looking to upgrade my sub amp, any suggestions?

[gonzalgi21 10+ year member]

i have a 12 inch alpine type r in the original alpine enclosure paired with an MRP-M450 amp. The amp moves the sub decently but for it to perform well i need to turn the gain all the way up which only tells me that i dont have enough power. So i want to know which other mono alpine amp would give me a significant amount of power gain without it being an expensive 1000 watt amp which is overkill for what i am looking for. I was looking at the newer x-power MRX-M50 but then again the power numbers dont look significantly better than the amp i currently have so i dont know if its worth it. Any suggestions on any other alpine (NON PDX) amp that will be a nice upgrade for my type r?

ALPINE MRX-M50 CAR SUB X-POWER AMPLIFIER/AMP MONO BLOCK | eBay

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[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

I'd look to amplifiers that aren't Alpine. And if you have a proper ported enclosure built for your sub, I would bet you'll hear a major difference in output. Adding a couple more hundred watts, you're likely not going to hear much of a difference. Until you want to upgrade to a better sub, and a better amp.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

I would recommend exploring other than Alpine for the money,and a bit more power.Alpines are decent amps,but not true powerhouses/bang for your buck sub amps.IMO.The old school DUO-B amps were very clean,and had some power also.At 4 ohms with the 3525 I still have today bought in 1990,I had pushing 4 10in Stillwater Kickers in a single cab Toyota,and was awsome until I was introduced to my first Zed Made amp-Autotek Mean Machine 44,I ended up pushing a pair of 15s with that little 44watt amp!!!Still playing today!Subs?I found mine after a long search,and they still hit as hard as the day I bought them,and have put them through.They have been discontinued!!Just trial and error/choices of what is the best for your budget that your hard earned money can buy.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

it's called impedance rise..

the amp does 450+watts..

you should look into a ported box..

around 1.8 tuned to 35 does great with those woofers..

if you still want more output those woofer are capable of handling 800 watts..

something like audioques 750.1 would do nicely.

but fist finding the ideal box is going to give you the best results..

 

[gonzalgi21 10+ year member]

The sub came in the original Alpine ported enclosure so i dont see why you guys would say that it is in the wrong enclosure, im guessing alpine would put it in an enclosure that it would perform well in.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Probably not. Most pre-fab ported enclosures aren't very good. Typically tuned high for a peaky response that just sounds loud and performs poorly. So yea, if you're looking for better output, there's a number of things I'd recommend before even thinking about adding 200 more watts. While 200 more watts will likely be inaudible, maybe 500-700 more would do the trick. But before that I'd recommend a properly designed enclosure. And deadening your trunk. When I deadened my trunk it brought a whole new life to my sound system. And that feeling happened again when I got a properly designed and built enclosure.

Also, I could name off a number of quality, inexpensive amps that produce 1,000+ wRms. But if you insist upon sticking with Alpine for some reason, it's gonna be tough.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'd look to amplifiers that aren't Alpine. And if you have a proper ported enclosure built for your sub, I would bet you'll hear a major difference in output. Adding a couple more hundred watts, you're likely not going to hear much of a difference. Until you want to upgrade to a better sub, and a better amp.

^^^ this