Amp Matching

[Techn0Nut1996]

My dad and I are in a bit of a disagreement about what I need in an amp. I have 2 15" JBL subs with 1000 watt peak power and I guess our question is; If I bought a 2000 watt amp would it just blow the two subs or would the power be split amoung the subs, so 2000/2=1000 watts each. I was originally just going to go with a 1000 watt kenwood amp but I found a really good deal on a 2000 watt kenwood amp and am trying to justify spending $40 more on an extra 1000 watts. This brings me to another question I've been pondering for a while now as well, let's say I had a 2000 watt amp and 4 subs hooked up to it, would the power be split unit 4? So 500 watts a sub? So I guess does the power from an amp get divided evenly amoung subs?

[oakrdrs187]

In short yes.

[oakrdrs187]

However you have a huge misconception about matching the sub to the amp. Peak power means shit and you gotta look at the RMS rating at what Ohm load.

Post model numbers of your subs and amp you have as well as amps you ware interested in buying.

[Techn0Nut1996]

Yea the subs are 1400 Watt Peak and 600 watts RMS (combined) at 4 Ohms and the amp i am looking at is 2000 watt peak with 500 watts RMS at 4 Ohms.

Note my figures in the first post were incorrect, after finding the actual subs I have a realized my numbers were a little off.

Kenwood KAC-9106D

[oakrdrs187]

Got a model number for the subs?

[Techn0Nut1996]

Sure do

JBL GTO1514D 15-Inch Die-Cast Dual-Voice-Coil Subwoofer

[oakrdrs187]

Ok,

According to the specs they are dual 4ohm meaning you can parallel them down to 1ohm or series them to a final impedance of 4ohm. Based on the models provided, the amp you are looking at is gonna supply 500w rms at 4ohm split into 2 woofers. Each of them will get 250w rms.

You can run that safely, it appears your subs can handle 350w continuous (rms) so you can up the amp to one that delivers 700w rms to one channel or even look at a 2 channel thay can give you 350w rms per channel.

Do yourself a favor and never look at peak ratings, they are worthless marketing gimmicks that lower end audio/stereo companies use to sell.

If you look at bigger names in audio like Rockford Fosgate, JL Audio, Kicker they never rate with peak wattages...

[Techn0Nut1996]

Thanks for the help, right now I had them wired up like this.

[oakrdrs187]

That works only if your current amp is 1 Ohm stable.

Got a model number on that?

[oakrdrs187]

For example.

This is real good bang for your buck.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...Fi1000.1D.html

[Techn0Nut1996]

The amp I have now is kaput, it was also a Kenwood. It's discontinued now, but it hit hard for the 3 1/2 years I had it. I am very pleased with Kenwood, that's why I chose to stay with it. As for the model number, I have no idea sorry. I do know that it was 500 Watts RMS and 1200 Watt peak. Not sure about the Ohms, but it was expensive when I bought it. More than the 2 subs combined.

[RedGalant2k1]

2ohm stable almosy for sure. 1ohm is not extremely common, but would have been possible if it was a dedicated subwoofer amplifier.

[oakrdrs187]

The amp I have now is kaput, it was also a Kenwood. It's discontinued now, but it hit hard for the 3 1/2 years I had it. I am very pleased with Kenwood, that's why I chose to stay with it. As for the model number, I have no idea sorry. I do know that it was 500 Watts RMS and 1200 Watt peak. Not sure about the Ohms, but it was expensive when I bought it. More than the 2 subs combined.

Kenwood is never 1 ohm stable. Likely why it went kaput.

I personally wouldn't use them. Look into 1 ohm stable mono amps.

[oakrdrs187]

For example.

This is real good bang for your buck.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...Fi1000.1D.html

I edited this to include the link.

[Techn0Nut1996]

Makes sense, I'll keep doing some research. Thanks again!