Despite my years (all 14 of them) of my mobile audio knowledge and install experience I am still a little wary about the ratings given to subs and amps.

So does anyone know of which manufacturers actually print their ratings on their products true to spec?

I'm sick of hearing "oh, this amp is way underrated." I don't want to hear that when the amp says 500 watts and the sub being powered is also 500 watts. Especially when the sub costs about $500. Wow... lots of 500s in there. Anywho... I have experience with PPI and JL. But outside of that, I don't know who markets their products at spec. I'm sure they all lie about it in some way. Even my beloved JL and PPI.

For some reason I doubt I'll get any answers and that alone will answer my question.

 

uhh im not here to help but kudos for all this pioneering work you are doing on our audio systems. im sure it will help alot of other people down the road

 

Alright. I re read my post and decided it didn't really explain a whole lot of what I was looking for. I think I edited too much. So here's some info that may make more sense.

The reason behind wanting to figure out which manufacturers are accurate is because if you have that over rated sub, like I said before is 500 watts and that under rated amplifier of 500 watts, you've suddenly set yourself up for driver failure. That is, if you simply base your judgements on the numbers provided on the box which half the time are all lies. I honestly still can't believe that the JL HD750/1 can actually put out that much wattage from a small box. It almost doesn't seem possible.

So if those two said items real figures are 250 watts for the sub and say, 580 watts for the amp... well the rest is history and you'll be going back to the dealer complaining about your sub not working. And this really is the ultimate reason behind this post. Alot of people know amps and drivers are either underrated or overrated. The point is to try to reveal the most accurate. And in a slight reference to what KillerG wrote, it may help steer the news guys in the right direction which I'm all for.

I'm not looking for your favorite subs and amps. I'm looking for the most accurate. Again, I realize there may not be much of a response to this post as I know either many simply don't care or will spend their lives under powering a $4,000 install or blowing several thousand dollars melting voice coils.

My only recommendation for accurate amps is PPI's PowerClass 1800.x series from 11 or 12 years ago and JL's W7 driver which, while power hungry, will blow if you are just slightly over rated specs. And it will. Seen it happen.

So any ideas on recommendations, please list them. But plaese, no favorites. Just accurate and hopefully bench tested products that are as close to spec as possible. I'd say within 7-10% of rated power.

 

First, the idea or myth that “this amp is under rated” is pure BS right from the sales floor. All car stereo amps are overrated; no manufacturer is going to deliberately understate an amps power ratting as there would be nothing to gain and lots to lose by doing so. True, some amps are more overrated then others but do your really think you can buy a 1500watt amp for $159? Does that make the 50watt $150 amp underrated? No, not really since the 50watt amp is more like 35watts so in real terms they are both overrated.
Speaker ratings can be tricky because there are a lot of factors that determine power handling but if you read the specs carefully you should be able to match the sub with your amp. The way to protect your speakers is not to drive the amp into distortion or exceed the max excursion of the driver.

Jeff

 

True. Though I was initially speaking from the other end of the spectrum, both are still used. Just trying to keep it simple. I can say I've never blown a sub and I listen for quality. I couldn't care less about shaking my car. I simply thought it would be a good idea to bring this up again since it seems the most basic concept of amp/sub wiring seems to be ignored or be completely dismissed.