Ok guys I just bought a 2005 Kicker CompVR 12" Dual 2 Ohm. First what does dual 2 ohm mean? and can someone tell me a good amp for this sub, I belive that it will handle 400 rms. Also I think I want a ported box, not sure yet. Pros and cons of each? mainly need a good but cheap amp that will make the sub sound good. thanks in advance! also it will be going in a blazer, if that helps

 

So, you bought something you knew nothing about? Ohms is a measure of resistance. Resistance determines how much power your amp will send to the sub. You will most likely have to run the sub in a series because not many amps can handle a 1 ohm load. Find an amp that will produce 400 watts rms into a 4 ohm load.

For a budget, maybe look at Kicker, Hifonics, Rockford Fosgate.

 

dual (or DVC) means two voicecoils exist on that sub. 2 ohms is the resistance rating on each voicecoil. since both voicecoils must be wired/used, you can go one of two directions...wired in series or in parallel. in series means you just add the two values together (or 4 ohms in this case). since the resistance will be the same, parallel means taking this value and dividing by the number of voicecoils (or 1 ohm). given this info, you will need to buy an amp that is stable at either resistance; normally, the lower the resistance the greater the wattage. make sure you buy an amp that won't greatly overpower what the sub can handle (rms value). find an amp that meets these conditions and looks good to you that fits your budget. also make sure the sub can go into a ported box!

 

thanks for all your help I am looking at the Alpine MRP-M450 and the Phoenix Gold R5.0:1 crutchfield reccomended the alpine... guess its cause what they sell. but neither is stable at 1 ohm. and the crutchfield guy told me to wire it in parallel, but from the amp he told me to get and what you said about the ohm at parallel it wouldnt be stable. plz help and your thoughts on those 2 amps

 

well, quality 1 ohm stable amps are usually a higher dollar item and mainly used to generate ungodly sums of power! 4 ohms is common and cheap so go this route. two choices - 2 channel amp bridged down to 1 ch that can provide the 400w rms at 4 ohms; or go with a mono/sub amp in the same context. the difference here is probably the classification of the amps. better mono/sub amps belong to class D and tend to run cooler and be more efficient, but you can get away using the 2 channel amp (class a/b normally).

well, the alpine amp won't cut it. it's 220Wx1 at 4 ohms, or 400Wx1 at 2 ohms. your sub cannot be wired down to 2 ohms so you'll get the power of the 4 ohm setting...and this is about half of what that sub can handle.

pg doesn't seem to fair any better. 150W at 4 ohms or 300 at 2.

what you need is an amp that can put out 400W rms at 4 ohms. up to you if you want a 2 ch or a mono amp. there is also the concern about the car's electrical system; ie, whether at 12v or closer to 14. but most newer cars with the engine running will be very close to 14v, but there maybe a chance that the amp will put out the lower 12v power ratings. a way to get around this is to buy certain brands of amps that have a consistent power output over a range of voltages (ie, jl slash amps). it will list it in the specs.

if you stick with alpine, get the mrp-m650 or mrd-m605. both output 400w rms at 4 ohms. $300 vs 4. m605 is class D with built-in fan (i know because i have 3 amps from the MRD line).

if you stick with PG, 8.0:1 or 4.0:2 (2 ch amp) but can't really tell from the specs on there page (ie, power given at 2 ohms so i divided it by 2). the 8 is a class D.

 

ok but the sub is only good for 400rms, total with both voice coils so wouldnt that mean that if i was getting the alpine it would be putting out 220 per voice coil so total 440 rms? and with the pg its 200rms @ 4 ohm so it would be a total of 400rms with it going through both voice coils? and also the sub in a ported box like i will have is only rated for 300rms. it seems like the pg 8.0:1 would be greatly overpowering my sub @ 400rms per voice coil so a total of 800 would be going throught it... is that right?

 

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=269-162
supposed to be great for the money. if i was putting together a budget system, i'd probably give them a try

i think ikesound has some cheap USamps, but i've heard mixed reviews about ikesound's customer service

 

the rms value is for the sub as a whole. the number of voicecoils allow for wiring flexibility, without having to buy more than one sub, to achieve the power ratings of the amp in light of the rms power handling of the sub(s). when wired in parallel or series, it now only has one connection to make so it would make sense that the two voicecoils have become one electrically and the sub itself can handle 400w. i have not mentioned the third option which is to wire the voicecoils independently but this will require at least 2 amp channels and each voicecoil should get no more than half of the sub's rms value. the pg or alpine amp putting out it's rated power at 4 ohms into EACH voicecoil would make it a much more powerful (ie, 2X) amp than what it is; obviously, it's not the case and it only has one channel available.

*****

found this from jl's site,
"How are dual voice coil speakers rated for power handling?
A dual voice coil speaker's power handling is typically specified by manufacturers for the whole speaker. This means that a 250 Watt dual voice coil driver is designed to handle a total of 250 Watts whether the coils are wired independently, in series or in parallel."

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=163

 

as for the 8.0, i was only able to find power ratings at 2 ohms...since you can wire the sub to 4 ohms, i basically cut the power rating in half.

 

also, those 2 ohm voicecoils would not be getting 200-so watts each as this is the 4 ohm amp output.