I have 2 kicker S12L7

[trinidon2k]

I have 2 Kicker S12L7 subwoofers.

Titanium deposit cone
Non-resonant aluminum basket
Santoprene rubber surround
Dual 4-ohm voice coils for wiring flexibility
Frequency response 24-100 Hz
Power range 750 watts RMS
1500 watts Peak
Peak power handling 1,500 watts
Sensitivity 87.4 dB SPL

the complete specs are here

now my problem is...
i dont know much when it comes to audio and i need an amp to push these subs.
what specs am i looking for in an amp? what kind of amp? how much is too much?
what else should i know? please suggest an amp if you can...thanks all

[El Presidente]

whats you budget?

What you would want with those subs is an amp that is capable of operating at least 400W RMS/channel. The max RMS is 750, and a good rule of thumb is to use an amp rated in the top third of the power band, but 400 should be plenty.

[jllphan]

BUY A HUGE AMP!!!

I sell those and they are some of the best subs on the planet for rattling your teeth, but they are very inefficient. I have 300W RMS going to my single 8" L7.

When looking for an amp, wattage isn't everything. If the THD is high (over 0.1%), the sound quality is poor regardless of wattage. Look for a balance of clean (low THD) and high power (wattage).


Buy as big an amp as you can afford. Trust me, they can handle it.

[BlantonG13]

An Alpine MRV 1507 should do the trick...it can put out upwards of 450 watts a channel...1500 watts max bridged...Phoenix Gold, Power Precision, Xtant, and even Kicker amps will work very well. Believe it or not, take a look on ebay for any of these. You will find some SWEET deals for very reputable goods.

[El Presidente]

I agree. I picked up an Alpine MRV-T420 for 160ish.

[MIZ4Guy]

yeah , ur gunna have to power the crap outta those... just remember it is 10 times more likely to blow out a subwoofer by underpowering it then it is overpowering it.... worry less about putting a lil to much power to them then not putting enough

[jllphan]

Thank you. You have no idea how hard I try to explain to people that when an amplifier stops making power ( reached max. output)), it starts making distortion. And distortion is what blows a speaker. :wink

[trinidon2k]

I emailed crutchfield and they said:

In answer to your question about an amplifier, we usually recommend that you drive your subwoofers with at least 70% (70-100%) of their maximum RMS rating to get them to perform at their optimum. The closer to 100% you power them, the harder they hit and the better they sound. Because you are using two subwoofers, you may have a hard time finding one amplifier that can drive the power you need to two subwoofers and stay within your budget. For this reason, you may want to consider two mono channel amplifiers using one for each sub. Two of these Audiobahn amplifiers will drive these subwoofers nicely:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/P...sp?i=037A8000T

Don’t forget, the amp doesn't come with the wiring you'll need to get it hooked up. Just click the "Other Items You May Need" tab to find the wiring kit that we recommend.

------------
Is he right or is he just trying to get me to spend more money than i should?

also
El Presidente: you said "Alpine MRV-T420 "
but the specs say
Power Output
RMS Power at 2 Ohms 120 W x 2
RMS Power at 4 Ohms 75 W x 2
.....i dont think that would be enough

[El Presidente]

Oh no, the Alpine is not for you. But 250x1 is plenty for me. I was using mine as an example of money saved on ebay. It's a great amp, but won't do the kickers justice.

Regarding crutchfield, you can buy 2 mono blocks, or one large one. As long as the RMS output is high per channel then you would be fine.

[El Presidente]

Did a little bit of looking.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/PHOTI6002

Sine the amp is 2 ohm stable in bridged mode, if you were to wire the subs parallel in bridged mode then it should make some serious noise without breaking the bank.

[jllphan]

Prez, gives good advice, you can go with either (two mono's or one big two channel), just keep in mind those subs are dual voice coil. You would be better running a two channel in stereo, with each sub's voicecoil wired in parallel, and the subs in a series circuit, thusly inducing two 2ohm loads on the amp. Forgive me if a read your post incorrectly, as this stuff can get a little confusing.

BTW, the guy wasn't trying to get you just to spend more chedda, those subs will rock the freakin house, and one IMO would be plenty. With the proper amp(s), well you can just raise all kinds of hell.

[El Presidente]

good point. I didn't notice they were DVCs.

[BlantonG13]

Its pretty rare to find Solo L7s in anything but DVCs. Yeah, you definitely want to have enough power...when I first started out, I learned the hard way, blew an Orion capable of 700watts max by only pushing it with about 200watts from a bad Sony Xplod amp...of course you want to turn it up more to make the bass louder, this causes clipping (trying to get more power/bass/sound than you have)-which is the single handed worst destroyer of subwoofers in the industry...

you should be able to find one of those Alpine MRV-1507 on ebay for $350 or cheaper...they are beasts. I've dealt with 2 of them (1 was stolen along with my old car, but good enough to go back)

If you do go with 2 Mono amps, that means you also have to have twice the wiring...two power cables (most likely starting with 1 cable going into a split block), two ground cables, a connecting RCA set, splice a second line off the existing remote cable...all this is probably what is suggested in Crutchfield's "Other Items" list...Pushing that much power, you'll want a Farad Cap as well, otherwise you will have some fading headlights and electronics...

[bitcore]

1,500W 1 ch. amp, wired in parallel for 1 ohm load.
1.5 - 2 farad capacitor.

Don't bother with sereo, waste of money since the bass is one channel anyways, and if it was stereo, you wouldn't be able to tell and the harmonics created would sound icky. many 2 ch. sub amps are really 1 channel, with 2 plugs for wires.

Underpowering subs with a wimpy amp and driving the amp too hard will kill your voice coils. Don't worry about overpowering them when you get the correct amp. Ignore peak power ratings, they are meaningless and you will never ever see your equipment hit that mark.

sorry I'm late, I have been out of town and was drunk as f*ck lastnight.
If you can find the cadence A7+HC, take a look into it. 1400 W, 0.005% THD, 80 amps max current draw (95% efficent). They pop up on ebay occasionally, I got mine off ebay and it sounds great.


If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right

[jllphan]

Originally posted by bitcore@Jul 12 2004, 03:03 PM
1,500W 1 ch. amp, wired in parallel for 1 ohm load.
1.5 - 2 farad capacitor.

Don't bother with sereo, waste of money since the bass is one channel anyways,

two subs--->two channels of amplification= stereo. I am saying you wouldn't bridge a two channel amp with two dual voicecoils subs. You would NOT want to run a 2ch amp in mono with two dvc's.