i'm using a pair of the JL 6w0, but they're out of production. The new 6w3 looks very promising. The recommended enclosure is even smaller than before, with twice the power handling
bringing this topic back from the dead.. i got my new power acousik sub. model is: PW2-12M. claims to be 1200 watts peak(means nothing!) and 500RMS. my question is... how much do you guys reccomend feeding it? i can feed it 500 RMS right on using my MRP-M500 but should i!? also, anyone know how it could compare to a JL 1Wv2 12 inch sub ? i have the power acousik in my house and cant crank it at all! rattles out the house and im only feeding it 140RMS. :D thanks alot :D hoping for some answers. im also thinking about bandpassing this sub possibly?
JVC KD-AVX44, jl audio 12 inch W1v2, alpine mrp-m500 , JBL GT5-652 fronts, audiobahn dub269's in rear deck, 4 gauge kit, voltage displaying fused distribution block:D .. all wired on my own. :D
I'm missing some of the questions, and I didn't re-read the whole thread ...
The PA is rated 500W RMS, but they have a rep for being generous with the ratings. That means it might be 400-ish W RMS. The Alpine is pretty close to 500W RMS - maybe conservative so maybe 550W RMS. Most users on here recommend a slightly larger amp than the subwoofer rating, so I think that makes for a pretty good match.
The JL W1 is a 300W RMS sub, but JL is pretty conservative on the power ratings. That makes the PA and the JL pretty close in power handling, but I would expect the JL to be better SQ ...
It rattles at 140W and your point is? In a box? With a 140W car amp or home amp?
Bandpassing meaning you would have something like a 15 for the really low sounds and the PA for medium lows?
Hope This Helps!!!
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
well.. it sounded good with just 140 watts..i wonder what it can do at say about 350-400 . and that 140 was like a small house amp.. rated very conservativly at that too!. to be honest i know that the jl will have better SQ.. just the JL is missing some of the higher bass frequencies.... and i was thinking about leaving that to the PW. bandpassed at about 80-200 have the JL do the lows and 80-22k or whateves to the JBL fronts i got. if would put a 15 back in.. but mine blew! :( dam MA audio! :( . so your thinking about 400ish watts to the PW should be good? my main concern is over- powering and blowing it like the MA!
I'm thinking 400W would be good.
Keep in mind 140W is 28% of 500W, 35% of 400W and you said the amp is conservative, meaning it might be doing more than that.
CF recomends powering subs with at least 70%, but they've sold systems with as low at 40% and I've read reviews saying systems sounded fine with 50%.
Also, I remember your MA Audio problems, but you rarely blow subs from simply too much power, unless you are careless, or you are talking about 1000W RMS to 150W RMS subs. (Now don't everyone go buying amps that are 3X the sub rated power based on my exaggeration there!!!)
hehehe... ok so i did some tests.. and the results are very, VERY akward! i put the sub in my car.. with my mrp-m500 and well.. it didnt sound that great. now i didnt play with the settings as ONLY my JL is gonna be powered with that amp.. but it didnt sound good.. it was ok.. but much less bass even cranked.. so i decided when the weather gets really bad my old mrp-m200 and PA are going in. but for now the PA with be powered at home as it sounds about 5 times as loud there! the mrp-m200 does 200RMS at 2 ohms which should do as a winter beater sub.. i payed a very low price for the PA and i think it was worth it.. :D my main consern with the winter setup is the old alpine has no subsonic filter and the sub is in a home made(not made by me!) box that is ported. im guessing with such little power it shouldnt damage the sub?
I'm out of my element with this one - anyone else want to take a stab at this???
it gets wierder too!.. the room in my house that the sub is in.. is huge! compared to the car.. and my cars a full size sedan and the house room.. is about 3.5ish times the area.. plus the roof is about 10 feet! but the car is way smaller then that.. which is what im confused about too!
It doesn't make any sense that a sub would be louder with less power in a large room than in your car. Are you sure your amp is putting out the power it should? Did your JL behave the same way?
Far as the subsonic filter, yes you need one. Aren't you tired of blowing subs? Doesn't take much power to damage a sub when it's not acoustically dampened. Frequencies below the tuning frequency of the box will make your sub behave as if it's not in an enclosure. If you want to try without it, sure it will work. For how long? who knows. Depends greatly upon how low it's tuned. If it's 25hz, it may never have a problem, bcuz there is pretty much no music with that deep of bass. If it's say 36 hz, it may get smoked on the first rap song you play.
im sure the amp is putting out the power to the JL at 4 ohms.. now i didnt touch the settings while hooking up the 2ohm PA. i wonder if that was it? when i get a dmm on my hands i shall check how much power the PA was getting exactly. although wouldnt an amp automatically put out double the power at 2 ohms vs 4ohms without changing any settings?
Only a fully regulated amp would double power going from 4 ohm to 2 ohm. Nearly all mono amplifiers are unregulated these days, so you'd get more power, but not double. 50% more power should be expected, but even that may be too generous.
I have to admit here that i bought a FUBR-12 Power Acoustik sub 3 years ago. It claimed to handle outrageous power and be highly efficient. I found neither of those statements to be true. I won't buy from them again, regardless of the discount. Got enough stereo junk laying around. If it weren't for CF policy, this forum would be my own personal on-line garage sale.
well the MRP-M500 is rated 300 at 4 ohms and 500 at 2 ohms.. not sure if im understanding you correctly.. but are you trying to say it prolly does only about 400 RMS at 2 ohms?
Most home amps send an 8 ohm signal to the speakers. I think your sub is probably getting more power than you think in the house.
I should have done a math check before i typed 50%, but no that's not what i'm trying to say. The amp should be capable of 500 watts, but apparently you're not getting that from it. Placing a sub in a car with an identical signal should should always result in greater SPL, due to cabin gain. Either your home amplifier is giving it more power than your car amp, or you've got some other issue like a filter set incorrectly.
Let me give you a quick explanation of cabin gain, also called ''transfer function''. When the length of a sound wave becomes greater than the length of the vehicle (80hz wave is about 14ft long), all frequencies below that point will have a boost in pressure at a slope of 12 db/octave. In theory, if the length of your interior is 14ft, a sound wave at 40hz will be 12db higher than when the speaker is in open air. This math assumes that the vehicle is perfectly sealed, and the body panels do not flex(we know that isn't the case). Real world measurements usually show the slope to be closer to 6db/octave.
ok thanks fro clearing up JRo and GLH the calcutated power ratings were at 4 ohms.. my amp puts out 35 watts RMS at 8 ohms.. and im using 2 channels .. thus meaning 70 watts at 8 ohms.. but the sub is wired at 4 ohms per channel on the amp.. thus meaning 140 watts.. but i also heard and read that the amp does far more then 35 watts a channel at 8 ohms and is very very underrated. If i get a DMM in my hands i shall do some testing and some calculations on both the home amp and the car amp.. so we can compare far better..this subject is really confusing me and makes no sence right now .. lolz and JRo ive heard of cabin gain and all.. and i tried playing frequencies that were 80 and below both in the house and car.. and house was louder.. hopefully i can get that DMM work and some calcuations done to see what power was being used in both cases! :D