Amp + Subwoofer matching for dummies

[ski]

I've owned 2 car stereo systems in my past 2 vehicles, but for some reason, I didn't run into this situation. The first one was a single voice coil sub (about 7 years ago) with the same RMS Watts handling on the sub as the amp could ouput. The second system was a boxed Dual subs total package I snagged for $100 at Best Buy one year (and turned out to be a pretty good setup in a minivan!)

But now my new Acura RSX needs some oomph. I want to put around 300W RMS in it, no more. I also want to go for a single 10", as trunk space is a commodity for skiing and golf clubs, but if 12" is really really that much better and wouldn't cost more, I could do that (and just fold down one of the seats).

I know I've been told this before somewhere over the years, but I need help with matching a sub to an amp.

Example:
Kicker CVR10 (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Kicker-10-Subwoofer-CVR10/sem/rpsm/oid/117480/catOid/-13093/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)
300W RMS / 600W Peak
Each voice coil is 2 Ohms

What kind of amp would you match with it?
First of all, Mono or 2-Channel? I've never dealt with dual voice coil subs before, so I get confused with 2/4 Ohms and mono/2 channel.

Kicker 06ZX3001 (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Kicker-Mono-Subwoofer-Amplifier-06ZX3001/sem/rpsm/oid/146771/catOid/-13095/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)
150W RMS x 1 at 4 ohms
300W RMS x 1 at 2 ohms



Or would I need something twice as powerful? The sales people at the Best Buys/Circuit City's haven't been much help, but I know some of you guys actually have a good understanding and passion for it, so help me out if you can make a recommendation of an amp (either specific model that would go well, or the specs I should look for). Thanks!

[DarkFury]

Ok... my honest opinion.

If you want to get the most BOOM for the buck and save the most space, then go buy yourself a square Kicker solobaric speaker. I personally have a L7 12" Kicker solobaric in my 300C which is 750RMS/1500 Max output mated to a 900W RMS/1800W Max amplifier (my Kenwood KAC-9152D)

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/grafika/products/car/velike/kac-9152d.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a387/d4rkfury/Quadsubbox.jpg

This 12" woofer only takes a .88 cubic foot enclosure in a sealed application and man does it go BOOM!!!

Now if you don't want to push that much power, you could go with the L5 12" kicker instead... which handles 600W RMS / 1200 MAX and a little smaller amp.

Either way, you would want to feed any sub the RMS equivalent or slightly more to get the full potential out of your speakers. Therefore, if you have a 500W RMS sub, you want it to see at least 500W of RMS power from an amp... having a little bit more won't hurt, however I'd recommend keeping the gains down so you don't max out the speaker.

The WORST thing you could do is to buy a severely underpowered amp and then crank the gains all the way up creating distortion. This will kill your speakers.

As far as wiring goes... if you only want 1 speaker (to save space) then I'd recommend going with a 4 Ohm Dual Voice coil speaker and then buying a decent Class D Mono amplifier that is 2 Ohm stable. You will the bridge the two voice coils to create a 2 Ohm load for the amp (which will increase it's power potential). Check the ratings on your amp to see how much power it can deliver at 2 Ohms and match that power to the RMS rating of your speaker.

Pretty much, if you combine the proper speakers and amp together, your system will sound SWEEEEEEET!!!! Also, I can testify that one square 12" inch definitely produces alot of sound (although a pair of 10s may produce a more "accurate" sound... but at the cost of additional space of mounting the speakers)

Let us know what you fininally decide. :D

[ski]

My first sub was 200W RMS in a hatchback, my 2nd pair was 250 (in a minivan), so 300W would be the max I would want in my tiny car.

I appreciate the explanation old friend :)

Anyone have some suggestions of brands/models in that power range?

[DarkFury]

My first sub was 200W RMS in a hatchback, my 2nd pair was 250 (in a minivan), so 300W would be the max I would want in my tiny car.

I appreciate the explanation old friend :)

Anyone have some suggestions of brands/models in that power range?
Stay with Kicker...

Even if it isn't square. They wrote the book on small enclosure BOOMing. :D

But really, I'd go balls out for the L5s in your case... 500W really isn't that much and we are only talking one speaker here, not a pair.

[Houdini]

Stay with Kicker...

Even if it isn't square. They wrote the book on small enclosure BOOMing. :D

But really, I'd go balls out for the L5s in your case... 500W really isn't that much and we are only talking one speaker here, not a pair.

I've always heard Kicker is the cat's meow. However, due to limited trunk room, a need for a strong and accurate bass transition, I opted for an Infinity Basslink. Actually sounds damn good, and I haven't even ported my trunk to my cabin. My trunk doesn't rattle either, but it's sealed pretty damn well. A problem I recently encountered though (some suckage here) was that I had a couple of flat tires. So I had a tire out of the spare well. So I had been moving stuff around my trunk, and the Basslink moved from where I had mounted it (only to the carpet, as it was very stationary.) The hot power wire popped out, grounded to either the car or the adjacent ground wire, causing a direct battery to battery short, melting my power wires and burning my carpet. WTF is that smell? The guy in front of me must be polluting...damn diesels...Wow...he really needs to get his brakes checked or something...wait, what the hell? Smoke is pouring from my interior corner lights and sunroof! Popped trunk. Bigass flames. Huffed and puffed and blew them out. Now stinkage in trunk. Need new carpet, new heavy gauge power wires, and a BIG INLINE FUSE NEAR THE TRUNK-MOUNTED BATTERY. The speaker is OK though. Now that I've resorted to turning up the bass on the factory system, I've noticed a blown speaker (or a rattly one) on my driver's door kick panel area. Really sputters. Annoying. I digress.

But the Basslink may be fine for a small car. Very accurate bass, small space, 250 watt amp, I think., remote volume control, etc.

[DarkFury]

A problem I recently encountered though (some suckage here) was that I had a couple of flat tires. So I had a tire out of the spare well. So I had been moving stuff around my trunk, and the Basslink moved from where I had mounted it (only to the carpet, as it was very stationary.) The hot power wire popped out, grounded to either the car or the adjacent ground wire, causing a direct battery to battery short, melting my power wires and burning my carpet. WTF is that smell? The guy in front of me must be polluting...damn diesels...Wow...he really needs to get his brakes checked or something...wait, what the hell? Smoke is pouring from my interior corner lights and sunroof! Popped trunk. Bigass flames. Huffed and puffed and blew them out. Now stinkage in trunk. Need new carpet, new heavy gauge power wires, and a BIG INLINE FUSE NEAR THE TRUNK-MOUNTED BATTERY. The speaker is OK though.

This is why I also have fuses on my amplifier power distribution block in addition to the inline fuse/circuit breaker that I have on my battery.

Last thing you want is a car fire.... :eek:

[Maarchk]

Ski, is this a Type - S? I have a 2k4 RSX and its a lot of fun. Not type S but i'm pretty happy with it. Good luck with your new system.

hmm and you probably have a regular rsx if you are upgrading the sound. The bose on the type-s is pretty slick.

[Houdini]

This is why I also have fuses on my amplifier power distribution block in addition to the inline fuse/circuit breaker that I have on my battery.

Last thing you want is a car fire.... :eek:

Yeah...I usually am careful about such things, but really didn't think about it when I installed the thing a year or two ago.

Now that I've learned my car-b-que lesson, I'll definitely use an inline fuse from the hot cable of the battery to the Basslink. Luckily the Basslink has its own fuse and built-in amp, so I don't have to worry about any distribution fuses.

I do have to worry about buying new carpet panels though. One is burned badly, the one that lines the trunk against the back seat is seared where the wires ran, and the whole trunk smells like a bad electrical fire, even after I removed the back and side carpet panels. Guess I'll have to replace them all. Oh well... :shrug: