Just installed new setup...

[Pataforce8 10+ year member]

Yeah I'm leaning toward getting a pair of those. It's nice they work in such small box...what would be best with them, sealed? Also do you think the Kenwood I already have (refer to original post for model) would power them nicely? Its 900w @2 ohm i believe, would save me from having to get another amp. I was also messing around with the idea, what if I did a single Rockford HX2 in a ported box? Cause 2 of them is just overkill not to mention how heavy they are. Don't laugh at me on this next part but I also never did the Big 3, I mean i know what it is, i just never got to doing it when I learned what it was (a long time ago lol). Right now I have just a general rebuilt alternator from Advanced Auto Parts from when mine died a few years ago and a battery from Triple A. I think the big 3 should move to the top of the list of things to do though huh lol

I had my 15's in sealed enclosure. The Dayton's respond really well to that. To really get some SPL going though, there's no replacement for power. I had mine on 1000w (500w each) for a long time and I can't tell you what a difference in low-end adding another 1000w made. That's just part of car-audio, though....you'll always be upgrading. It's a never ending money pit.

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

I had my 15's in sealed enclosure. The Dayton's respond really well to that. To really get some SPL going though, there's no replacement for power. I had mine on 1000w (500w each) for a long time and I can't tell you what a difference in low-end adding another 1000w made. That's just part of car-audio, though....you'll always be upgrading. It's a never ending money pit.

That it is....so you think i'll get a noticeable difference going with an amp that pushes 1000w RMS or 1200w RMS I guess it would be best to get to match the 600 RMS on the subs than running the 900w RMS Kenwood?

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

Can someone answer me this. For now until I can sell these Rockfords to get the money for the Daytons, i'm using my 2 old Xplodes 12s which are 350w RMS, in Parallel on my Alpine amp (@2 ohm) which that amp puts out 350w RMS at that load. Would it be better for me to replace that Alpine amp with the Kenwood amp I have that does 500w RMS @4 ohm (cause if I kept it running @2 ohm it would be 900w from the Kenwood amp which I assume is to much continuous power into those subs) so I'd take them out of parallel and run them at 4ohm with the Kenwood. Both amps are Mono..........

So to sum it up, would it be better to run my two 350w RMS subs @2 ohm getting 350w RMS with the Alpine, or run them @4 ohm for 500w RMS from the Kenwood....? Would I tell a noticeable difference? The way I see it running @4 ohm with the Kenwood would prob be easier on the amp since its a higher load and they'd be getting 150 more watts of RMS power....logical thought?

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

Can someone answer me this. For now until I can sell these Rockfords to get the money for the Daytons, i'm using my 2 old Xplodes 12s which are 350w RMS, in Parallel on my Alpine amp (@2 ohm) which that amp puts out 350w RMS at that load. Would it be better for me to replace that Alpine amp with the Kenwood amp I have that does 500w RMS @4 ohm (cause if I kept it running @2 ohm it would be 900w from the Kenwood amp which I assume is to much continuous power into those subs) so I'd take them out of parallel and run them at 4ohm with the Kenwood. Both amps are Mono..........
So to sum it up, would it be better to run my two 350w RMS subs @2 ohm getting 350w RMS with the Alpine, or run them @4 ohm for 500w RMS from the Kenwood....? Would I tell a noticeable difference? The way I see it running @4 ohm with the Kenwood would prob be easier on the amp since its a higher load and they'd be getting 150 more watts of RMS power....logical thought?

How exactly are you able to choose between two and four? If your subs have single 4 ohm voice coils, you're looking at 2 or 8.

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

They are single 4 ohm......i thought if I went "sub to amp" "sub to amp" with each speaker they would be in 4 ohm, but running "sub to sub to amp" puts them in parallel making it 2 ohm....no?

*EDIT* or would wiring the speakers either of those ways above give me a 2 ohm load? Cause I used to run my positives and negatives from each sub to the amp, but I changed it to run one subs positive and negative to the other subs positive and negative then to the amp....do those both give me 2 ohm?

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

They are single 4 ohm......i thought if I went "sub to amp" "sub to amp" with each speaker they would be in 4 ohm, but running "sub to sub to amp" puts them in parallel making it 2ohm....no?

If, like you said, your amps are both monoblock, then there's no way you can wire them each to 4 ohms.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Either way, you'd probably get the same power out of them. Kenwood makes pretty mediocre amps from my experience and others, so you're probably getting closer to the Alpines power haha, You could just keep them wired at 2ohms for the Kenwood and turn the gain down to 700w or whatever you want it set at though.

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

If, like you said, your amps are both monoblock, then there's no way you can wire them each to 4 ohms.

Got it, so wiring them either way i mentioned above gives me 2 ohm load....i swear though when I changed it i felt like i was getting more power.....so I guess changing to the Kenwood would be over kill for these subs then huh

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

Either way, you'd probably get the same power out of them. Kenwood makes pretty mediocre amps from my experience and others, so you're probably getting closer to the Alpines power haha, You could just keep them wired at 2ohms for the Kenwood and turn the gain down to 700w or whatever you want it set at though.

Hrm, I heard good things about this amp (KAC-9105D) oh the Alpine is MRD-M301.....which one would you use with the Sony Xplodes? (This is just temp till i can sell my Rockford HX2's for Daytons...(those HX2s are just way to powerful for my taste, i mean 1000w RMS, i'll never use that much power lol)

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

I'd probably use the Kenwood, as long as you make sure you're not clipping. You might be able to get an audio shop to set your gain for fairly cheap(or free?).

 

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 AM ----------

 

Hrm, I heard good things about this amp (KAC-9105D) oh the Alpine is MRD-M301.....which one would you use with the Sony Xplodes? (This is just temp till i can sell my Rockford HX2's for Daytons...(those HX2s are just way to powerful for my taste, i mean 1000w RMS, i'll never use that much power lol)

Just so you know, you don't have to run your subs at their RMS ratings. They'll perform well enough with less power.

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

I'd probably use the Kenwood, as long as you make sure you're not clipping. You might be able to get an audio shop to set your gain for fairly cheap(or free?).

Hrm, maybe, although I'd really like to learn to do it myself. With the amount of equipment I have i'm always trying out new things until i come across something I really like then I keep it....for awhile lol. Could someone direct me to a tutorial or such explaining the tools and how to do it? I figure you can't have to much knowledge when it comes to...well anything

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

Just so you know, you don't have to run your subs at their RMS ratings. They'll perform well enough with less power.

Well I have a capacitor in my car (yes I know they dont really do much, but i got it when I was just getting into sound audio and I just left it in for the looks) but I notice when I had those HX2s in my car (hooked to the Kenwood amp) when the subs hit the voltage dropped a lot lower (like more juice was pulled from the cap) then when my Xplodes hit (with Alpine amp), being that I never did the Big 3 (yet) it makes me nervous about killing my alternator. I understood this as since those HX2s are WAY more powerful they are demanding WAY more power. Thats why i figured on selling them and put my Sony's back in....that and the HX2s added more weight to my little import and i wasn't crazy about the SQ

*EDIT*

I was actually thinking maybe just running one of the HX2s with the Kenwood in 4ohm in a ported box. It would prob hit harder than both of my Xplodes combined lol, whaddaya think?

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

Hrm, maybe, although I'd really like to learn to do it myself. With the amount of equipment I have i'm always trying out new things until i come across something I really like then I keep it....for awhile lol. Could someone direct me to a tutorial or such explaining the tools and how to do it? I figure you can't have to much knowledge when it comes to...well anything

Unless you're about to go out and spend $200+ on an oscilloscope, I suggest just taking it to a shop, man. You can set your gain with a digital multimeter, but that's far from perfect. Setting the gain with a DMM(digital multimeter) is just calculating the correct voltage for the power you're trying to run through the resistance of your subs. The problem with this is that you don't know if the amp is clipping to give you the voltage.

There's a gain setting tutorial somewhere on the forum, but I'll explain it. You need a DMM, a 50Hz test tone(some people like 0dB, some like -3), and the ability to do pre-algebra.

V = sqrt( P * R ) P = Power in watts(the amount of power you're setting for), R = Resistance in ohms(the final impedance of your subs)

V = sqrt(700*2)

V = sqrt(1400)

V = 37.417

Set it for 37.4, but still, you have no idea what that Kenwood's actually capable of putting out.

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

Well I have a capacitor in my car (yes I know they dont really do much, but i got it when I was just getting into sound audio and I just left it in for the looks) but I notice when I had those HX2s in my car (hooked to the Kenwood amp) when the subs hit the voltage dropped a lot lower (like more juice was pulled from the cap) then when my Xplodes hit (with Alpine amp), being that I never did the Big 3 (yet) it makes me nervous about killing my alternator. I understood this as since those HX2s are WAY more powerful they are demanding WAY more power. Thats why i figured on selling them and put my Sony's back in....that and the HX2s added more weight to my little import and i wasn't crazy about the SQ
*EDIT*

I was actually thinking maybe just running one of the HX2s with the Kenwood in 4ohm in a ported box. It would prob hit harder than both of my Xplodes combined lol, whaddaya think?

Subs don't put out power. They take it. Your voltage was dropping from the more powerful amp, not the beefier subs.

 

[qwiktune 10+ year member]

There's a gain setting tutorial somewhere on the forum, but I'll explain it. You need a DMM, a 50Hz test tone(some people like 0dB, some like -3), and the ability to do pre-algebra.

Good note, i'm terrible at math lol

Subs don't put out power. They take it. Your voltage was dropping from the more powerful amp, not the beefier subs.

Wow, I just hit myself on the head like Duhhhh, haha i dont know why the hell i was thinking it was the subs lol

What's your take of using the Kenwood amp to run one of those HX2's in a ported box instead of the 2 sony 12s, think it would hit harder?