is amping your speakers worth it?

[serpico]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

so your saying that IF your amp put out EXACTLY 100 watts RMS, the only way you'd really reach the 100 watt rms was IF you were at the level just before clipping?

I believe he is saying that you would reach 100w rms if the head unit's volume was MAXED out. JperrySS please correct me if im wrong though

[jperryss]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

so your saying that IF your amp put out EXACTLY 100 watts RMS, the only way you'd really reach the 100 watt rms was IF you were at the level just before clipping?

Pretty much, yes. And you'd probably have to be playing something loud (ie something recorded loud) with lots of dynamics.

IF the amp can put out exactly 100w clean RMS then it's going to happen right below where the amp starts clipping. If your gains are set properly, you'll reach that point right when the headunit reaches it's clipping point (and hope that this is louder than you'll ever have your music ). If you're gains are higher than they should be, your amp will clip before the headunit, which may be OK if you're talking about a sub amp and you want the bass level to be significantly higher than what the radio can put out.

I think the amp could peak higher than that, and I know that if the amp is clipping severely you can definitely damage speakers. But I'm not sure how peak amp power fits in to everything. I typically ignore the peak power ratings, the RMS ratings are way more worthwhile.

[jperryss]

Originally Posted by serpico

I believe he is saying that you would reach 100w rms if the head unit's volume was MAXED out. JperrySS please correct me if im wrong though

The amp will put out max power once you turn the headunit up to the point you used to set the amp gains. If you have the amp gains higher than that, the amp will reach max power earlier BUT may start clipping once you go higher than that on the volume knob.

Amp gains are there to match to the output voltage of the headunit. You and I may both have a volume knob that goes from 0-100, but at 80 yours may be putting out 6v and mine's putting out only 2v. If we both were to set gains on the same amp, respective to our headunits, my gain knob would be higher because I'm giving the amp less juice to work with.

By setting the amp gains, you're letting it know that this is the maximum voltage it's gonna get from the headunit, and the amp handles it accordingly.

[cardude007617]

just wanted to say i stopped at best buy to get an idea of what they will sound like amped. so i hooked up the 2007 model year 2ohm models up to some rockford amp i think and just regular head unit sound. i was impressed by the difference. be it they were 2ohm speakers, and a different amp than im going with but i got the general idea ya know.

[cardude007617]

well now i got a new problem i just thought about. the amp im usin for my subs has an 80 amp fuse. and the underhood fuse that came with my kit is 100amp. and, many of the 4ch amps im lookin at are 50-70 amps.
im only gonna be runnin about 1200rms, is that still ok with 4 guage wire? i mean, i wont be pushing these amp ALL the way.

[Vampyrate]

just for safety sake (i use this even on a 460w amp that i have in my car) i have 0 ga. ground and power wire so i can just swap out amps without having to re run wire

[cardude007617]

so really, i cant run 2 amps with the wire i got can i?

[serpico]

^^^ you will need a distributor in order to do that

[Bryan]

I'd' run 2 gauge from the battery to the distribution block if I were you.

[cardude007617]

Originally Posted by serpico

^^^ you will need a distributor in order to do that

as i said earlier in the thread, my capacitor has a dist block built into it, so i dont have to do that

[cardude007617]

so my sub amp's gain is half way. i would have one have the gains at like half and another prbly even lower. i think it can handle it cuz i got like decent power wire, not like some generic stuff thats out there. whats your take.

[hass]

Is it possible for someone to just run another 4ga wire from the battery to the new amp?
Because I'm thinking about getting another amp for my speakers as well.

Where's an ideal location for a distribution block anyway?
I was looking at something like this
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-DIGITAL-DISP...QQcmdZViewItem
If I can't just run a new wire from my battery -> amp

[cardude007617]

ya, i COULD run another 4g from my battery cuz my battey post adapter has 2 ports on it. but of course, that would cost enough, about 12feet of wire at 3-4 bucks a foot.
dist block goes in the trunk like in the middle of your 2 amps.
can anoyone answer my question from before that will 4 gauge be enough for my application?

[jperryss]

Originally Posted by cardude007617

can anoyone answer my question from before that will 4 gauge be enough for my application?

I'd upgrade. I'm running ~600 rms on 4G, but I would go bigger with the kind of power you're running.

[cardude007617]

ugh i just dont want to go thru all the added expense of buying more wire and stuff. i thought it would be a inexpensive thing to add but i guess it isnt going to be now......

[DomesticFreak]

Amping, and systems are never cheap. Believe me, it's NEVER Cheap.

[cardude007617]

haha i know it never is. but like i just didnt think id have to do even more work for this thing to work.
is there a way to tell how much power im currently using? like in rms.

[cardude007617]

ok so update time. i got an 8 gauge kit from Knuconceptz a week or so back and it seems pretty nice. the 8g will cover what i need it to. So im between 2 amps cuz i kinda want to match my sub amp. I either want a Hifonics Titan 4406 or a zues 4406. im happy with my hifonics sub amp as you prbly have read by know at some point so i'll give them a 2nd try. The price between the titan and zues is like 30 bucks...is it worth the upgrade to the zues line?

thanks again

[cardude007617]

bump for update^