You won't be able to play it loud with that amp, but it should work fine for moderate listening levels. It won't cost you that much more to get a better amp though...
Giving a speaker less power than it is rated it is safe. Playing it to where it distorts (usually by too much bass, volume) is what isn't safe. Just make sure you don't clip the amp, or distort the subs.
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I can help here.... You know what too much bass sounds like coming from speakers? That's distortion. As for clipping, that's when the amp "clips" off part of the signal, which can damage the speakers. To quote a web site, "The biggest single cause of loudspeaker driver failure is the high frequencies generated by an amplifier when it is driven into clipping. When the output signal of an amplifier is clipped (i.e. the output voltage, if unrestricted, would exceed the power supply voltage of the amplifier) the result is a signal that increasingly resembles a squarewave.
A square wave, unlike a sinewave of a similar frequency, contains high frequency harmonics at a much higher level than would normally present in most audio signals. Hence the HF drivers in a loudspeaker, which are only designed to accept normal audio signals, have their coils burned-out by these high frequency harmonics generated by amplifier clipping.
Therefore, whenever possible install an amplifier that matches or exceeds the power-handling of your loudspeaker. "
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dont know what the hell wolf's elaborate explanation meant, but you would probably want to get a 2 channel amp and bridge it. You will be using the available power more efficiently.
you may also want to look for an amp that has a higher rms power rating at 4 ohms, closer to 600 (or at least 400). that will prevent the "clipping" and all that other stuff that wolf talked about.
You may want to look into buying better equipment as you really do get what you pay for (I know you're on a budget). Best Buy isn't exactly the best place for car audio either. Also, bandpass boxes sound like ass, I would say go with sealed as you likely won't be building your own box, so a ported box gets eliminated there.
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Originally posted by mauibuilt59 dont know what the hell wolf's elaborate explanation meant, but you would probably want to get a 2 channel amp and bridge it. You will be using the available power more efficiently.
you may also want to look for an amp that has a higher rms power rating at 4 ohms, closer to 600 (or at least 400). that will prevent the "clipping" and all that other stuff that wolf talked about.
A sin wave is from trig. Picture what a sound wave looks like on paper... it is basically a pair of wavy lines that goes up and down across the page. Use windows recorder & and your mic to see one. A clipped signal is when not all of the wave is sent to the speaker because part of it got "clipped off" due to the amp running out of power. Picture only the top band of the sound wave and picture cutting the top half off. What you're left with is most likely a signal that takes up the entire graph. Send that signal to a speaker for a while and it will blow it.
Well as far as I know when you clip an amp it is caused it is an a power overload. I want to say because of amperage. I think if there was a spike in voltage the amp would fry . I believe "clipping" is a safety feature on an amp. Instead of the amp playing through the harsh conditions of handling to much power it cuts itself off until the condition become safe again to play. Fuses can be the protecter of the amp and just blow.
As for distortion in bass is a frequency thing. It ususally happens at high volume. It's like you have song playing and a bass line note may hit and drag. For instance it may sound like boooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmm. That to me considerd a good bass line. It's smooth and balanced. Now that same bassline played by the same subs at high volume may sound like blommgagagagaga****kkkkkkkkommmmmaajjkkmmm. Very unclean. Not a normal bass note. Then you can have a some rattle in your car which leads to a duuuuuuuddddddummmmm sound. Don't get confused cause that sub just hit some real low frequencies. Which is good. But some subs may play like that at a moderate volume which can gas you into thinking the sub is good. Then you turn it up and hear yukkiness.
but you're all right abt the clipping thing, you never want to clip your signal, thats sending raw volts to speaker, and if u have a look at the voice coil, a raw signal will fry it fn quick....
userlain, just hold up buying the amp and sub for a bit, go shop around and have a listen to alot of subs and amps, then make ur decision. you'll be a lot more pleased when u eventually make ur decision...
How will he ever know, it is difficult to hear clipping in a bandpass box, you know your clipping when you blow your subs . Just a word of advise...stay away from Best Buy, those guys dont know jack. I'd suggest running a PG tantrum 1200.1 with like two W6 sealed or a single ID Max or RE. What kind of sound are you looking for
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right on. i think i have decided what i am going to do.
walmart has some $60 subs by pioneer that are 150rms 600 peak @ 4 ohm. i listened to the exact saem sub at bestbuy and it is one of the best there. i am going to get 2 of those in a sealed enclosure with the $54 walmart "VR3" 300watt@4ohm amp.
userlain, just get the alphasonik set up from Circuit City, around $150, and its a pretty decent set up, especially for the price. Then buy yourself a wiring kit online (8 guage 2 channel would be fine, but you may want to get the 4 guage to leave space for upgrades later, knukonceptz.com)
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how do you prevent clipping and what causes it...as of right now, it seems that the amp is pushing itself too hard and then it'll clip out...so how do you prevent that or if it is already happening, how do you cure it
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. I believe "clipping" is a safety feature on an amp. Instead of the amp playing through the harsh conditions of handling to much power it cuts itself off until the condition become safe again to play. Fuses can be the protecter of the amp and just blow.
It's hard to explain what distorted bass note sounds like.
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