what u need for a 12 xxx...

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

a burp??

No, not really

It's more of an ahh that is abruptly stopped with an ever so short "t" sound at the end! It was involuntarily invented as a catch phrase of one of my roommates...when he finds something remotely amusing but not enough to laugh. AHT!

NG

 

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

im jus tryin to be smart and figure out what im gunna need to run somethin like that when it comes to dollars and cents. i guess i could hook it up and if i couldnt play it loud at first- all well -cus it would play just as loud even then as anything else could and then when i get the alt and battery etc. then id have that thing hittin.

but how do u determine how good ur alt is?

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

get it checked down at advanced or something to see if its good.

 

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

it might work out nicely cus i might need a new batt anyhow since if i play a cd for a lil bit and dont start it up for a while my battery will die. but from my understanding the battery starts the car and the alternator keeps it running..am i correct?

 

[Vausen 10+ year member]

Essentially you are correct. Battery stores engery to start the car @12V. Alternator then supplies power to run the car and charge the battery @ 14-15V. If you have a good battery and good wiring you normally don't need the alt upgrade if you don't mind your lights dimming (dimming = alt. not making enough current/power for your car and amps so voltage drops to 12V of the battery and then the battery supplies the additional current/power). If you don't want dimming or you have huge power requirements (+2000 watts) then you would need the alternator.

 

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

is it possible to play it lower that lights wouldnt dim..since the amp wouldnt be drawing as much? and only when i turn it up the lights would dim. cus if thats the case id be fine with it cus im not gunna go down the road playin 140+db all over town. since im not gunna be tryin to break a new personal db record everyday and later down the line i can get a new batt, ground wires, and alternator also..if need be. i guess my question would be is dimming only caused at high volume?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Yes, you can play it at a lower level. Kind of a waste to buy an supersub if you are going to keep the volume down though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[ttsquared100 10+ year member]

i agree get a bad *** amp because its a bad *** sub

 

[ttsquared100 10+ year member]

the XXX is in my opinion the best sub you can buy right now for all purpose...there are subs that can get louder but the XXX has the best sound....just read all the thousands of posts about the RE subs...go all out it will be worth it 0 gauge 2k amp...headunit...you might need to do the big 3 if your not gonna get a new alty because 85 amp is kinda small...and have a really nice box made...for 405 bucks on a sub i wouldnt want to piss it all away

 

[ttsquared100 10+ year member]

and to answer your question...the louder you play the woof...the more power you are going to need...the less power your lights will have but thats all part of the fun...dimming lights...

 

[Diplexers 10+ year member]

im pretty good with internet shorthand... but ive never seen that!?!?!?

Internet shorthand....ahhhhh ha ha ha ha

Anyway, try this method. 1600 watts rms divided by 12 volts, equals 133 amp draw. If the amp puts out its rated power. Some lower, well make that "most" lower end amps overrate thier power. For example, my uneducated friend just bought a 2500 watt class D amp (can't remember brand), but my PPI 600 is probably putting out 300+ more watts than it. My amp is a smidge under rated though. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

i read that if u run the amp at lower impededance such as 2ohms compared to 4... the draw in amps would be twice as much-is this right? that would be a 266amp draw which is a lil bit high.lol...as far as wires i have monster cable "standard power4" wire in my car. thats what it says on the red wire. id assume thats 4 guage?

http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/wiregauge.htm

that link shows u what guage wire u need in coordination with draw in amps. it also states the idea of running at 2ohms requires twice the draw. jus tryin to find out what all i need. i got a stock honda alternator right now and all it really says on there is HONDA 14V. i have monster cable power and ground wires both same size saying standard power 4. i have no connection between the red power wire to the battery which i will need-what components will i need and do u have any suggestions? i have a green topped interstate right now..lol dont kno if thats that great or not but im just saying. this all was in my car when i got it back in august and all the wires were already ran so id assume the guy before had a system. thanks alot for helpin me out..i really need to kno what all ill need.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

i read that if u run the amp at lower impededance such as 2ohms compared to 4... the draw in amps would be twice as much-is this right? that would be a 266amp draw which is a lil bit high.lol...as far as wires i have monster cable "standard power4" wire in my car. thats what it says on the red wire. id assume thats 4 guage?

Impedence doesn't really matter. Power is power. If your amp is putting out 1200w, then it needs to draw a certain amount of current based on the voltage (and the amps efficiency). The current draw might double with a lower impedence on the same amp because the amp is now making twice as much power, but not because of the lower impedence in and of itself. But, if you had two amps, one made 1200w @ 4ohm, the other made 1200w @ 1ohm, and they both had the same efficiency......then they'd draw the same amount of current.

The only thing diplexers forgot to account for was amplifier effiency, which for class D's is typically in the 60-65% range

http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/wiregauge.htm
that link shows u what guage wire u need in coordination with draw in amps. it also states the idea of running at 2ohms requires twice the draw.

Again, I believe they mean because the amp is now making twice the power (compared to it's 4ohm rating). Basically, they didn't want you to use the amps 4ohm power rating to determine current draw, then run the amp @ 2ohms where it would be making twice as much power.

Using your logic, an amp like the hifonics that run @ 1ohm would draw almost 550A (before accounting for efficiency), which only a handful of people in the world have the electrical system to handle. See why it doesn't make sense?

jus tryin to find out what all i need. i got a stock honda alternator right now and all it really says on there is HONDA 14V. i have monster cable power and ground wires both same size saying standard power 4. i have no connection between the red power wire to the battery which i will need-what components will i need and do u have any suggestions? i have a green topped interstate right now..lol dont kno if thats that great or not but im just saying. this all was in my car when i got it back in august and all the wires were already ran so id assume the guy before had a system. thanks alot for helpin me out..i really need to kno what all ill need.

What do you mean "you have no connection between the power wire and battery"?? The power wire isn't currently connected to the battery, and you want to know what kind of connector to use??

 

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

yea i have no system right now and i have no connection between the power wire in the engine bay to the battery. Do i need anything else other then a fuse holder or what? and yea i didnt think such huge amp pulls would be possible so i knew something was up. im just debating a 12XXX or a 12 SE and the se wouldnt require any upgrades at all. The Se would cost about $500 for everything and the XXX would cost close to $700 and then add the electrical upgrades so its at least $1000 to run the xxx at optimum.

big diff in price between the two

big diff in performance

same box size at 2.5cuft

i have the money to buy the xxx and amp and all its jus id have to wait till everything electrical is upgraded. and i was wondering if i could get by with maybe not playing it at 145db everywhere i go..lol and then i would have lil to none light dimming. but i dont want my lights to dim or to lose ac or performance or anything else during daily driving cus of my sub. so if need be--is it possible to play it low enough to where the amp doesnt draw so much and nuthing dims but still hits...and would that volume be as loud as anything else i could have without the car being affected? cus i would figure that if the car can only give so much before cutting back on something else, then the amp can only get so much much and no matter what sub u have its only gunna get so much. and the xxx could do this and when i get upgrades later the amp will be able to draw full power and i could go down the road with ac and no dimming playing 145 if my heart desired.