Need an SQ amp.

[JustStartingOut 10+ year member]

300rms/600peak. Needs to run a 12" dual voice coil 4ohm sub. Cheaper is of course better and it doesn't have to be the BEST, but it needs to be decent and I'll spend what I need to.

My current amp is a power acoustik SPL2-520. I plan to run my regular speakers with it. Does anyone know if this is a decent amp to run them? I also plan to put in an equalizer if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

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[bigbirney420 10+ year member]

SQ amp for subs is pretty wide open. It takes a pretty good ear to tell much difference, you mainly want something with less THD, however there are many better than the Power Acoustik.

Memphis 500 or Kicker 400.1 sub amps are both good choices. and can be had for $200 or so

 

[JustStartingOut 10+ year member]

Well the 400.1 would be too much power since I need 300rms. It says it's 400. The 300 might work, but it says it has a set 80hz crossover and for some of the music I listen to, I set the x-over in my headunit higher than that, so I think it would cut off some of my higher lows. I think that Memphis is more than 300rms too.

Otherwise do you guys think I'd be better off keeping the SPL2 on my sub and getting a new amp for my speakers? They're 75rms each. I've been told I'd be better off only running two fronts if I go that route.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

It's time this myth finally went away...you could run an amp that was capable of 5kW if you wanted, it's all in how you set it up.

 

[JustStartingOut 10+ year member]

I'm not at all questioning what you said, but I'm still new to car audio and I don't know that I wouldn't end up hurting something. I also don't have quite that much to spend yet anyway. I'd have to keep saving. Would I be better off money wise just buying what I need rather than buying a more expensive amp that is more than what my sub can handle anyway?

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

You can end up blowing 300w subs with a 200w amp easily.

Here is an example, i once had an amp, Lightning Audio 150.1 and it was a nice little amp. Only supposed to do 75w x2 and 100w x1 i believe at 4 ohm.. I had that amp running at 300w at 4 ohm and it never overheated etc.. But the thing is, the signal i was sending was clipped, I could have damaged the sub.

Anyway the point of this is that even with a 300w amp for a 300w rms subwoofer you can still mess it up. Better to get a higher power amp than to try to push an amp to its maximum limit. You might end up that the amp can only output 250w clean and that last 50 w is dirty.. you dont want that.. that is the problem i have with my 500w rms amp, i think it can do about 360 watts clean and the rest is pushing the amp.

Get a higher power so you have headroom to grow, make sure the amp is tuned properly so that you dont go a watt over 300. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

my 2 c.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

find something good old school //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[JustStartingOut 10+ year member]

So is not blowing my sub mostly just a matter of keeping the gain low and not turning the volume up too loud? I always have my gain pretty low anyway and never turn the volume up very loud compared to a lot of "loud" music listening people. I got into car audio much more because of quality rather than quantity.

If I do get the kicker 400.1 and use my SPL2 to power my speakers, could you guys suggest an equalizer for under $100? That's the thing I'm having the most trouble finding since I'm still learning about this stuff. I'd like to bring out some of my mids (guitar mostly) that tend to be quieter and separate the bass guitar from the bass drum kick a little more in rock/metal. Again, thanks everyone.

 

[WKD TC]

try an arc amp. those are really good