quick newbie question

[h0und10 10+ year member]

what else should i look for in am amp besides rms watts and channels?

i hear max power or peak power means nothing

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[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

You need to find an amp that has the amount of RMS power at the ohm load you will need for your speakers. Choose your amp and speakers together, to work well together.

If, for example, you want to drive a single 400 watt 4 ohm sub, then you need an amp that will give you 400 watts RMS @ 4 ohms. Not one that says 400 RMS watts @ 2 ohms; that will probably only be 200 watts @ 4 ohms, and not one that says 400 watts peak @ 4 ohms.

If you have a small alternator in your car, but want a big sub amplifier, then you should look for a class D amp, which is more efficient than a class A/B amp for the same amount of current.

So a 400 watt class D amplifier may only draw 30 amps of power, but a 400 watt class A/B amp may need 60 amps of power to produce the same watts.

Stick with companies that have a good reputation for making amplifiers and avoid the cheaper off brands with lots of chrome and fancy lights and displays. In a cheap amp with chrome and digital displays, that's what your paying for, not quality internal design and contruction.

Tell us what your trying to do, and we can give you specific recommendations.

 

[scotchnsoda 10+ year member]

You need to find an amp that has the amount of RMS power at the ohm load you will need for your speakers. Choose your amp and speakers together, to work well together.
If, for example, you want to drive a single 400 watt 4 ohm sub, then you need an amp that will give you 400 watts RMS @ 4 ohms. Not one that says 400 RMS watts @ 2 ohms; that will probably only be 200 watts @ 4 ohms, and not one that says 400 watts peak @ 4 ohms.

If you have a small alternator in your car, but want a big sub amplifier, then you should look for a class D amp, which is more efficient than a class A/B amp for the same amount of current.

So a 400 watt class D amplifier may only draw 30 amps of power, but a 400 watt class A/B amp may need 60 amps of power to produce the same watts.

Stick with companies that have a good reputation for making amplifiers and avoid the cheaper off brands with lots of chrome and fancy lights and displays. In a cheap amp with chrome and digital displays, that's what your paying for, not quality internal design and contruction.

Tell us what your trying to do, and we can give you specific recommendations.

I thought you wire 4 ohm subs at ether 2 or 8 ohms?

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

I thought you wire 4 ohm subs at ether 2 or 8 ohms?

If you have two 4 ohm subs, then together they would be wired either 2 or 8 ohm. I was using a single 4 ohm sub as example. A single 4 ohm sub (with a single voice coil) can only be wired as 4 ohms. So you would need to find an amp that can produce the wattage you want at 4 ohms. The 2 ohm figures are meaningless to you if you have a single 4 ohm sub.

Subs with dual voice coils are wired as if they are 2 subs in one. So a single sub with two 4 ohm voice coils would be wired as either 2 ohm or 8 ohm, but it cannot be 4 ohm.

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

i don't know anything besides a want loud bass that makes my chest hurt and when i get out a cant hear anything...Or atleast as close to that as i can with the budget... looking at a cheep head unit (pioneer DEH-p4000UB) for 131 dollars

other than that thinkin of either two 10s, one 2, or one 15...one 12 sounds the but not sure i could get enough power out of that. looking for 750 watts rms or so and maybe a 2 channel amp and have it go to the speakers and the sub.

 

[jkyards]

If you want a good selection id try a parts locator. One place that can find you a good short or long block for a Audi A4 engine is TEXAS Junkyards, Junk Yards in TEXAS TX salvage recycler. They have a link somehow to multiples of thousands of recycling centers and will locate the best one for you.

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

well i dont need a short or long block for an audi A4...

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

What's your budget for the sub and amp?

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

well im pretty flexible but i was hoping to spend around 500-600 maybe a little more if there is a big step quality just after that

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Well $500-600 isn't gonna make you deaf, but you can still get a nice system in that range.

You can get a 15" Fi Q for $279 and pair it with an AQ1200D which I think also sells for $279.

That's my suggestion and will probably be the best bang for your buck in that price range

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

i already have a pioneer DEH-P4000UB head unit i was looking at for 130 and the other one you listed i was looking at but only had 2 sets of preams and i need 3 for my sub and amp

also looking for amp to with my sub

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

i already have a pioneer DEH-P4000UB head unit i was looking at for 130 and the other one you listed i was looking at but only had 2 sets of preams and i need 3 for my sub and amp
also looking for amp to with my sub

huh?

I recommended the 15" Fi Q (Subwoofer) and AudioQue AQ1200D (Amplifier)

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

oh my bad lol. i copy pasted that in google and a head unit came up but i did something wrong i see....

the amp looks super clean and nice, how do you know what to run it at? also whats the watts for those. I googled it and couldnt find anything about that except for the amp and thats what i got which i assume is max power or peak

Output Power 14.4V @ 1% THD

510X1 @ 4 ohm,

870X1 @ 2 ohm,

1200X1 @1 ohm

 

[NightDrifter05 10+ year member]

You decide how to run it based off the voice coil configuration of the sub. Since you would want the 1200@1ohm rating you would need to get a dual 2ohm sub so you could wire it down to 1ohm. Go to http://www.ficaraudio.com to check out the Q. And the power ratings for that amp are all RMS numbers. Good legit companies don't rate their amp's in term's of max power since it mean's absolutely nothing.

 

[h0und10 10+ year member]

so if i only really listen to rap hip hop and want big bass not so much sound quality i want less ohms at more rms power?

so the 15" Fi Q and the AudioQue AQ1200D would give me 1200 wats rms at 1 ohm?