Get ready for a lot of dumb questions:
I have a Infinity 1211a amp and am looking to purchase (2) Alpine Type-R 12's.
The specs on each are as follows:

Infinity 1211a -
854W RMS x 1 @ 4 ohms
1300W RMS x 1 @ 2 ohms
Alpine Type-R 12's -
500W RMS
I want to run both of the 12's at their max, so I will need to run the amp at 2 ohms.

Now for the questions.
1.) Should I buy the 2 ohm or 4 ohm subs?
2.) Based on the #ohm sub I buy, how should I wire them (if you could please be specific, parallel and series dont help me much, I need positive to negative talk!)
3.) How do I make my amp put out 2 ohms? Is this done in the wiring of the subs?

What I would like to do is buy the 4 ohms subs (if they are correct for my application and are more readily available) and have someone tell me how to wire them together as well as to my amp so that the amp is pushing them all out.

Thanks a lot stereo gurus!

 

Sorry but you need to buy the 2 ohm subs. On each sub wire one of the positive terminals to the other coils negative terminal (Series). Then wire the remaining positive terminal of one sub to the empty positive terminal of the other sub (Parallel). Do the same with the empty negative terminals. Then wire one of the paralleled positive terminals to the positive terminal of your amp and wire one of the paralleled negative terminals to the negative terminal of your amp.

When you wire the coils in series, you're making the sub a single 4 Ohm load. Then you wire the 2 woofers in parallel creating a single 2 ohm load as far as the amp is concerned.

 

you can bridge your subs. This makes them hit alot harder but not as clear and if anything it will mess up your amp unless it has an overload protection. you twist the positve wires from both subs together then the negatives from both subs together then put them into the amp on seperate sub terminals. so both
+ go into one and both - into the other but make sure they are in different sub terminals