Need just a little help please...

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Some of you might remember me, I asked awhile back for some opinions on what subs/amp/box and etc. I should get but now I've gotten dual 12" Infinity Reference 1230s and a R/T dual 12" enclosure. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the MTX Thunder564 from CarDomain.com. (If anyone thinks that's a bad setup just tell me so, I wanted to get a 2Ch. amp but if I even get a good name brand that gives out 200W it's a ton of money... so I figured a 4Ch. amp would be my best option)

The specs for the subs are:

- Infinity Reference 1230w

- 90dB

- 4ohms

- 300W RMS; 1200W Peak

I saw the amp wires on CarDomain.com, called "StreetWires" but I don't know what wires I'm supposed to get (8 Gauge, 4 Gauge)?

I'm putting this in my '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee which comes standard with an alarm but I've had some drunk friends pushing my car around a little bit when it was armed so I'm not sure what will actually make it go off. Point being that I don't know if I should go ahead and spend more money to get another alarm installed or whether I should just trust my factory one.

So can you all just give me a little help here seeing as how most of you are experts at this stuff?

- Is the MTX Thunder564, and two Infinity Reference 1230s in a R/T enclosure a good setup?

- What type of wires will I need, 4 gauge or 8 gauge and is Streetwires a good brand to go with?

- Other then those wires, what else do I need to install this system in a '96 Jeep GC?

- Should my car be in pretty good condition security-wise with just the factory alarm?

- I was going to get the stuff installed at Circuit City but is there a better place out there to get it done or is Circuit City good enough?

Thanks for any help in advance!

Click to read more...

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Anybody, please?

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Ok well everyone here seems to enjoy pics and maybe you all just don't believe I have the equipment. Here's a pic of one of the subs sitting freely in the box, other sub hasn't been opened yet and won't be until it's time for install.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Sounds like you have a tight budget.

Goto walmart and get an 4gauge wiring kit its cheap and works well.

The MTX is a good amp not really apropriate for you're needs, for a budget sub amp I reccomend a mono block amp that has around 500 watts RMS at 2ohms for your subs

heres some suggestions for 500watt amps under 200 bucks-

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-sUZ4B9spHMF/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=130&I=489AP1000M&search=subwoofer+amplifier

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2417.html

http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2895

Factory car alarms tend to be crap, I definitley reccomend an aftermarket one.

If at all possible install the amp and subs yourself but if you have absolutly no clue what you are doing get the guys at CC to do it for you.

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Sounds like you have a tight budget.Goto walmart and get an 4gauge wiring kit its cheap and works well.

The MTX is a good amp not really apropriate for you're needs, for a budget sub amp I reccomend a mono block amp that has around 500 watts RMS at 2ohms for your subs

heres some suggestions for 500watt amps under 200 bucks-

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-sUZ4B9spHMF/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=130&I=489AP1000M&search=subwoofer+amplifier

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2417.html

http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2895

Factory car alarms tend to be crap, I definitley reccomend an aftermarket one.

If at all possible install the amp and subs yourself but if you have absolutly no clue what you are doing get the guys at CC to do it for you.

I'm not on the tightest budget but you could probably say that there's good amount of equipment out there that bumps and sounds better then my own. All of the equipment I have bought so far was on sale, the subs were $53.99 a piece at CC and since I had the factory installed Infinity Gold system I figured it'd be nice to be consistent and I had heard that Infinity was good with subs and all car audio. Right now I have about $325 to work with to get an amp, wiring kit, and installation. I saw the Thunder564 amp at CC for $225 last week but now it's shot back up to $299 but after I saw it at CarDomain.com for $195 I figured it'd be my best bet.

Keep in mind that my b-day is right around the corner and I'll probably wind up getting about $300 from that and also I might be getting a job this Monday (waiting for them to call me back) so the budget will be raised in the near future but since I've got most all the components I need I guess it doesn't really matter now.

With that said, do you think I should spend the $195 on the MTX amp and just get CC to install it and after my b-day get an aftermarket alarm installed? It says it's 280w RMS x 2 @ 4ohms and the subs are 300w RMS, 1200w Peak so I thought that'd be a good match.

One more question, is it true that the higher the dB on the amp the more crisp the sound?

Thanks for the help man, I thought my thread was invisible for a minute there. :\

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Buy a mono sub amp, don't by a four channel amp for powering subs, it will work but is not ideal and you can actually save some money going with the monoblock amp.

I still say you should get a 4gauge kit at Wal-Mart, they work just as good as the CC stuff and cost less, why waste the money.

"One more question, is it true that the higher the dB on the amp the more crisp the sound?"

I have NEVER heard of that before (cause its bullshit). a low THD at rated power and good internal powersupply has more to do with the quality of sound.

Anyways don't buy the four channel amp, buy a monoblock amp that is rated at around 500 watts RMS.

If you go with the four channel I will come to your house and *** **** you.

Look for the amps I suggested, they will work great for your purposes and save you some money.

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Buy a mono sub amp, don't by a four channel amp for powering subs, it will work but is not ideal and you can actually save some money going with the monoblock amp.I still say you should get a 4gauge kit at Wal-Mart, they work just as good as the CC stuff and cost less, why waste the money.

"One more question, is it true that the higher the dB on the amp the more crisp the sound?"

I have NEVER heard of that before (cause its bullshit). a low THD at rated power and good internal powersupply has more to do with the quality of sound.

Anyways don't buy the four channel amp, buy a monoblock amp that is rated at around 500 watts RMS.

If you go with the four channel I will come to your house and *** **** you.

Look for the amps I suggested, they will work great for your purposes and save you some money.

Ok, can you just explain something to a slow person (with car audio at least)?

Is a subwoofer mono amplifier actually going to give me enough power for the dual 12" Infinities? All the affordable ones -$300 and less- run like 75w x 2 @ 4ohms... and while others I could probably save a little money each paycheck for but I really don't want to spend more then $300 if possible. Would a 2Ch. amp work better or are you absolutely sure I should go with a mono amp? The problem is, this entire time I've been thinking a mono amp will only run a single sub.

If it's no biggie do you mind answering two more things for me please?

- In "235W x 2 @ 14.4V" Why does it say 14.4 volts and is that like a standard for power voltage to an amp?

- My friend next door has a 2000 Jeep GC Limited just like mine, and when he got it installed at CC they told him he needed like an RCA cable and he wound up having to pay like $250 for cables alone. (He has an alright system dual 12" Kenwood 150w RMS, 300w peak and a Kenwood amp). Is this the truth, did his car really need all those extra cables just to hook-up his system because I don't want to go there and pay for something that's unnecessary.

Sorry if this is a hassle, I'm justa newb to this car audio business. Thank you for all of your help.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

well how about this, i paid 250$ for my viper 1200.1 that does 1200rms@1ohm, if you cant find a decent amp that does 500-600rms for around 200 you have problems, and you dont need the highest quality, its just some infinity subs nothing too special, try power acoustik, http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWA1000DB

here is a 2ch that does 300x2 @4ohms http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWTS14402

do u want a warranty? do u like ebay, because if you do ebay u quadrouple ur choices easy

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

well how about this, i paid 250$ for my viper 1200.1 that does 1200rms@1ohm, if you cant find a decent amp that does 500-600rms for around 200 you have problems, and you dont need the highest quality, its just some infinity subs nothing too special, try power acoustik, http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWA1000DB
here is a 2ch that does 300x2 @4ohms http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWTS14402

do u want a warranty? do u like ebay, because if you do ebay u quadrouple ur choices easy

I was just trying to find out if a 2Ch. amp was suitable for it also. I'm not too fond of eBay, I'd like to try it sometime, just not with this much money involved.

Do you think it would be worth the $50 extra to go with this amp?: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2578.html

I know it's nothing special for you all but this is my first system and I've worked continuously to get enough money for it.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

u can trust ebay for most things, just make sure u read all things good, ive bought a couple things off ebay like my premier 860 retails for 500, i got it for 290$ and my viper i got for 250$ which is a great amp, i also bought some infinity speakers and everything ive gotten worked flawlessly, cardomain.com is great, just froogle whatever you want find a good place and price match it through cardomain, they took 10$ off my 75$ amp because i found it cheaper at buy.com and cardomain has manufactor warranties too

 

[stones 10+ year member]

I was just trying to find out if a 2Ch. amp was suitable for it also. I'm not too fond of eBay, I'd like to try it sometime, just not with this much money involved.
Do you think it would be worth the $50 extra to go with this amp?: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2578.html

I know it's nothing special for you all but this is my first system and I've worked continuously to get enough money for it.

that amp you listed is pretty nice. I would go for it.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Ok, can you just explain something to a slow person (with car audio at least)?Is a subwoofer mono amplifier actually going to give me enough power for the dual 12" Infinities? All the affordable ones -$300 and less- run like 75w x 2 @ 4ohms... and while others I could probably save a little money each paycheck for but I really don't want to spend more then $300 if possible. Would a 2Ch. amp work better or are you absolutely sure I should go with a mono amp? The problem is, this entire time I've been thinking a mono amp will only run a single sub.

If it's no biggie do you mind answering two more things for me please?

- In "235W x 2 @ 14.4V" Why does it say 14.4 volts and is that like a standard for power voltage to an amp?

- My friend next door has a 2000 Jeep GC Limited just like mine, and when he got it installed at CC they told him he needed like an RCA cable and he wound up having to pay like $250 for cables alone. (He has an alright system dual 12" Kenwood 150w RMS, 300w peak and a Kenwood amp). Is this the truth, did his car really need all those extra cables just to hook-up his system because I don't want to go there and pay for something that's unnecessary.

Sorry if this is a hassle, I'm justa newb to this car audio business. Thank you for all of your help.

-Mono channel amps are purpose built to power subwoofers, they are for subwoofer use only.

-Mono amps can power several subs at the same time it just has a single channel output. You just wire the extra subs to the same output, you can't do this with regular 2 or 4 channel amps because they can't handle the ohm load when bridged (when parralleling two 4ohm woofers).

-14.4 volts is the standard operating voltage that amplifiers are rated at, as most vehicles run around 14 volts when the engine is running, 12volts with the vehicle off.

-You're friend got ripped off on the cables, you can spend alot of money on an amplifier install kit if your not careful, Wal-Mart sells 4gauge amp kits that contain everything you need to hook up an amp for a really good price. I have used these kits and give them a full vote of approval.

 

[UNCFMM 10+ year member]

Ok, I think I'm finally settled... I think I'm going to go with this amp

http://www.cardomain.com/sku/POWLT19202

The amp that the other guy listed didn't have any reviews but the 1920w one that was basically the same thing had some poor ratings IMO and this one has had good ratings. I would've gone with the Inifinity but I want some type of warranty for the thing so I think this will be my best choice.

Thanks to both of you for all of your help.