I'm researching on some subs, but I don't know what some of the information I'm finding means. Can someone please explain?

1. RMS? What is it and what's a good rms?
2. Impedance/Ohms rating? What is it and what's a good ohms rating?
3. Peak/Normal Power Handling?

I will probably have more questions in the future. Thanks in advance. Please don't flame as I'm a n00b when it comes to car audio .

 

peak handling is how much the sub can handle before blowing, normal is how much you power SHOULD go to the sub in order for it not to blow, ohms you can do a search on because someone, i think vteg, he knows his ****, posted an entire explanation and it was a damn good one, RMS i cant really explain, i'll post again if i can find a way to explain

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PetroGuyX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">peak handling is how much the sub can handle before blowing, normal is how much you power SHOULD go to the sub in order for it not to blow</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do you control how much power goes into the sub. For example I have an 800 watt pioneer amp. Say I buy a 12' sub that has a peak handling of 600 watts. Will the sub blow or are there ways to control the power. Sorry for being such a n00b guys bear with me a few more months...

 

You have to get your power straight. We normally refer to RMS only. That is all you should care about. Are you refering to 800 peak for the amp or rms?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You have to get your power straight. We normally refer to RMS only. That is all you should care about. Are you refering to 800 peak for the amp or rms?</TD></TR></TABLE>

?? I stilll don't know what RMS is In my example I was refering to the 800watts on the amp. So what you're saying is I should ignore peak handling and focus more on RMS??

 

RMS = Continuous
Peak/Max power ratings are basically worthless.

Remember that a sub's power handling will decrease as box size increses.

 

QUOTE=t0p_sh0tta] Remember that a sub's power handling will decrease as box size increses.[/QUOTE]

Thanks I didn't know that. So the bigger the box the less power the sub needs? Does it matter if it's banpass/sealed/ported?

So RMS is all that matters and the peak/max handling doesn't really matter?

 

You have a learning curve ahead

You have thermal and mechanical power handling. Thermal is based on the amount of heat the speaker can dissapate. Most of the watts(&gt;95%) becomes heat. Mechanical is determined by suspension. If you push too hard then things break. Larger enclosures reduce mechanical power handling.

 

pretty much to gather all info, RMS= continuous power handling, what the sub can handle CONSTANTLY without blowing your sub and without sending your amp into protection, you can control how much power goes to your sub by adjusting the gain on the amp, say you have a 800 watt amp, a 1/4 the way up would be aprx. 200 watts of power, if the RMS of your sub is 300 watts, then you're right at the safe level and chances are that will be how you want your sub to sound, i currently have a JL 12W3 in a ported box with a jl 250/1, i've never turned my amp up more than 1/4 of the way, no need to, but in essence peak/max power handling is in fact useless unless you plan on compeating in an SPL competition

 

Thanks for all the info guys, I"m learning a lot!!!

There's still one question that hasn't been answered.

2. Impedance/Ohms rating? What is it and what's a good ohms rating?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ziggie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
2. Impedance/Ohms rating? What is it and what's a good ohms rating?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Impedance is resistance to ac current. This has to be matched to your amp. There is no good or bad rating.