ok, first of all yes, i did some research but now i think it's just best if i ask people here..sorry if they're newb questions

1. ok, when i read amp's power ratings, there' usualy one under 14.4V and 12V, i heard somewhere that 14.4V is when u first start your car..but then why would they even give u numbers for that?

2. when people ask you "how many watts is your amp pushing?", what am i supposed to reply with? the RMS or peak wattage?

3. how does this work..

RMS Power (at 12V,20Hz-20kHz)

-Bridged 4 ohms : 240W x 1 (0.3% THD)
-Per channel into 2 ohms : 120W x 2 (0.3% THD)
-Per channel into 4 ohms : 70W x 2 (0.08%THD)

is that a typo or is that supposed to be 4 ohms? im using that amp with 2 4 ohm subs wired parallel so the resistance is 2 ohms..so how much watts is the amp pushing then if the numbers there are correct?

my brain isnt functioning right now and i cant figure it out..sorry thank you for those who help me out !

 

Ok, well lets see. the at 12v 20hz-20khz is the frequency responce. That is the frequencys that the amp is capable of reproducing. 20hz - 20000hz(20khz) is the frequency responce range of the human ear so that is fine. When it says bridged 240w that means that the amp has 2 channels (left and right), if you bridge them you put both channels into 1 signal (mono, no stero mixing). Doing this gives you more power, you would (or should) do this for your subs (if they can handle 240w). Im going to post another message so i can check the stats you gave again....more to come

 

Ok, 120 @ 2 x2 and 70 @ 4x2. Now that means that at 4 ohm rated speakers (one per chanel its puting out 70w per channel hence the x2. Now %THD i can't figure out. does this mean Total Harmonic Distortion? i think it may. if it does, then the % needs to be a small as possible. and if you have the 2 ohm the amp is putting out 120w per channel. Now the question is how do you have your subs wired. Did you biamp (bridge) the amp? You said that they are in parallel, i think if they are in parralel as you say than the ohm rating drops, yeah thats right. Series doubles it ish... if you biamped your speakers and it really means your running it like a 2 ohm speaker you may damage the amp. especially since it did not give a bridged rating at 2 ohms. you may want to separate the speakers and go with the 70w out put per channel....

i think thats all for now. if you need clarification give a yell. i hope this is somewhat coherant....

 

thx for the reply, BUT when you bridged it at 4 ohms, it produced 240w and when u have 2 chans at 2 ohms it produces 120w x 2..im not sure when you bridge it at 4 ohms it produces 240w..that seems high to me..i would understand if it was at 2 ohm and produce 240w but at 4 ohm shouldnt it be less? hank, where you at man?

 

i have another question..

if a sub had a 4 ohm DVC, would i be able to wire it in 2 ohm, 4 ohm, and 8ohm?

 

It does seam a bit high, but it does put out more that double the watage when you biamp. But that is quite a bit more. Are those the actually specs on it? any chance you could upload a link so we could take a look at it?

 

oh, also ive never heard of DVC. what does it mean? something voltage curent?

 

dual voice coils.

With a 4ohm dvc you can wire it 2ohm(parallel) or 8ohm(series).

spelling sucks but oh well

 

http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/revi...sku=ALPMRVT707

second review down has the specs..

 

Thanks for the link. First off explain this dual voice coil thing. do you have a box with 2 subs in it or is it like the speakers that have a woofer and a tweeter built into them? if its just two subs you should wire them as two 4 ohm speakers, because the sound quality will be better (according to the specs) especially if you can run 14.4v. At that voltage it is 100w per channel RMS and 225 peak. Thats pretty good. Otherwise your going to want to wire them in series. Because in effect 2 4 ohm speakers do not rate down to 2 ohms, they rate a little lower than that and that would over time wreck your amp.

 

DVC, Dual Voice Coil. Means exactly what it says. You have a sub, it has 2 voice coils wrapped around a single former. There are other variants, but not till you start spending 500+ per sub. (unless someone knows of a nice cheap quad voice coil sub)

Having 2 voice coils gives the end-user (you) options on wiring to get the most out of the sub and amp combo. With a DVC4 (2x 4 ohm coils) You can wire the sub to 8ohm (useful for multiple subs) or 2ohm (useful for using just this sub, or making a very low impedence group of subs)

Marzochi, I believe you're a little bit of confused when it comes to some things. Bi-amping has nothing to do with bridging (yeah, I can't spell today) the amp. Bi-amping is using seperate amps for a mid and tweet, effectively eliminating the passive crossover network after the amp, but using an active XO before the amp. It's a good way to go if you're running some monster mids, or a tweet that doesn't like a lot of power (or both)
THD is Total Harmonic Distortion, yes. And while it's nice to have this number as small as possible, with subs it doesn't really matter as much. There's not one person who could tell me the difference in sound between a sub amp running at 1% THD or one running at .000001%THD. With subs you're pretty clear up to 1%.


HERE I AM! Anyhoo... You've just discovered the difference between Mono and Stereo loads. 2ohms x2 = 4ohm x1 They're the same load, so the amp puts out the same power. Do the simple math 2x2 = 4x1.

With that particular Alpine, I believe it's 2ohm stable. BUT, watch the heat. If you notice it getting hot, rewire the subs.

Now I know I already answered some of your questions on IM, but for the benefit of those reading this I'll take down the other 2 from your first post.

1. 12v power rating is with the car off, just sitting there bumping the system. 14.4v is with the car turned on.

2. Reply to them any way you'd like. Personally, I just give them a magical mystery number. For example I say 1200 most of the time. My amp when benched actually put out over 1500RMS at 1ohm... so I prefer to underrate, and not have to explain. In your situation, just say "Dude, it's an Alpine... go to hell"

 

thanks for that post and the chat on IM hank, clears up my road ahead

 

Your right, ill admit it. I was getting my terms confused. Although some stereo amps do have Biamp switches on them, that just bridge them. It depends upon the age of the amp. I am however comming, not from a car audio stand point but from a sound reinforcement one, although they should not be different, except for the powering issues.

 

If it sounds good, don't worry

 

sorry, i dont want to be one of those people. no offense, but that's exactly what i dont want to do.