Amp & Sub question

After taking a second look, the cable I have installed is 4GA. I just looked at the details of my purchase history from two years ago and it is 4 GA. I don't know why I thought it was six, but I know that my runner used to have a super incredibly thick power cable that was frayed and cracked when I first bought it, and I think it was a 2GA, but then I replaced it thinking I was going to put in a system and never really got around to it. But thanks for the help fellas. Sorry to spark a debate around here.
 
Haha, yeah, this topic always kind of sets people off, and we often get alot of misinformation from random people...

Anyway, Brian is right about watching out for CCA, you should be able to tell if your wire is CCA or tinned copper by clipping it and looking at the end of the individual wires. If the freshly cut end is copper in the middle, then you have copper wire, if it looks like silver in the middle with copper around it, you have CCA, which indeed carries only about 1/2 the current of real copper wire.

As far as which amp, based on your self confessed noob-ness, I would not spend $200 on an amp just for your subs. You can get a great amp for much less by buying a previous model amp from a legit company. I myself power a single Type-R 1242D with an older high end JL audio amp that I got for $200 new. There are plenty of amps out there for less than $150 that will do you just fine. Pioneer, alpine, kicker etc are all available under $150. Don't go crazy with the wattage, pay more attention to the RMS rating than the max rating and try to match up the subs to the amp well, don't go crazy. Those subs are 200-500 RMS, so aim for the 500-800 range. This one here is a good one, and it is nice and small too: Pioneer GM-D8601 Monoblock 800W GM Digital Series Class-D Amplifier. I have the 4 channel amp from this series, but I havn't installed it yet. Avoid brands like Pyle, Boss, Jensen, basically the brands that offer the lowest cost amps, stick to the big mid-range guys, Pioneer, Alpine, Kicker, Infinity, JBL, etc...

I do agree that you should get Class D, they are a lot more efficient.

Check out Sonicelectronix.com, I got half my system from them; they carry a lot of previous models and have some great prices. They are nothing special though, look around online and you will find a lot of other companies like them that are purely online distributors with old inventory, and they always have the best deals. I got a 4ga kicker amp kit for $50, tinned copper, and true 4AWG. It's worked great for the last 5 years or so.

BTW, I love the Alpine type-R series, we used them at work for testing where we made them drive vibration into foam, and stuck them in an thermal chamber switching back and forth between -40C and 125C and the sub handled it like a champ, never broke down.
 
Yeah and I don't want to come out 100% against CCA or tinned copper because not everyone has $120-$150 for the Rocksford Fosgate kit. I know I didn't when I started out.

I think most people running 600W RMS or less can get away with 4 gauge CCA kit. Just be sure to go with 4G even if it says you only need 8 gauge BECAUSE it is CCA and not as efficient as copper.
 
This has been an interesting thread.
Before I comment, here's my set up.
Alpine INA-W910 monitor running fibre optic to an
Alpine PXA-H900 175 band 1/3 octave Dolby Digital Processor
Butler Audio Tube Amplifiers 4x75watt, 2x150watt
Infinity speakers throughout
Infinity 10 subs in a tuned ported enclosure.
Entire truck Dynamated
I'm a bit of an audio file.

So now having said that, you have:
Alpine CDE-102 am/fm/cd player with mp3/USB/iPod head unit. 1 volt pre-out
You subs are SWR-1042.
SW=sub woofer
R=Type R series
10= 10" diameter
4=impedance per voice coil
2=number of

You haven't really stated what it is your trying to achieve. From what I can gather from your comments thus far, you want a system that plays but you don;t want to go nuts.
What type of music are you listening to? Are you a rocker or a hip hop kinda guy?
You could get a mono amp and then wire your subs in a series/parallel situation or
you could get a 2 channel amp and run them in stereo (that's what I did).
as for amps, remember to get 3db more output, you need to double the power so going from 500w to 600w doesn't make much difference.

4 gauge wire for power to the sub amp is more than enough for pretty much everybody.
All the talk about wire makes me dizzy. I used 4 gauge Monster Cable.

Also, where the box is will also affect sound & volume. I raised the floor of the rear 10"
to accommodate all the gear and the subs are at the very back firing up.

500w should be more than sufficient from what I can gather for what you want tomachive however, the door speakers will need to run off an amp as well as deck power will not be enough to keep up.
 
wc11 said:
This has been an interesting thread.
Before I comment, here's my set up.
Alpine INA-W910 monitor running fibre optic to an
Alpine PXA-H900 175 band 1/3 octave Dolby Digital Processor
Butler Audio Tube Amplifiers 4x75watt, 2x150watt
Infinity speakers throughout
Infinity 10 subs in a tuned ported enclosure.
Entire truck Dynamated
I'm a bit of an audio file.

So now having said that, you have:
Alpine CDE-102 am/fm/cd player with mp3/USB/iPod head unit. 1 volt pre-out
You subs are SWR-1042.
SW=sub woofer
R=Type R series
10= 10" diameter
4=impedance per voice coil
2=number of

You haven't really stated what it is your trying to achieve. From what I can gather from your comments thus far, you want a system that plays but you don;t want to go nuts.
What type of music are you listening to? Are you a rocker or a hip hop kinda guy?
You could get a mono amp and then wire your subs in a series/parallel situation or
you could get a 2 channel amp and run them in stereo (that's what I did).
as for amps, remember to get 3db more output, you need to double the power so going from 500w to 600w doesn't make much difference.

4 gauge wire for power to the sub amp is more than enough for pretty much everybody.
All the talk about wire makes me dizzy. I used 4 gauge Monster Cable.

Also, where the box is will also affect sound & volume. I raised the floor of the rear 10"
to accommodate all the gear and the subs are at the very back firing up.

500w should be more than sufficient from what I can gather for what you want tomachive however, the door speakers will need to run off an amp as well as deck power will not be enough to keep up.
Click to expand...

This post seemed on point until I read the power recommendation. Why would you recommend 500w for both subs? The alpine website recommends 200w-500w RMS per each sub. I'd recommend 750w - 1000w. But that's me personally.
 
Mrp-M500

U can find them all day long

Heck I'm still rocking old school Orion hcca amps
Yes from 89-92ish

HCCA-D5000 5000 Watt mono Amplifier
Hcca 250
HCCA 275 G4
HCCA-D2400 MONO
HCCA-D1200
HCCA-D600

I can rem the rest
All in the garage


Why??

Because I was a rep for them -well my truck was lol
 
Just a avg joe wanting to get avg info

Ie

Buy a name brand amp --say a mono amp that can put out 250 rms


If u need help pm a fellow joe
But a good google search will do wonders
Or just pm me
 
I wonder how many people here advocating cheap brand amps realize that the wattage stated on the box does not have to be truthful. They lie all the time. That is why we say stick with major name brand like Alpine, JL-Audio, Pioneer. They are at least "more" truthful.

I've listened to at least four different brands 4 channel amps and I can tell you my Alpine (which is only a mid level Alpine) sounds far cleaner than the cheaper amps I tried before.

I'd suggest buying a new-ish used (via EBay) high quality amp if you want to save money.
 
a216vcti said:
This post seemed on point until I read the power recommendation. Why would you recommend 500w for both subs? The alpine website recommends 200w-500w RMS per each sub. I'd recommend 750w - 1000w. But that's me personally.
Click to expand...
500w mono to both subs wired in mono or 250w each sub wired in stereo is within Alpine's "suggested spec".
As I stated, double the power is only 3db louder in volume which is not much.
And we really don't know what it is he's trying to achieve yet but SPL doesn't seem to be the end game.
 
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U know it

I'm old n don't have time
And a 60% hearing loss in my left ear
To deal with "boom"

But I don't like clean stage setup

I have a mrp-500 and a x500-1
Sitting on the shelf :)

I would buy a good name brand
Alpine/kenwood

My 2cc
 
BrianSD_42 said:
I wonder how many people here advocating cheap brand amps realize that the wattage stated on the box does not have to be truthful. They lie all the time. That is why we say stick with major name brand like Alpine, JL-Audio, Pioneer. They are at least "more" truthful.

I've listened to at least four different brands 4 channel amps and I can tell you my Alpine (which is only a mid level Alpine) sounds far cleaner than the cheaper amps I tried before.

I'd suggest buying a new-ish used (via EBay) high quality amp if you want to save money.
Click to expand...


Ding ding

Winner

Well said
 
BrianSD_42 said:
I wonder how many people here advocating cheap brand amps realize that the wattage stated on the box does not have to be truthful. They lie all the time. That is why we say stick with major name brand like Alpine, JL-Audio, Pioneer. They are at least "more" truthful.

I've listened to at least four different brands 4 channel amps and I can tell you my Alpine (which is only a mid level Alpine) sounds far cleaner than the cheaper amps I tried before.

I'd suggest buying a new-ish used (via EBay) high quality amp if you want to save money.
Click to expand...

CEA-2006 look for it on your amp.
some companies like sundown audio do not list it but they have been tested and proven. Research research research like anything else, google it lol...but really google is ur friend
 
Last edited:
This is an interesting thread. If anyone can, post pics of your setups. I'm finally looking to do an install in my 02 and with what I'm reading here, I see A LOT of space being lost with subs.
 
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