Hey AcuraZine! Long time no post! Hopefully some audio gurus could chime in on this one.
So I just picked up this sweet JL Audio XD700/5 5-channel amplifier and it really makes the system sound amazing because of its highpass/bandpass/lowpass crossover giving the higher frequencies to the speakers and lower frequencies to the sub allowing me to crank up the volume with much less distortion and overall cleaner sound at any volume.
Problem is, during installation I kicked a hole in my subwoofer
From my understanding, this amp delivers 75watts x 4 @ 4-ohm and a choice between 300watts x 1 @ 2-ohms OR 180watts x 1 @ 4-ohms.
I could get a decent 4-ohm sub for cheap but would I be wasting the larger wattage potential this awesome amp delivers or will I not even hear a difference?

P.S: If anyone has the JL Audio CleanSweep CD could you PLEASE email me the audio tracks at flohrman06@yahoo.com
Thanks!

 

RE Audio REX12S4 12" REX Series Car Subwoofer - Sonic Electronix

You should be fine with this.. And at higher ohms amp run cooler.

 

Power and active sub - definitely. Sound Mixing passive subwoofer with the other components of a very complicated procedure. Active enables easier management and configuration. Power subwoofer, it is recommended that the amplifier is less than 10-15%.

 

honestly I would run two different amps. one for the speakers and one for the subs. having one amp that handles all the frequencies don't sound as good when compared to having an amp that processes mid and high frequencies and a separate one that process low frequency for subs. as far as what the guy above me said, its true that youll run a cooler amp if you run more ohms but you'll get less power. honestly go as low as the amp allows (as far as subwoofers are concerned) most amps are stable at 2 and 4 ohms.

 

Thanks for the input guys! I think I'm really starting to get the hang of car audio system setups! So I ended up going all out because of Cyber Monday and went with a full Alpine Type-R setup. 6.5" Components up front, 5.25" Coaxials in the back, and a 12" sub inversely mounted in the rear. It sounds amazing! I'm also using an Alpine headunit (ILX-007) that has equalizer pretuned for Type-R, X, S, or E speakers and you can really hear the difference. So glad I decided to match everything but my amp of course. I wonder if there are any benefits to matching the amp too.

 

I went with a PowerBass shallow mount 10" sub for my rear deck. Sounds amazing. Eventually i will upgrade to something with more umppfh. Til then the PowerBass sub will suffice.