What size amp do I need?

[cb7sk8rdude]

Today I bought a sony xplod subwoofer. It is a 1200 watt. I use a sony xplod amp right now. I don't know much about subs and amps, but this amp says 480 watts on the top. It puts out 240 per channel. I am pretty sure I need a bigger amp. What do you recommend?

[evil_demon_01]

Today I bought a sony xplod subwoofer. It is a 1200 watt. I use a sony xplod amp right now. I don't know much about subs and amps, but this amp says 480 watts on the top. It puts out 240 per channel. I am pretty sure I need a bigger amp. What do you recommend?

Need to know the RMS #'s, not the Peak numbers.
Add about 10% to the sub RMS rating and that'll be your answer.

[SPLCB7]

Id say run the sony 1200 watt amp to that sub it should be well matched and if tuned right will last an long while

[mcdizzle]

Id say run the sony 1200 watt amp to that sub it should be well matched and if tuned right will last an long while

ummmm no, the amp he has currently is more then enough for that sub most likely.

we need model numbers of both your sub and the current amp you have to ACCURATELY answer your question

[SPLCB7]

ummmm no, the amp he has currently is more then enough for that sub most likely.

we need model numbers of both your sub and the current amp you have to ACCURATELY answer your question

240 rms for an sub that needs 600 rms isnt ideal power range and im guessing 240 is max per channal which means his amps rms is 120 per channal that sub would be severly underpowerd. And an bigger box wont make up for distortion if the sub dosnt get its rated power its very prone to failure.But hay mabe you know something i dont please explain.

[sonikaccord]

Did you hook it up first and see what it sounds like? You may not want the full 600 watts it's all a personal opinion.
I'm guessing you can bridge the amp and get about 200 watts if it's a two channel.

Personally I would run 500-700 watts but that's just me.

[mcdizzle]

240 rms for an sub that needs 600 rms isnt ideal power range and im guessing 240 is max per channal which means his amps rms is 120 per channal that sub would be severly underpowerd. And an bigger box wont make up for distortion if the sub dosnt get its rated power its very prone to failure.But hay mabe you know something i dont please explain.

its called bridging the channels to get more out of it, plus its an xplod sub so i gaurantee it wont handle 600rms for very long....

[cb7sk8rdude]

I have hooked it up and listened to it. It sounds really underpowered. Like speedofsound760 said 240rms amp compared with the 600rms sub makes it sound under powered. And I bought 2 of these subs. I was thinking of making a box for the both of them, but I don't know if that would make it sound better or not.

[SPLCB7]

its called bridging the channels to get more out of it, plus its an xplod sub so i gaurantee it wont handle 600rms for very long....

Ive owned am few sony explod subs and amps even decks and speakers. Ive had an car that had nothing but sony. theyll handle the sony 1200 watt amp just fine. An sub not getting the right amount of power to it always distorts! Distortion is what kills speakers. You can always run more power to an sub and it will take it till it maxes out and you get woofer shake but if you run to luttle power it will distort. Sorry if im just trying to help op get the most out of his system and bridging an amp works great if the output of the amp hits the lvl of rms the sub needs. At the same time if it dosnt hit the number range or close to it it will distort out heat up the coils in the sub and blow you can mabe run 100 watts less then recomended if its properly tuned and you dont crank it up. But we all know thats not going to happen. Just set it up right the first time so it lasts an while. Sony is crap you have to run it right or failure isnt an possibility it will happen. I am out,late

[lilg4mdalbc]

i have a 2 channel interfire amp, 400 max, so im guessing 200 per channel. i got 2 american pro 12s, 500 max each(250 rms), and my setup sounds great. if i turn up the amp too much, my subs wont handle it, so of course, i dont have the amp up too high. i heard the quality of sony's subs and amps isnt that great, so yeah, i would sell it and get some different gear, just giving my 2 cents.

[SPLCB7]

i have a 2 channel interfire amp, 400 max, so im guessing 200 per channel. i got 2 american pro 12s, 500 max each(250 rms), and my setup sounds great. if i turn up the amp too much, my subs wont handle it, so of course, i dont have the amp up too high. i heard the quality of sony's subs and amps isnt that great, so yeah, i would sell it and get some different gear, just giving my 2 cents.

My guess is that your running two much gain and clipping your sub wich will blow them....anyways sonys great on an buget if you run them right....and i was wrong an sony 1200 watt amp wont work for ya. You need 2 1000 watt sony amps to properly run those subs heres how you run them.....4ohms bridged one amp per sub. The 1200 watt sony subs are rated at 380rms and an briged 1000 watt amp runs 400 rms. So i would run 2 1000 watt sony amps on those subs. Sorry for the confusion i was on my phone and didnt look them up so there ya go

[sonikaccord]

Underpowering doesn't produce distortion, incorrect gain setting/user error produces distortion.

[SPLCB7]

Underpowering doesn't produce distortion, incorrect gain setting/user error produces distortion.

Everything you said is right except the underpower part...heres an example...you have an amp you under power the amp becuse you run 8gage wire insted of 0 the amp will go out over time. Not right away but it will go out. Now with an sub if you under power an sub an sub will distort and blow. You can tune the sub right with the box and you can tune the amp. But if you underpower an sub it will distort when you crank it up. Yes you can run it at lower volume and it wont blow becuse it wont distort at an lower volume.But under load the amp will hit an point where it will max out. When it maxes out it distorts out. If the amp dosnt have the power to put out the proper power then the sub distorts out.ie Blowing the sub.
But you do know what your talking about you seem to know quite an bit. And most of the time I 100% agree with what your saying. So i could be wrong wouldnt be the first time.

[jdm92_accorn]

Underpowering doesn't produce distortion, incorrect gain setting/user error produces distortion.

exactly, you can run lower wattage without distortion. cranking up the gain to increase volume is not the answer though. you increase wattage if you want more volume or run a sound processor to help. a sound processor can bring alot of depth and volume to a sub so you dont have to crank the gain, it increases the volume of the lower frequencies up to 20+db. it just depends on what kind of bass you want. id probably go with 500rms in a sealed box for a rounded sound and 600rms in a ported box for boom boom.

[sonikaccord]

Situations are fun!!
Cliff notes: If you fuse based on lowest current capability (wire or amp), it'll save some blown amps and burned cars.
If you have a 1000w amp running at 500w and a 500w amp running at 500w, the sub is still getting 500w. It's just that the 1000w amp can get louder while the 500w amp it's at it's peak.

Situation 1:
The wire connected to the doesn't directly hurt the amp. It's more of the resistance of the wire. That's why you fuse for the wire and not the amp. More than likely the wire will get hot and melt the terminals on the amp or battery first since that's where most of the resistance is.
If you had two straws one small(8 gauge) and one big(0 gauge) and you(amp) decided to blow up a balloon(speaker) with the two straws. If you have weak lungs(small powered amp) then you could use either straw without issues. If you have michael phelps lungs(large powered amp) you can use both straws, but the small straw will become a bottle neck and limit how fast you can blow the balloon up(voltage drop through wire). It will also make you more tired than using the larger wire(amp compensates for low voltage by pulling more current).

Situation 2.
I get where you're coming from with the underpowering stuff, it's a terrible misconception in the car audio field but it's actually simple when you use a little common sense.
Can you blow a 100w light bulb with 50w? Not unless you have a defective bulb The amp can't see the subs power rating. I could feed a 1000w sub with 500w for days(note how I just scaled up the light bulb situation) and it won't do anything. Now when people attempt to squeeze more output out of the amp than it's capable of delivering is when they mess up. The distortion causes heat(the subs enemy) and blows voice coils since the sub is not cooling properly.
This question sums up the whole issue.
What is the difference between lower volume and underpowering?
If you have a 1000w amp running at 500w and a 500w amp running at 500w, the sub is still getting 500w. It's just that the 1000w amp can get louder while the 500w amp it's at it's peak.

exactly, you can run lower wattage without distortion. cranking up the gain to increase volume is not the answer though. you increase wattage if you want more volume or run a sound processor to help. a sound processor can bring alot of depth and volume to a sub so you dont have to crank the gain, it increases the volume of the lower frequencies up to 20+db. it just depends on what kind of bass you want. id probably go with 500rms in a sealed box for a rounded sound and 600rms in a ported box for boom boom.

20db's is 100 times the power. If you have an amp that puts out 1w and you boost the signal going in, it's going to distort badly because it's going to get nowhere near that 100w that it needs. If you have played with your eq on the computer and you boost 40hz all the way(usually 12db's) it sounds awful. Same concept.