Head Room

[RebelDogg 10+ year member]

When getting an amp, should you match the RMS power of the subs or aim a little higher?

Say a sub is 1000wrms/3000wpeak. Would a 1000w amp take full advantage of the sub? How much headroom is recomended?

I am looking at getting 2 subs @ 1000wrms for a total of 1 ohm, and an amp that is 2000w@1ohm. Should I be looking 2500w@1ohm? 500w seems excessive, but if the amps can peak at 3000w, 1250 per sub seems safe...

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[RidnClean 5,000+ posts]

it sort of depends on the subs you chose

 

[Pickler 10+ year member]

it sort of depends on the subs you chose

/thread

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

Ditto

I ALWAYS like headroom on my subs. I go for 10-20% over recommended RMS on the sub. So if it says 1000W, I'd put 1200 or so. If it's a good-quality sub and good quality amp, the danger is minimal, unless you're a dipshit.

 

[dumpin907 10+ year member]

zx 2500.1 will work.

 

[MyPoison1 10+ year member]

When getting an amp, should you match the RMS power of the subs or aim a little higher?
Say a sub is 1000wrms/3000wpeak. Would a 1000w amp take full advantage of the sub? How much headroom is recomended?

I am looking at getting 2 subs @ 1000wrms for a total of 1 ohm, and an amp that is 2000w@1ohm. Should I be looking 2500w@1ohm? 500w seems excessive, but if the amps can peak at 3000w, 1250 per sub seems safe...

I'm new to this so here is a question, why do they even put "peak rms" on stuff, I guess its to try to fool the customer, but isn't that false advertising and can literally damage your system? I guess when the say peak they mean get ready to c some peak fireworks, Good thing they are trying to regulate this stuff now.

 

[Ineed$ 10+ year member]

u wanna aim higher so the amp doesn't have to work as hard

 

[Here-I-Come 10+ year member]

Rule of thumb, buy as much power as you can afford. It is also better to have it and not need then the need it and not have it. You can controll power power, you can't make it if you don't have it.

 

[BEAVER.989 10+ year member]

depends on the amp in question. many are under-rated enough to allow for enough headroom when the rms ratings are matched. why buy more than you need?

 

[RebelDogg 10+ year member]

depends on the amp in question. many are under-rated enough to allow for enough headroom when the rms ratings are matched. why buy more than you need?

So is there anyway to tell if an amp is over/under rated?

I've heard that you can tell if it's overrated by the fuse. Like a 5amp fuse on a 1000watt sub would be fishy...

But is there any way to tell if it's underrated or by how much?

edit:

I mean before you buy it... not so much after hooking it up and measuring the output with all of those tools I don't know how to use!