johnnywayne

Hey. I saw a couple of threads on MTX Black Golds but not one that answered what I need. I just need the RMS (peak wouldn't hurt too) power handling of a 12" Black Gold. Unfortunately, this is an 8 ohm speaker so I think it is different than the 4 ohm ones. Maybe that doesn't make sense, I don't know.

I bought this sub in '97, when I was 16, as a birthday present to myself because the sound quality was great and the sub wasn't just pounding away and rattling windows. I didn't mean to get the 8 ohm and so I never could afford to power it. It set in my folks' attic until a couple of months ago and now I'm thinking about hooking it up. But I don't remember how much power I need, though it seems like it was a lot. Bridging a 2 Ch. seems like the way to go to me because sub amps that aren't really expensive aren't putting out much wattage through 8 ohms. Right?

Say I need 250 watts (though I think I remember maybe 500 rms), I need an amp that puts that out at 8 ohms to match the speaker, is that correct? There are lots that do that at 4ohms and bridged to 2 or even 1, but that's fairly high for an entry level type of amp. That's my understanding anyway. Any ideas as to the power handling of this speaker? Or, as I'm not too worried about giving it too much power because I won't be driving it too hard, any recommendations to an amp that's fairly inexpensive that would put out a good amount of power at 8 ohms?

'preciate any help

jw

2 8's AKA Jeepbeats

iTrader: (19)

My Orion Blue Book states the power handling as 250 watts. An amp that does 400 watts rms bridged into a 4 ohm load should make 250 into an 8 ohm load, afaik. Should work fine.

johnnywayne

Thanks.
But doesn't that matter what load that 250W is for? If it's for the normal 4Ω speaker, wouldn't an 8Ω speaker handle 500W rms, meaning a much bigger amp?

I wonder about dropping the Ohms. Maybe by adding another sub in parallel? I don't know, thinking out loud. The one 12" I have is already in a box and I'm trying to do this really cheaply. I'm an audiophile inside, but I'm rarely in the car and a cheap Kenwood head with 4 Kenwood cheap 6.5s with this sub is fine. Which gets me wondering about these probably really, really crappy amps that claim very large numbers, almost always peak but still larger for rms too. Like some I see on a site I ran across today. So you think this might push it? Kenwood KAC-9105D (kac9105d) 1800W Class D Monoblock Amplifier
I don't know why I keep ending up on cheap-y Kenwoods.

Is there no easy way to drop the ohm load of the speaker, something I can unsolder or something. I guess I can't add another voice coil.

Anyway, just thinking out loud and hoping someone will explain the flaws in my thinking and what I don't understand. Thanks again and I may try your idea.

2 8's AKA Jeepbeats

iTrader: (19)

I personally do not get too hung up on power ratings, although I am an average listener. I checked on my Bassbox program, it also rates the BG-128 at 250 watts power handling. The Kenwood amp you linked to should work fine, it should send 250 rms at 8 ohms to the sub. In my truck I am running a pair of JBL Power 10's off of about 400 watts rms to the pair, it puts out enough bass to flex my side windows and roof. About the only option you might have to change the impedance of the sub would be to get it redone at a speaker shop, have them change it to a 4 ohm voice coil setup, which would probably not be worth the money. Pretty sure you will be happy with the sub and amp combo.

2 8's AKA Jeepbeats

iTrader: (19)

If you can find a second BG sub then you could hook it up in parallel, to get a 4 ohm final load. That will be tough, the BG subs do not come up for sale very often, in my experience, let alone the 8 ohm models....

johnnywayne

cool, thanks. I'll probably go with that amp then, cheap enough.
just an aside, this is mainly an observation and doesn't need a response unless someone actually knows: what happened to MTX? I'm seeing complete kits with two 12's and an amp for less than 150. It's been 15 years since I was into car audio but they were expensive and pretty good. The Black Gold that I'm talking about in the initial post was 300 bucks for just the speaker. Do they suck now...

The cheapo things I was talking about are like this: http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLA2378-2-Channel-Bridgeable-Amplifier/dp/B002RU92WI/ref=pd_cp_e_3
Do they break, are they not really what they advertise, what's wrong with them. This price point is great for what I need in my car. I'm disabled so I'm really in my car 30 minutes a month and I have thousands of dollars worth of studio audio stuff and I just want the car to not sound horrible. Though what I'm doing isn't far from that

Dukk

MTX does still have decent gear - stuff every bit as good as that old Black Gold woofer. Unfortunately, they chose to also compete with all of the budget brands too so they also have some really entry level gear and this is the stuff that you see plastered all over the internet.