What happens if u underpower a sub(s)?

[Unregistered]

So if i have two infinity kappa perfect 12" 12.1 subs and i use a sony 760 watt amp to power 'em both....they probably won't be given their 350RMS watt ....

but does that mean that they'll sound like shit? and they'll sound weak as hell?

the reason why i dunt want a better amp is becuz i dunt think my '86 honda civic can handle such tremendous pressure on the electricity.....

i don't even use the A/C in it anymore because i'm afraid it will shut off the engine...

Click to read more...

 

[BiKeR2k 10+ year member]

if you underpower a sub it wont hit as hard. it will "muffle" the hit. and as for your car, it sounds like you have a weak alternator or battery connection if you cant run A/C. goto eBay.com and look for a Hi-AMP alternator for your car. goto a auto shop and have them look at it too.

 

[kyball 10+ year member]

I had the 760 sony amp too, and i also had two 12" alpine Type R s. they handle 300W a piece. Granted the sony amp does **** but it will move your subs and they will hit. you just have to becarefull of clipping and overheating. All in all, that amp will definatly make those subs kick.

 

[jester73440 10+ year member]

u will slowly blow your sub after the amp gives all it can it will send distortion and blow your sub it takes time my friend has been giving a 250watt sub 120watts for a year now with the gain up on it and it hasn't blown yet

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Underpowering your speakers will NOT damage them. Only misusing the volume and gain controls will leave a potential for damage.

The only thing you may notice is a little less "kick" in your subs; However, they will still sound fine.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[RangerMan Premium Member]

It won't hurt a **** thing. You'll be just fine.

 

[fu-man-chu 10+ year member]

Zane and Ranger are right, it is a common myth that under powering your subs will blow them, (my opinon) this is miss leading due to the fact that certian eletrical systems will blow/be damaged due to under powering. just my 2 cents

 

[Unregistered]

my sister has that amp on 2 10" mtx 6000, I have it wired at 4 ohm stereo and those spkrs are underpowered but they souund clean and still move like a mofo, I was really surprised. nice amp for the money, I dont care what people say, of coarse I prefer better.

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by fu-man-chu Zane and Ranger are right, it is a common myth that under powering your subs will blow them, (my opinon) this is miss leading due to the fact that certian eletrical systems will blow/be damaged due to under powering. just my 2 cents

Mabey I am just not reading this right......

Are you saying that some cars electrical systems will be damaged due to underpowering? If that is the case, please explain further, as I have never heard of this before. Static electricity would be the only exception to my knowledge, however, this would only be harmful near the cars ECU.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[Phatillusion 5,000+ posts]

the reason why i dunt want a better amp is becuz i dunt think my '86 honda civic can handle such tremendous pressure on the electricity.....

The best thing I can suggest is to get your altenator rewound. If you choose to get it rewound, Zane or Ramos might be able to give you a little input on how many amperes your system will require. I believe I saw a post a week or so ago in which ramos broke the down the equation, but I am too tired to look for it now.

 

[Unregistered]

okay thanks guys for repyling! it looks like i'm gonna get my 760 amp wired tomorrow along with two of those infinity 12.1 perfects and i'll let u guys know how it goes in my slow '86 civic //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

thanks

 

[Unregistered]

Zane i ment other electical equiment(not car) sry i should have explaind it a lil better,

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Unregistered Zane i ment other electical equiment(not car) sry i should have explaind it a lil better,

Oh what joy it is to read through closed eyes......//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Thats what I thought!

Thanks for the clarification... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

take it easy,

-zane

 

[fu-man-chu 10+ year member]

LOL, yea it was my bad, i shoulda explaind more, LOL

Seeya around the furom.

 

[Unregistered]

you should pretty much match your amp output to your sub. it is not really how much your amp supplies your speakers, but what your speakers demand from your amp. ie you have a 100 watt speaker being fed by a 150 watt amp. the most power your speaker is going to demand of your amp is 100 watts. you can kill your speakers by overfeeding it with more power than your speaker is demanding. on the other hand, if you have a 250 watt speaker with the same 150 watt amp, that speaker can at any time request the amp to supply it with 250 watts to play a particular musical passage. the amp rated at 150 watts will soon clip into distortion. sure you can keep your volume set really low to avoid clipping, the sound will be pretty bad; but turn up the volume ever so slightly and you will clip. you will be surprised of the dynamic range of music. play it safe and match it.

also be wary about watts/rms. speakers do not care about wattage, they want amps. a good amp may have the same wattage as a lesser amp, but they put out more amps...that is why they hit harder. its all about power supply, power supply, power supply.