modeling program within a box that you are likely to use.

You cannot get an answer without doing that.

Generally what you do is you model the woofer in an enclosure that you are going to use (like I told you to do), then you find the amount of power that you will need and buy an amp above that rating. This process keeps the amp you buy out of its clipping range and will protect your speaker.

what program are you talking about and where can I access it?

 

[JonJT 10+ year member]

what program are you talking about and where can I access it?

Right now I'm using Unibox. You can get it here:

http://home20.inet.tele.dk/kou/ubmodel.html

I'm betting your not too familiar with modeling woofers. Read through the website and learn how to use Unibox. Its a VERY powerful utility. And make sure you have Excel. The newest version of openoffice wont run it.