need help figuring out what sub to get for S2K

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

:/ the max recommended rms is 400 watts at 4 ohms 600 is to high for me to feel safe with

 

[GreekBrotha8 10+ year member]

Just turn your gain down man. You don't have to feed it the full power from the amp. If I were you I would browse the amp classifieds, great deals.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

If you listen rock music, country, pop, or anything instrumental, then calibrating the subwoofer gain level by ear, RTA, etc should be good enough. Their bass peaks at around -5dB or lower, and the peaks are short lived. Most subwoofers are rated to handle twice their RMS power or short lived peaks in music. However, if listen more bass demanding music and you want to be safe, you can also use DMM to calibrate gain. The DMM method, if implemented correctly, should give you the maximum gain level that's "safe" to use. You can use lower level if that's what you need for blending of course. I'd suggest to use a -5dB test tone for DMM method, as peaks in music pretty much never reach 0dB.

In fact, a lot of subwoofers have more linear throw than thermal power handling. By this I mean that a subwoofer can have 15mm xmax, but WinISD or other software may predict that excursion barely reaches 12mm on the power that the subwoofer is rated for. In such case, you can safely send them more power IMO, as long as bass peaks are short lived, and the subwoofer will sound good. However, it's not always a good idea to send higher than rated power _continuously_ to the subwoofer, which rarely happens on most normal music. Some electronic or rap may get close to that.

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

If you listen rock music, country, pop, or anything instrumental, then calibrating the subwoofer gain level by ear, RTA, etc should be good enough. Their bass peaks at around -5dB or lower, and the peaks are short lived. Most subwoofers are rated to handle twice their RMS power or short lived peaks in music. However, if listen more bass demanding music and you want to be safe, you can also use DMM to calibrate gain. The DMM method, if implemented correctly, should give you the maximum gain level that's "safe" to use. You can use lower level if that's what you need for blending of course. I'd suggest to use a -5dB test tone for DMM method, as peaks in music pretty much never reach 0dB.
In fact, a lot of subwoofers have more linear throw than thermal power handling. By this I mean that a subwoofer can have 15mm xmax, but WinISD or other software may predict that excursion barely reaches 12mm on the power that the subwoofer is rated for. In such case, you can safely send them more power IMO, as long as bass peaks are short lived, and the subwoofer will sound good. However, it's not always a good idea to send higher than rated power _continuously_ to the subwoofer, which rarely happens on most normal music. Some electronic or rap may get close to that.

i listen to alot ot techno, dubstep, drum and bass, trance so ya alot of bass notes sometimes really fast then sometimes i will jump to classical like baroque period stuff.

what is DMM method? i normally tune by ear to when it starts to distort or for bass ones i feel its loud enough which is generally pretty low my home theater sub is on half power on the sub and -12db on the amp and its still plenty of bass for any move and its a 12 with 300rms less than i would be running in the car even though it is ported but either way i would like to be as close as possible to 400 just so i feel better about it :/

 

[GreekBrotha8 10+ year member]

i listen to alot ot techno, dubstep, drum and bass, trance so ya alot of bass notes sometimes really fast then sometimes i will jump to classical like baroque period stuff.what is DMM method? i normally tune by ear to when it starts to distort or for bass ones i feel its loud enough which is generally pretty low my home theater sub is on half power on the sub and -12db on the amp and its still plenty of bass for any move and its a 12 with 300rms less than i would be running in the car even though it is ported but either way i would like to be as close as possible to 400 just so i feel better about it :/

Did you not even read my comment? Lol

 

[zako 10+ year member]

what is DMM method? i normally tune by ear to when it starts to distort or for bass ones i feel its loud enough which is generally pretty low my home theater sub is on half power on the sub and -12db on the amp and its still plenty of bass for any move and its a 12 with 300rms less than i would be running in the car even though it is ported but either way i would like to be as close as possible to 400 just so i feel better about it :/

You buy a $10 DMM. Turn off any bass boost, all subwoofers crossovers, sound enhancers, etc and play a low frequency test tone with the stereo's volume level at highest position you would ever want to use. 2/3 or 3/4 are a good one to try. I suggest -5dB test tone or a 0dB tone with subwoofer level attenuated by 5dB on the head unit. Take AC voltage reading at the subwoofer channel with engine running. The voltage should be at or below the recommended level for your subwoofer/amplifier. There is a tutorial pinned somewhere on this web site. The common belief is that usually subwoofer will take more power than rated. On the other hand, if you have a less powerful amplifier and try to overdrive it, this is more likely to damage the subwoofer.

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

Did you not even read my comment? Lol

yes i did read it :/ i would just feel better only being able to ever push it at the recommended limit it i did that even though i wouldnt ever have the gain that high lol or probably use any bass boost

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

You buy a $10 DMM. Turn off any bass boost, all subwoofers crossovers, sound enhancers, etc and play a low frequency test tone with the stereo's volume level at highest position you would ever want to use. 2/3 or 3/4 are a good one to try. I suggest -5dB test tone or a 0dB tone with subwoofer level attenuated by 5dB on the head unit. Take AC voltage reading at the subwoofer channel with engine running. The voltage should be at or below the recommended level for your subwoofer/amplifier. There is a tutorial pinned somewhere on this web site. The common belief is that usually subwoofer will take more power than rated. On the other hand, if you have a less powerful amplifier and try to overdrive it, this is more likely to damage the subwoofer.

DMM Digital multi meter? oh ok my friend has one of those

 

[joom 10+ year member]

I've run an es 250 in a. 9 cubic foot box sealed. Reg. cab chevy truck on about 300 watts. Sounded pretty nice. Not the loudest but did sound nice..

;

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

what about this amp? Soundstream P1.1000D

 

[Chriszle 10+ year member]

Sub 30 hz notes aren't too common in music. As for your amp budget, this would work. Audiopipe AP-3002 1500 Watt 2-Channel Car Audio Power Amplifier : AP3002 : VMInnovations.com

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

i looked around at alot of amps and came down to the Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D for 159.99 shipped thanks for all the help guys

 

[zako 10+ year member]

i looked around at alot of amps and came down to the Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D for 159.99 shipped thanks for all the help guys

Not the best amplifier to have for SQ if you head unit does not send "mono" signal on its subwoofer outs. (I know recent Kenwoods don't). This one does not add left and right stereo signal, so you need to take one side and split it, which is not optimal for SQ (I have some tracks where left and right bass content is clearly not the same)

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

couldnt post with links for the amp tried a week ago and i guess to many for them to allow but list is in next post of possibles i found

 

[sureshot1234 10+ year member]

Not the best amplifier to have for SQ if you head unit does not send "mono" signal on its subwoofer outs. (I know recent Kenwoods don't). This one does not add left and right stereo signal, so you need to take one side and split it, which is not optimal for SQ (I have some tracks where left and right bass content is clearly not the same)

after looking through all mono amps from decent brands on VMinovations, sonic electronix, onlinecarstereo and woofersetc there were these amps to choose from with exactly what power i want(subwoofer calls for 400watts at 4ohms continuous) or just a little over which would you have chossen over the Hifonics amp for SQ? also i have a Pioneer DEH-3200UB receiver at the moment plan to get a newer pioneer later

Soundstream STL1.600D

Soundstream PN1.650D

Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D

RE Audio DTS-1500.1

Absolute DPA8000

Cadence Q7000M

Soundstream P1.1000D

Soundstream RUB1.700