Help buying an amp?
 

I need help and advice buying an amp.
i went round shops and found a few:
My cheapest option with highest wattage is a 'Lucky Star' 1800watt amp.
...............Now am not sure cos the make doesnt sound good. Is it a completly rubbish make or would it be alright???

Also i saw a Pioneer amp that was 500watt but am not sure if thats r.m.s or just watts cos it was tripple the price of the lucky star and more then half the size of the lucky star aswell...
..............So if its 500watts r.m.s, then how to i convert that to like normal watts??

Thanks, appreciate the help.

I've never heard of "lucky Star" amplifiers in over 20 years of car audio. The Pioneer amp's rating of 500 rms is probably the gm-d510m, in which case, an excellent amp for the money. The "rms" rating is the one you want, as that tells you the amp's average rated (real) power output. The peak number as in the "Lucky Star" brand is meaningless for the most part, as those ratings are far from accurate, and no one knows any of the measuring parameters. The peak rating could be for a milli-second (or less), and using 15 volts (or more), and the actual amp tested may have exploded just after delivering the peak output. Stick with good, brand name products.

ok cool, so u think that 500watt is the rms????
cos its too expensive for that to be the peak power!

So wat makes would u advise?? can u name a few so i have a broad selection i can choose from. Thanks

What is the budget on the amp? And more important, what subs are being hooked up to it. Always provide as much info as possible so that we can make a proper recommendation. Model's are highly important.

ok well
 

Well am looking to hook up 2 subs. one has a peak wattage of 500watts and the other has a peak of 1000watt... i havent bought them yet... but thats wat am looking for... well i actually have the 500watt one but its a cheap one without a make on it. the 1000 am still looking to buy... i will get a known make for that one... so wat rms amp would i need to hook both those up??
thanks

Do not mix subs of different size or make on the same amp. Bad idea. Sort of like mismatching different size tires on your car and expecting the performance of the best tire from the worst tire.

oh
 

really, ok, so if i put two different sized subs on one amp the power wont be good or wat?? Is it possible to connect two different amps togeather and put one sub on each??

also wat make amps would u advise? can u give me afew not jus one so i can c

well a few names to look at would be Alpine, Pioneer, Clarion, Kenwood, etc...All of these are well known brands that have been around for a long time and have proven themselves to be very reliable, reasonably priced (some models), and sound good. There are a multitude of equally good, but not as well known brands available, but given your level of car audio knowledge, I would stick to better known brands for now.

Consider this. There are companies out there that put absurd power ratings on equipment to suck in people who do not know the real capabilities of the equipment. You are one of these people. The questions you are asked lead somewhere, please answer them. Just because a sub says 1000watts on it, does not magically mean that that is what it makes. A sub can only make what it is given, feed it 10 watts and that is all that the 1000watt sub makes. So again, do you have a budget on the amp and sub? What vehicle is it going into. What else is in the vehicle. Without knowing this, we can recommend dog crap to you that is masquerading as car audio and you might run out and buy it. Do it once and do it right and learn in the process. There are a boat load of people on this site who are offering you information, take them up on it.

When trying to obtain the accurate output of an amplifier (particularly brands you have never heard of that claim huge power), use this formula to figure out the true RMS rating. Calculate the total fusing on the amp (its those little fuses on the side). amps x voltage = highest continuous wattage possible. You also have to factor in the amplifier's efficiency. For a class A amplifier, 45-50 %. Class AB, 55-65%. Class D 70-95%....Here is an expample of this...

Hypothetically, I had a class AB amplifier with a 20 amp fuse that claims to offer 1000 watts. I would verify this by doing the following; 20 amps x 14.4 volts = 288 continuous wattage possible. 288 watts x 60% = 173 watts. Total continuous wattage than can be offered by this amplifier, 173...