help me with my system PLEASE!!

alright, so all that is missing from my system is the bump in the trunk. originally i was thinking a Brahma 12. and even though i can afford i don't want to waste my money on something i will not like, plus the fact that i would still need an amp for it. so i started looking around some more. these are the few things i came up with:

1) Brahma 12 with a Cadence Z8000 or ED nine.1
2) Either a Shiva or Koda (no amp decided on yet)
3) or 2 12" Infinity Kappa Perfects

I have no clue yet and seeing how snowboarding season is coming up soon as well i need some new gear so i'm trying to prioritze here. I need some suggestions because i deeply miss the thump i used to have. I'm wide open to any suggestions you all have. ideally i would like to spend no more than around 1000 for the sub set up.

as far as the front go i'm running MB quart components and some infinigyt 6x9 in the rear.

The output between #1 and #3 should be similar, with #2 pretty far back. As far as SQ goes, the brahma and koda should be the best, followed by the shiva and the perfects (not sure about the order on those last 2). There's also a big price difference. You just have to ask yourself how much you realistically want to spend on this, if it's enough to include #1 then I would go that route. If it's not then I would go with #3, unless you're after pure sound quality and don't need that much output, in which case I would go with the koda.

koda 12, with a ed, jbl, hifonics, or other budget quality amp.......

#1 is my suggestion

i think you will be most satisfied if you spend the money for the brahma.. ive heard nothing bad about this sub and the amps you listed.. i think if you really dont want to regret spending money for a nice sub setup.. go with #1. Also.. im actually not too sure how i feel about kappa perfects.. theyre nice but i think that the money could be much better spent. Im not a big fan of infinity subs though, guess its a presonal preferance

alright so i bought the brahma tonight. i hate the feeling i get when i spend that kind of money (being in college and all money is a vital resource). anyways. now i'm trying to figure out an amp. these are the ones i've been looking at
-Cadence Z8000
-ED nine.1
-Soundstream VGA800.2
-Xtant X1001
-JL Audio e1800D

what do you all think, or are there any other amps out there i should look at. i'm looking at pushing between 500 and 700 watts to the woofer (is that alright)

i just thought of this. since i'm also looking for an amp for my speakers should i maybe consider a multi channel amp? or go one for the sub and one for the inside speakers? suggestions for inside amps?

z8000 would give it 500
nine.1 would give it 1500
vga800.2 would give it 800
x1001 would give it 500
e1800d would give it 480

nine.1 is the clear winner IMO

and you'll definitely want a separate amp for the highs, no 4ch amp exists that could give the brahma the power it needs off of 1 bridged channel without costing over $1500.

so would i wire the nine.1 to see a 1 ohm load? i thought i read some where on adire's website that it does not recommend throwing that much power at the sub, or am i wrong here?

so would i wire the nine.1 to see a 1 ohm load? i thought i read some where on adire's website that it does not recommend throwing that much power at the sub, or am i wrong here?

yeah, i think 1500 watts is a little much, if you're gonna go ported then 600-700 can make it reach its limits. if sealed i wouldn't give it more than 1100-1200, hofonics makes a bunch of 1 ohm stable amps. maybe a nice 2 channel amp bridged, it would give you better sq because its not class D.

i would like it to sound pretty good but be able to hit when the need arises. with this in mind which one would you recommend using. it will be going into a custom sealed box.

about 700-800 will get really loud, and sound really good, if you wanna get more power for more headroom, then go for it.

the soundstream might work, but i wouldn't touch any of the new soundstream, only old school. i believe they were bought by a company of lesser value, and now are just expesive paperweights.

so would i wire the nine.1 to see a 1 ohm load? i thought i read some where on adire's website that it does not recommend throwing that much power at the sub, or am i wrong here?

Just because you have an amp that can do 1500x1 that doesn't mean you actually need to send the sub 1500x1. None of the other amps you listed would be able to push the brahma to its full potential, the nine.1 is the only one capable of doing that, and it happens to have a decent amount of headroom, which is always a plus.

do i really want to push the brahma to its full capabilities?

you want the ability to

if you ever wanted to turn it up and give the brahma say 900rms, every single one of the other amps you listed would be clipping trying to do that, some of them would be clipping so bad they could fry themselves, they would run hot, it would sound like crap, etc. The nine.1 on the other hand would be running perfectly fine, no clipping, no overheating problems. And it's not like you have to pay $300 extra for the extra headroom, it's about the same price as everything else listed. I honestly don't know why you would NOT want it, more power is never a bad thing. If I could get a 2000x2 amp to run my front components, of the same quality as my current amp and about the same price, I would jump on it. All it gives you is more flexibility in the future, and a cleaner and cooler running amp.

sure you do, if you like cracked windsheilds and bleeding ears :icon16:

but Brahma with the nine.1 is the clear winner.

though we seem like a broken record...

"brahama/XXX and nine.1"

"1600W RMS, 4800W peak
NOTE: Power rating is thermal only! It is NOT a power requirement; typically you get full output with significantly less power than the rating."

from adire's website. with 1500 watts you're gonna have to be pretty careful with those gains, and please try not to turn it ALL THE WAY UP. i think 1500 watts in a relatively large sealed box can easily damage a brahma. i'm not unreccomending the nine.1, infact quite the opposite, just please always keep in mind that you have the potential to damage your sub with that much power. i mean imagine your drivin down the street with a friend in the car, and he wants to see how loud it gets so he turn it nearly all the way up without tellin you sending your sub to much power. uh oh.....

that's one of the main things i'm worried about, is messing up my sub. i read some where taht ED amps put out more power than they state. is this true? if this is the case in theory couldn't i run the sub in a 4 ohm load, then if i wanted to wire it to a 1 ohm load? i'm just thinking here, so please feel free to shoot me down if need be.

another thing i will have to learn is about the gain. what is it, how to set it, etc? any help there.

"1600W RMS, 4800W peak
NOTE: Power rating is thermal only! It is NOT a power requirement; typically you get full output with significantly less power than the rating."

from adire's website. with 1500 watts you're gonna have to be pretty careful with those gains, and please try not to turn it ALL THE WAY UP. i think 1500 watts in a relatively large sealed box can easily damage a brahma. i'm not unreccomending the nine.1, infact quite the opposite, just please always keep in mind that you have the potential to damage your sub with that much power. i mean imagine your drivin down the street with a friend in the car, and he wants to see how loud it gets so he turn it nearly all the way up without tellin you sending your sub to much power. uh oh.....


It's the exact same if you have a smaller amp and you crank it up sending it into clipping, I honestly have no idea what point you're trying to prove by this. Power kills speakers, ANY power, no matter what the waveform looks like. A smaller amp will just kill it with clipped power while the nine.1 will kill it while the power is still clean.

If you're worried about pushing the sub too far, just leave the gain low, it will behave exactly like a smaller amp, except it will run cooler and cleaner, plus you'll have more options later if you change subs or enclosure.

Purposefully buying an amp that's too small because you're afraid that a bigger amp has a better chance of blowing the sub is just stupid IMO.

so you all would suggest with going with the nine.1 as opposed to a cadence amp, or maybe even memphis?
how about zapco, or usamps?

do i really have to worry that much about frying the amp? i'm pretty sure ED is a reputable company but i'm just trying to cover all my bases here.

Well those others would be better sure, but they'll cost a lot more. Whether it's worth it or not will be up to you.

And no you shouldn't have to worry about frying the amp

i guess the main thing i'm worried about it blowing the woofer, after all 400 bucks is a lot. i've talked to some people and they have heard some stories about ED amps not working to well. so i don't know.
i'm not quite sure how to set the gain or anything like that, would i just turn it to the low level or what?

1500 thermal is actually a tad underrated. and it will hit maximum mechanical excursion long before you reach 1500RMS even in a small sealed enclosure. and once you max out mechanical excursion you will hear the suspension slmaingi nto the basket. at this point turn your system down and then go bakc and turn your gains down untill:
-your bass responce matches your personal likeings in your system
or
-you no longer hear the woofer bottoming out when you listen to it at your common listening level.

sr20 is right. too much power doesnt kill a speaker.
stupid operators kill speakers

just like underpowering a speaker doesnt kill the speaker
stupid operators kill speakers.