Digitalskull

lol, ok, but it won't be anything spectacular...

RomanticMoments

@VanCitySPL: The gains on an amp change it's sensitivity. ie The amp will reach it's power potential sooner. If you have a high powered amp on little to no gain, but the volume cranked, the amp is going to produce power, and it can still burn out the coil. While I agree that a dirty signal can certainly hurt the coils, it is definetly not safer to give the sub more power than rated. That idea is just asking for trouble.

Digitalskull

Will do! but it wont be anything spectacular...

VanCitySPL

thats correct, I never said give the sub more power than rated, im saying and should have made it more clear, to have a little more powerful amp and set it to the desired rating of the sub, like i said most amps are over rated, maybe not in this case but you have to think of box rise to. I wanted OP to understand that having a amp that has less power than the speaker/sub rated at, could be giving out dirty power and will damage both amp and subs/speaker. now at the same time, I was not suggesting to put a 2k amp against a 200w sub, im just saying a little more power (used properly) never hurts. either way OP should set his levels with a O-scope or a DMM to avoid any clipping.

Digitalskull

Something else to buy now? lol. A O-scope or a DMM.
I don't know what they are? By the way, I won't crank my radio through the roof anyways...

VanCitySPL

no no, dont buy a o-scope they can cost a fortune. you can use a dmm, but they are not 100% accurate, but much better than the old, setting the H/U to 3/4 of volume than turning the amp gain up until the speaker/sub to distort than turning it back down till it stops" trick.

call around to some shops in your area, and see if they have a o-scope, or see what they have to set levels.

VanCitySPL

here is the way with a dmm

Elemental Designs

here is a calculator to find recommended voltage (for the dmm)

Wattage

Digitalskull

You're loosing me... lol.
I need to do that or I'll be fine by just hooking everything up?

VanCitySPL

you dont need to do any of it, but your going to get best sound quality, and maximum longevity/efficiency out of your equipment...if these things are important I would, if not go a head and use your ears.

sorry to confuse you,

o-scope is imo the best way to set your equipment levels, a good shop will have one

Father Yuli

iTrader: (17)

you gotta stop listening to this VanCitySPL character, there is alot of usless information coming out of him.

the answer to your question is very simple.

to power your sub properly you need an amp that is rated to produce around 250 RMS watts into a 4 ohm load.