What amp should I buy for 2 Pioneer TS-W309D2 subs?

[juanmgarza26 10+ year member]

with this wattage, a 800-1000 watt amp at 2 ohms will do you well, the power you need should not be too expensive, everyone in here is a nuthugger for a certain brand, i recommend you a soundstream, crossfire if you can find cheap, and db drive personally would go with a db drive amp i'll put some links on here for you to look at

 

[juanmgarza26 10+ year member]

Old School DB Drive SPA1200 1 1200 Watt RMS Mono Car Amplifier | eBay

i've had quite a bit of these older spa series amps, i have never had a single problem with these, but i myself will warn you that thes e are class AB its a different circuitry and uses a little more power, class d is more efficient, i reccomend a class d amp myself, but me from personal experience would recommend the amp in the link

 

[basskill]

You're new to the game, so let me tell you this - you never, ever, ever need to worry about 'Peak power handling'. Don't even look at it. As far as wattage goes, the only thing you'll want to look at on subwoofers is the RMS rating. Peak power handling is basically a huge number that a lot of manufacturers throw on their subs to make them look more powerful. It's an insignificant number. Only worry about RMS rating - since you have two subwoofers, you'll want to put their RMS rating together and find an amplifier that would match your power requirements well.

How can I find out the RMS rating? its not on the website and I do not have the subs with me yet.

Pioneer 12" DualVoiceCoil 2Ohm Subwoofer TS-W309D2 - Best Buy

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

How can I find out the RMS rating? its not on the website and I do not have the subs with me yet.Pioneer 12" DualVoiceCoil 2Ohm Subwoofer TS-W309D2 - Best Buy

I noticed that. I'll look it up for you.

 

[juanmgarza26 10+ year member]

How can I find out the RMS rating? its not on the website and I do not have the subs with me yet.Pioneer 12" DualVoiceCoil 2Ohm Subwoofer TS-W309D2 - Best Buy

click on the "overview" tab it says "nominal power" thats the rms

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

How can I find out the RMS rating? its not on the website and I do not have the subs with me yet.Pioneer 12" DualVoiceCoil 2Ohm Subwoofer TS-W309D2 - Best Buy

I just looked it up. Amazon says it's nominal rating is 400w. Since you have two subwoofers, you'll be looking to find an amplifier that puts out about 800 watts at whatever impedance you plan on running. You have two 2-ohm subs, so your best bet would be to run one in series and one in parallel for a 2-ohm load. So, again, try to find an amp that will put out around 800w @ 2 ohms.

P.S. - You said you came from home audio, do you know what I mean when I say wiring in parallel/series? If not, I'd be happy to explain along with answering any other questions you have.

 

[basskill]

I just looked it up. Amazon says it's nominal rating is 400w. Since you have two subwoofers, you'll be looking to find an amplifier that puts out about 800 watts at whatever impedance you plan on running. You have two 2-ohm subs, so your best bet would be to run one in series and one in parallel for a 2-ohm load. So, again, try to find an amp that will put out around 800w @ 2 ohms.
P.S. - You said you came from home audio, do you know what I mean when I say wiring in parallel/series? If not, I'd be happy to explain along with answering any other questions you have.

I kinda understand series vs parallel. Isnt parallel always better? It gives independent output to ech speaker, right?

I would appreciate you explaining how it work in car audio. Also, if there is any online documentation with diagrams, that would help too.

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[06gtmike 10+ year member]

Rockford Fosgate® - Woofer WiringWizard

http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

I kinda understand series vs parallel. Isnt parallel always better? It gives independent output to ech speaker, right?
I would appreciate you explaining how it work in car audio. Also, if there is any online documentation with diagrams, that would help too.

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Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams, Two 2 ohm Dual Voice Coil (DVC) Speakers

Boom.

Basically, the way you wire your subwoofers up is what determines your final impedance that the amplifier is seeing. Check out those pictures in the link I posted - The12Volt.com is an awesome site to look up stuff that you might need to know. All I had to do was google 'Subwoofer wiring diagram the12volt and it came up - I put in '2 subwoofers' and '2 ohm DVC' and it brought up every wiring configuration possible for your setup, which I posted above. Those diagrams will show you all of the ways you can wire your subs for the different impedences available to you.

By the way, no impedance is really 'better' or 'worse' than any other ones. You just use different ones to achieve different impedences, depending on what your setup looks like. Some people argue that parallel is better to run, just because most amps are more efficient at lower impedances, which is what 'parallel' does. However, there are many situations where wiring in series is more appropriate, because some amps can't operate below 2 ohms. So, if somebody had a 1-ohm DVC sub but an amp that ran at 2 ohms, they'd have to run a 'series' load. I hate to confuse you, it's just install-dependant.

 

[eli346 10+ year member]

I've been running two of these on 1100 rms for about 2 months now they're actually pretty good subs considering they were $39 a piece... They do get pretty warm to the touch after playing for a while but that's because I'm giving them a bit more than what they're rated at.

 

[06gtmike 10+ year member]

Not sure if you picked up a box yet but if you're looking cheap here ya go. It's not gonna be your best option but for the price and since you're just starting out it's not bad. Everyone here will tell you to get a custom made box which I agree with but since you're just gonna upgrade in a few months once you catch the disease, wait until you get some good subs to drop a few hundred on a box.

Fierce Audio - 12" Dual Ported Flat Pack Subwoofer Enclosure - FPSP212.1

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

American Bass - VFL 1880 1D this is what you need for the subs 180 shipped new

 

[basskill]

Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams, Two 2 ohm Dual Voice Coil (DVC) Speakers
Boom.

Basically, the way you wire your subwoofers up is what determines your final impedance that the amplifier is seeing. Check out those pictures in the link I posted - The12Volt.com is an awesome site to look up stuff that you might need to know. All I had to do was google 'Subwoofer wiring diagram the12volt and it came up - I put in '2 subwoofers' and '2 ohm DVC' and it brought up every wiring configuration possible for your setup, which I posted above. Those diagrams will show you all of the ways you can wire your subs for the different impedences available to you.

By the way, no impedance is really 'better' or 'worse' than any other ones. You just use different ones to achieve different impedences, depending on what your setup looks like. Some people argue that parallel is better to run, just because most amps are more efficient at lower impedances, which is what 'parallel' does. However, there are many situations where wiring in series is more appropriate, because some amps can't operate below 2 ohms. So, if somebody had a 1-ohm DVC sub but an amp that ran at 2 ohms, they'd have to run a 'series' load. I hate to confuse you, it's just install-dependant.

This is awesome ! Thanks !

 

[basskill]

Also, should I get an equalizer along with an amp? I heard an equalizer makes a lot of difference.

 

[Full Tilt 10+ year member]

Also, should I get an equalizer along with an amp? I heard an equalizer makes a lot of difference.

I've personally never run one.