Hi there,
I have an Alpine Type R 1242D, and im under the understanding that I would need an amp that can do 2ohm or 8ohm for the sub to work by itself. However I would rather it work at 4ohm and for this Alpine advices u have to either use 2 of the subs and 1 amp or 2 amps and 1 sub. However I have read on some sites that dual voice coils can be set up with a 2 chanel amp, each voice coil set on each channel, is this correct or is what alpine stating the final say??

 

Yes can can run it on a 2 channel amp, 4 ohms on each voice coil. Most amps have better distortion and or signal to noise ratings at 4 ohms rather than 2. Most amps have a low pass filter, or you can use an external one, like a crossover. Or, most decks come with crossovers or sub outputs.
You can run stereo into the 2 channel amp, or mono, won't make much difference.
Good Luck!

 

if you want to run your sub at 4 ohms, I'd go with a 2 channel amp. that is if you don't want to buy 2 amps, or a different sub, or a 2nd sub.

 

make sure that the amp has a gain control that works for both channels and that both channels of the amp are recieving the same amount of signal from your source unit or you coud run into problems.

 

thanx
the amp I have is a pioneer 5100T 2 channel amp, but looking at the specs might not work as well as i thought it would, from what i can see in the manual for subs if used for 2 channels shows min 120w, the 1242D has 500rms

 

I've run into nothing but problems with all pioneer products. Cheaped out on one deck and it cost me $1000+ when it blew up the rest of my system from a bad preout. If I were you I wouldn't risk losing a nice alpine sub to a cheap amp. Even a lower rated alpine amp will sound better if not louder.

Also you may get better advice when you go to a alpine dealer

help me find an hcca 12d PLEASE!!

 

I gotta jump in here again and defend pioneer. I have 6 5100T amps and they all work just fine. I used to have 2 GM-H200's and they were great. I wish i hadn't given them away. Pure Power.
I run one on each sub, 380Wrms @ 4 Ohm.
I had an old Pioneer HU, back in the day it was one of the best Cassette decks made. About 5 yrs old, the lights went out, one by one. I had just replaced the little indicator bulbs when it was stolen. All my pioneer home units are great.

Anyway, for your DVC 4 ohm sub, the best you'll get out of the 5100T is 2 channel mode 125W at 4 ohm.
Or you could use 2 amps bridged, and get 380 w 4 ohm on each voice coil

 

the GM5100T amp is powering an alpine 1221D right now, it sounds amazing, however I did have the 1242D on with the amp, for the bit of power it was providing for it, that sub sounds amazing, but it can only get so loud. so thats when I got the 1221D as i wanna get the MRP650 to power the alpine 1242D, but first im trying to sell the equiptment that I have in the car presently.

 

lol@ the pioneer rescue! I really don't think they are that bad but after losing a 12" hcca and a 1001BD rockford amp to a bad output from my brand new pioneer deck makes me wonder about product testing before shipment.

Old school pioneer is really really nice, i mean wal-mart kinda turned pioneer into mass produced crap, but my buddy has 2 12" pioneer subs from 15 years ago and they still sound awesome...

 

I too have never had an issue with Pioneer products, and I've owned at least a dozen different products over the last 20 years. The last was a GM-D510M mono amp, which I think is one of the best buys watt for watt. Anyway, experiences are the things that lead us in certain directions, and brand choice is one of those directions. Unless, you've had bad luck with them in the past, I would not discount them.