what amp should i use with kicker l7's?
 

Helllo, i want to get two kicker solo-baric L7 4 ohm DVC 12 inch subs to go in my car, im 17 i dont have much money to work with but ive been looking at this Hifonics Brutus BRZ2400.1D it doesnt say max peak but all i can find out about it is that its 2400 watts rms, the L7's can handle 1500 peak each and 750 watts rms so i will wire them down to a one ohm so a one ohm stable amp can handle them. Together they will need 3000 watts peak and 1500 watts rms. i would run this amp at 75% so this amp would be powering them with 1800 watts rms but i dont know this peak for this amp and i cant find it. so would that power th l7's good?

1) Never, ever worry about or consider peak power for subs or amps. Peak values are useless.
2)If your L7s are rated for 750w and you're going to feed them 1200w each
(RMS Power Rating (@ 14.4V):
4 ohms: 850 watts x 1 chan.
2 ohms: 1700 watts x 1 chan.
1 ohm: 2400 watts x 1 chan./2= 1200w EACH
Be very careful about clipping.

Also, I'm not sure about your statement "i would run this amp at 75% so this amp would be powering them with 1800 watts rms". I don't think it's a linear relationship. It depends on gain settings and input voltage (and I'm sure Dukk could add a few more variables). That amp will only make 2400w when fed with at least 14.4V, at full volume (full load) and everything in the world is perfect.

^ I dunno, that all sounded pretty good to me :thumbsup:

LOL if only it worked that way. try it out! :smokin:

Do you have any experience with car audio? you may be getting in over your head if you don't know what you're doing with expensive and high output subs/amps as a first project, and you may be underestimating how loud these should be.

No offence intended of course.

If you worried about power,you can buy my hifonics sampson?900 plus shipping

If you're set on this setup though, might want to take a look at this for the amp, only $330 + shipping right now.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...RZ2400.1D.html

I don't follow. Try what out?

Alright, thanks. yes im new to car audio, i just want a good reliable sysetem in my car that slams. ive herd a lot of good things about American Bass, and thats what the guy at the local store is telling me to get. hes trying to sell me 2 12inch tnt's he said that i definatly would be happy with that for someone whos only herd 2 12inch cvr's. i know all of you guys have been in car audio for long time, what would you reccomend me? all i can fit in my car is 12's.

Subs are a bit easier/nicer that they sound more alike to me, than mids/highs. Figure out how much space you have to enclose them and how much power you can afford to feed them (don't be afraid to overpower them a little!) and use that as your guide. I shy away from others opinions because your wants and needs are going to be different than theirs. No amount of others opinions will cut down on the trial and error it will take you to design and build YOUR perfect system, but thats part of the fun.
Listen to your gut ("Those subs sound terrible to me" = don't buy. "I like those even though the salesman doesn't reccomend them"= buy).

Personally i started playing with car audio at your age, and that was just two years ago ;)

The type and dimensions of the box you put your sub(s) in is pretty much as important as the sub(s) themselves for how they're going to sound.. ported is more efficient than sealed and will generally be much louder at the same power- downside is ported usually sounds 'sloppier' to a certain degree, with sealed giving better SQ. The amount of airspace inside the box is important too. Here's a good reference for matching subs to bassworx boxes/cu. ft, that's likely what the shop you visit carries in stock anyway. http://www.bassworx.com/matrix/ and don't go for anything less than an 80% match, personally i wouldn't even go less than 90%.

Amp wise; having more power than you need is always better than not enough, and you need to look at the RMS ratings, think of them as the 'real' ratings- peak power means next to nothing in car audio. I would only look at popular and well known amps (this goes for subs too) when you're just starting out especially, brands like Alpine/Rockford Fosgate/Clarion/Kicker/Focal/JL Audio, you'll probably see these the most anyway but i know places like Visions will try to sell you no-name amps with no RMS rating that are crap quality so try doing research first if you're unsure.

Sub wise; The sort of sound you like should at least dictate to some degree what size of sub in what enclosure would work well for you- bigger isn't always better. 10"s will probably sound punchy and tight while 12"s or bigger will sound deeper and louder.

The setup i have right now for bass consists of dual 10" Rockford Fosgate P1's in their manufacturer's spec ported box (two 8ohm subs ran down to 4ohm rated for 300w RMS together) powered by an Alpine 500w 2ohm (300w 4ohm) amp and i love it. I listen to alot of metal/hard rock which is why i love 10" subs but i also like to crank it up pretty often especially when i do listen to hiphop/dubstep so overall ported is also the way to go for me.

Another thing i'll leave you with, the amount of power probably isn't as big of a factor as you think. it takes 10x the power to be 2x as loud, quality and efficiency are important. to put this in perspective, a buddy of mine has two 12"s in a sealed box ran off 850w RMS.. My two 10"s in a ported box to spec' ran off only 300w are noticeably louder- his words not mine :cool:

Quite possibly the biggest misconception in any audio hobby:

Which is why i added 'usually' and 'to a certain degree' :p

How would you define the difference?

Define the difference? Vented boxes have a hole in them. That's about all you can say for certain.

So you're going to tell me that sealed doesn't usually sound cleaner than ported?

I will tell you that every day of the week. If a vented box sounds sloppy then the person who designed it effed it up.

Designing a vented box takes more than just dropping a volume and frequency into a program and cutting the pipe whatever length it spits out. Many people don't understand this though which leads to a lot of bad sounding vented boxes out there.

I will concede that if you don't know what you are doing, it is harder to mess up a sealed box.

Okay i can see where you're coming from now, but i'm talking practicality here. this guy likely isn't going to be building himself a pro ported box anytime soon, he's going to be buying a pre-made probably a bassworx, from what i've seen they're not designed for competition use, they have a degree of port noise and whatnot, and compared to other bassworx boxes are going to have that 'sloppier' sound, am i right?

IMO any premade box has too many compromises to really be effective. The enclosure IMO is a critical piece of equipment as important as the woofer and amplifier driving it. Doesn't it make sense to spend more than $69.99 on it? :dunno:

Agreed :cool:

So, any thoughts Anthony?