i am new to car stereo so sorry for the dumb question. im buying two pioneer 10" subs with 700w max (350w nominal). what kind of amp do i need? should i go 2-channel or 4 and do i go off the nominal or the max output?


thanks,
nathan

 

go off of the nominal(its also called "rms wattage"). the max is just at peak points that the amp can product at an instant, the RMS is what the amp produces over the long period of time. If i were you i would get an amp that is 2ch-bridgable or a mono block(1ch) amp. if your subs can handle 350w RMS, get an amp that can output 500rms-700rms. to get that to work correctly you have to wire it up correctly, it also depends if its a single 4-ohm voice coil or a dual vocie coil, dependng on how you wire it, it will put different loads on the amp.

If you have the 2 10" subs, both single voice coil, with a bridgable 2-ch amp, make sure it is in the range of 550-700w rms at 2ohms. the key is to make sure the bridge is stable at 2ohms. a lot of amps(including mine, even tho my amp isnt all that and a bag of potato chips) arent stable at 2 ohms bridged.

But(as from my experience) You will want to get a mono block amp. most of those are stable at 2ohms, sometimes even at 1 ohm. The 2 4ohm(if this is the nominal impedance) will present a 2 ohm load on the amplifier.

you might ask why it presents a 2 ohm load. the answer is that yes, both subs are 4 ohm; but there are 2 of them pulling current from the same circuit. 2 times the current of the current going across 4ohm = 2 ohm load. if you have 2 subs/speakers hooked in parallel, just take the impedence of one of the speakers, divide it by 2 and thats the resistance applied to the amp for both speakers in parallel.

Sorry, i went off a little too much but basically, in my opinion the best option would be a mono block amp that puts out 550-700 wats RMS at 2 ohms. this is considering that both subs are single voice coil and are 4ohms each

Now, as with what is the best brand to go with in your opinion, im less knowledgeable(i hope the info i said b4 isnt too confusing). Ill leave that up to others to figure out ...or correct what i have said in the above info.

 

the only thing In ur response that I would disagree with is the amp range, I would say go with an amp at a minimum of 700watts RMS. Between 700 and 1000 rms.
Its always better to have more power than you need rather than not enough.
If he gets an amp thats 500 watts RMS he is going to either gain it too high or not give the subs the power they want.

 

I was thinking that when i was maknig the post but thanks for correcting me also...iv always underpowered my subs(not too much tho, now im not since i have a dual voie coil subs now, i have it wired to match the amps rms output perfectly) and i havnt had any problem, i never turn my subs way up tho so it goes into clipping or anything.

 

im buying these subs: http://www.pioneerelectronics.....html

so if they are dual voice coil and running in parallel then i need a mono block amp that puts out atleast 700w at 4 ohms? what if its a 2 channel?

 

As it says in the spec sheet, they come as a SVC 4 ohm or as DVC 2 or 8 ohm, so it depends which ones you get, IMO the DVC 2 ohms are the ones to get.

Then as incubus said find an amp that will make 1X700W-1000W rms into a 2 ohm load, and get a mono-block sub amp, [better way to go then a 2ch amp that you have to bridge] 94

 

if the 2 DVC 2ohm subs are hooked to the mono block, wont that create a 1 ohm load if there are 2 of them...or on a mono amp are the 2 sets of outputs seperate from eachother on the amp?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by silentblackhat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the 2 DVC 2ohm subs are hooked to the mono block, wont that create a 1 ohm load if there are 2 of them...or on a mono amp are the 2 sets of outputs seperate from eachother on the amp?</TD></TR></TABLE> No, you will wire the VCs on each sub is series, [2+2=4] and then wire the 2 subs in parallel [4/4=2] 94

 

so what your saying is i need an amp that puts out 700w-1000w at a 2 ohm load?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rockin_remz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what your saying is i need an amp that puts out 700w-1000w at a 2 ohm load?</TD></TR></TABLE> That is correct. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> No, you will wire the VCs on each sub is series, [2+2=4] and then wire the 2 subs in parallel [4/4=2] 94</TD></TR></TABLE>

sry. i was thinking each voice coil was 4 ohms, then wiring them in parallel would be 2 ohms overall, then 2 in parallel would be 1 ohm overall....i didnt look at the data sheet tho. sry for the confusion/dumb question, i should have looekd at how many ohms each VC is