please help me choose an amp

[disceptre420 10+ year member]

i need help deciding what amp to use in two different setups. any help is greatly appreciated. I have 2 kicker comp vr15 dvc, with a Kenwood KAC-9103D amp which is rated up to 1800 watts peak. I need to know if it is a good amp selection for those subs and how I will have to wire it to get the most power I can and how much power it should be reaching i.e. 500w, 900w, or the full 1800w? i also have 2 kicker comp 15's. i have the previously stated amp pushing those right now but it shuts off after playing for a while and i don’t think its getting that much power anyway b/c of the amp setup. i bought the amp at a flea market for 200 dollars. could anyone tell me a good amp selection on that to get at least as much power as they get now but maybe not shut off like they do, i would like to know how the amp should be rated i.e. ??? amps at ??? watts. thanks and sorry if this is a little long or confusing but i really need help getting my system going

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[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

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Welcome to the forum. Hopefully your time here will be well spent.

First off - when looking at the output ratings on an amplifier (any amplifier) the Peak or Max wattage ratings are completely useless figures good for nothing outside of marketing purposes.

The RMS wattage ratings is the figure you need to pay attention to as that is the output level you'll actually get from your amp in the way of usable wattage.

Your amp, the KAC-9103D is rated for the following RMS output levels:

500w X 1 @ 4 Ohms

900w X 1 @ 2 Ohms

(this monoblock amp is not rated to be stable when shown a 1 Ohm load ~ please do not try it as unhappy things will result)

So - what voice coils do the Kicker Comps you are currently driving have? I'm going to assume single voice coils on those as I cannot recall the Comps being offered in a DVC configuration...are they single 4 ohm coils or single 8 ohm coils?

How do you have them wired...in parallel or in series?

Same questions apply to your CompVRs. You've already stated that they are Dual Voice Coil subs...are they Dual 2 Ohm subs or Dual 4 Ohm subs?

Let's get those answered and we can proceed from there. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Hayten]

Yeak, the peak power is mark by the company arbitrary almostly. I just mean your amp can work for several seconds in a certain condition.