Does wattage matter? (Amp Q)

I just got a 700w Pioneer 15 inch sub, cause it was on sale (pick her up for 228, sweet deal), and in about a week I'll be looking for an amp, does it matter how powerful the amp is? I'm looking at a 1000w, or a 900w amp, I don't want it to blow, so does it matter how "big" it is?

Does anyone have any suggestions on an amp I should get to power it?

thanks mates, -Davo.

Of course it does. if you get an amp with like 200w ull blow the shit out of your subs. Make sure that the sub wattage and amp wattage are around the same figures. Im not sure if the 1000 will blow it, is your sub 700 rms or peak?

please tell me neither of you are serious....
$228 for pioneer? my friend you have been ripped.
200w will blow a sub that can sapposeably handle (though it really cant) handle 700w? LMAO. how manytimes must i say, it is dumbasses who blow speakers, not amps. a 200w amp can power a coil capeable of handling 4000w. an amp capeable 4000w amp can power a coil that can only handle 200w. and neither will blow. the key is peoperly set gains. if underpowering a sub hurt it subs would blow evertime you turned your system down. please dont spread falsei nformation in our board... thank you.
What Pioneer Woofer was it? what type of enclosure are you planing on puting it in? all in all 500w of clean power is probably all it will handle. and no that isnt sony watts. it could handle probably 1000 sony watts. (1/2 joule per second is sony's standers, lol)

pioneer subs will handle rated power.......problem is that's prolly peak..... but yea 228 is a horrbile deal considering that would have got you an se 15 tempest atlas 15 and almost an sx15.

Of course it does. if you get an amp with like 200w ull blow the shit out of your subs. Make sure that the sub wattage and amp wattage are around the same figures. Im not sure if the 1000 will blow it, is your sub 700 rms or peak?


well dont rag on him too fast fryman.. i wouldnt suggest a newb get a 200 watt amp for a 700 watt sub because they would blow the sub. NOW think about it..

you hear your sub, but its not as loud as you thought it should be. so what do you do.. crank up the sub level, the gains to 100%, bass boost all the way up, etc. now you have a rediculous signal goin to the sub. boom. blows the coils.

on the other hand, too much power and if you dont know how to keep it down youll fry the coils too.

not saying you guys would do this but i guarantee about a year or two ago i would have... if you dont know whats up then the best way to do it is to match rms power IMO. you can still screw stuff up but its a little less likely that you will.

get back at us with the specs for the sub man and well recommend somethin.

For about 200 bucks more (American $) you could have gotten a set of Alpine Type X subs (12', 6000w peak/3000RMS)

Or, for the same price pick you could have picked up 2x Alpine Type R or some nice Kickers.

I'm going to ebay my subs, they are cheap on ebay (I look for lots of good feedback before I buy ;) )

I don't think kicker (subs) and nice belong in the same sentence....... and if you put a 200 watt amp fully clipped on a 700 watt sub that can handle a true 700 watts it CANNOT be thermally overpowered.

well dont rag on him too fast fryman.. i wouldnt suggest a newb get a 200 watt amp for a 700 watt sub because they would blow the sub. NOW think about it..

you hear your sub, but its not as loud as you thought it should be. so what do you do.. crank up the sub level, the gains to 100%, bass boost all the way up, etc. now you have a rediculous signal goin to the sub. boom. blows the coils.

nope, not with 200rms on a 700rms sub

the most that amp can put out even in full clip would be around 3-400rms. Mixed with the lack of excursion because of the square wave you might be getting close, but even then I'd think you'd have a tough time blowing it, and that's with a 100% clipped sine wave (aka: a square wave), not music.

lol beat ya to it...... by about 10 sec. but yea even full square wave shouldn't blow it.

I don't think kicker (subs) and nice belong in the same sentence....... and if you put a 200 watt amp fully clipped on a 700 watt sub that can handle a true 700 watts it CANNOT be thermally overpowered.

Don't care for the Kicker CVR? Have you heard them before or are you going by word of mouth? Anyone else support this? (I'm thinking on buying them that's why...) If you had to pick, which would it be... *Audiobahn AW1251T or Kicker CVR both the Audiobahns and Kickers are 12'.* Thanks.

well regardless of whether or not a fully clipped 200 watt amp could blow the sub or not it would still sound like ass. and i thought that if the signal is bad enough it could blow voice coils regardless of whether or not the coils were actually being overpowered... i suppose im still new though so maybe i just heard wrong.


and kyle.. dont rag on him cause he actually bought his stuff at a store.. yeah ebay is cheap but its also risky. any car audio stuff without a warranty is risky in my business ive seen too many things from nonauthorized dealers blow and then people end up with big paperweights. granted, he paid too much, who hasnt at one point? i bought sony speakers (which i hate with a passion) for $100.. but this was back when i didnt knwo what i was doing.. people make mistakes..

besides this doesnt mean the subs gonna suck. what if he had money to blow?

Lol I Meant 2000.... As In Two Thousand.. It Was A Typo, Im Not That Stupid. Lol

And i was being sarcastic about the 2000 if that counts :)

well regardless of whether or not a fully clipped 200 watt amp could blow the sub or not it would still sound like ass. and i thought that if the signal is bad enough it could blow voice coils regardless of whether or not the coils were actually being overpowered... i suppose im still new though so maybe i just heard wrong.


and kyle.. dont rag on him cause he actually bought his stuff at a store.. yeah ebay is cheap but its also risky. any car audio stuff without a warranty is risky in my business ive seen too many things from nonauthorized dealers blow and then people end up with big paperweights. granted, he paid too much, who hasnt at one point? i bought sony speakers (which i hate with a passion) for $100.. but this was back when i didnt knwo what i was doing.. people make mistakes..

besides this doesnt mean the subs gonna suck. what if he had money to blow?


and stang dotn rag on kicker stuff too hard.. ill get defensive.. hah.. but really how many mainstream companies do you actually consider better? not by any means suggesting kickers the best non mainstream, but my CVR sounds better than a lot of my friends' subs.. and it can obviously take its power.. i have prolly 50 watts more than they suggest. not great SQ no, ill agree, but horrible.. and good spl.

and kyle.. dont rag on him cause he actually bought his stuff at a store.. yeah ebay is cheap but its also risky. any car audio stuff without a warranty is risky in my business ive seen too many things from nonauthorized dealers blow and then people end up with big paperweights. granted, he paid too much, who hasnt at one point? i bought sony speakers (which i hate with a passion) for $100.. but this was back when i didnt knwo what i was doing.. people make mistakes..

besides this doesnt mean the subs gonna suck. what if he had money to blow?


Not "raging" on his to be exact.. There were what? 3 posts above mine with people saying he got ripped. Didn't rip into them like you did me? Or are you just picking on me.. ;)

Anyways, yes, ebay has its risks. I know people that bought off ebay with success. Plus, they usually give a 90 day warranty (on most stores) if they don't, I don't buy. =P

Don't care for the Kicker CVR? Have you heard them before or are you going by word of mouth? Anyone else support this? (I'm thinking on buying them that's why...) If you had to pick, which would it be... *Audiobahn AW1251T or Kicker CVR both the Audiobahns and Kickers are 12'.* Thanks.
as far as kicker goes, I would put the CVRs at the top for SQL, they aren't too bad

well regardless of whether or not a fully clipped 200 watt amp could blow the sub or not it would still sound like ass. and i thought that if the signal is bad enough it could blow voice coils regardless of whether or not the coils were actually being overpowered... i suppose im still new though so maybe i just heard wrong.
the only, and I mean only way to blow a sub is with too much power (ignoring stupid crap like sledge hammers and the like), either mechanically (bottoming it out) or thermally (melting the coil). You're right though, it would sound like ass

Well, maybe he bought this one http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13768

Also, Pioneer makes some "subs in a box" that actually perform very well for what they are.

Yeah, asking what wattage without giving us some info is very hard to answer. My real basic rule of thumb is if you buy el cheapos like Sony, MTX and such, get one with more power than what the sub can handle but if getting a quality amp like Directed Audio, PPI, Orion, then you can go at or below what your sub is rated at. DON'T TAKE THIS AS GOSPEL!!!

I watched at the SEMA show where a guy had 2 25w speakers both in identical boxes. Both were hooked up to amps. One was a 10watt amp and the other was a 100watt amp. Both amps were connected to the same source. The 10w amp blew the sub in no time flat while the other one played fine. He was demonstrating the effects of distortion on a speaker.

hahah ohh my god what the hell just happened..

my computer was being rediculous and i couldnt post.. so i did it a couple times and then again after adding the thing about Comp VRs.. anyways i obviously got it on here haha..

first, on the clipped signal thing.. ok.. point taken.. you learn somethin new every day.. i suppose i heard this from one of the "all knowing" audio shopes around here who dont know even as much as i do.. and ive only been liek really into this like 6 months..

and thanks SR20 for backin me up i went out on a limb there saying that somethin mainstream was actually decent.. haha just playin..

any kyle.. didnt mean to single you out but i couldnt see any posts except for yours i dont know whats up with AOL but it sucks.. so i couldnt single anyone else out haha.. but yeah if you do good shopping on ebay then its cool i was just saying i would rather have a 1 year (or 3 year) warranty and pay the extra 15% or whatever you end up saving..

For about 200 bucks more (American $) you could have gotten a set of Alpine Type X subs (12', 6000w peak/3000RMS)

Type X subs are only 3000 watts peak and 1000 rms

For about 200 bucks more (American $) you could have gotten a set of Alpine Type X subs (12', 6000w peak/3000RMS)

Type X subs are only 3000 watts peak and 1000 rms

2000 watts RMS, sorry. =P Still pretty seksi nevertheless.

Type X are crap, end of story. i will never own kicker, and only MTX if i get back into SPL drags. Pioneer has nothing decent as far as sub stage goes (or very much in car audio for htat matter).
Jesus why dont some of these Noobs read through our old posts before posting reccomending/complimenting woofers that are turtle feses compared to what most of us are accustomed to.

Type X are crap, end of story. i will never own kicker, and only MTX if i get back into SPL drags. Pioneer has nothing decent as far as sub stage goes (or very much in car audio for htat matter).
Jesus why dont some of these Noobs read through our old posts before posting reccomending/complimenting woofers that are turtle feses compared to what most of us are accustomed to.

Yea you sounds like you know a lot. MTX sucks ass IMO, I know 2 friends that had MTX, both had thier subs blow. I'll never own one, btw everyones got thier opinion idiot, respect them or suht the f*ck up.

and idiots uneducated opinion is subject to ridicule. MTX is a wonderful SPL only company. their 9500's are nearly about as loud as DD's 9500's and can be bought cheaper (if you know where to get them that cheap).
saying Kicker has good SQ is like saying audiobahn has good SQ. and both where said. there are only a select few woofers from Kicker that have decent SQL for mainstream. Little boy, you need to hear some of RE's SPL woofers. not only will they have better SQ than most of Kickers, audiobahns, and MTX's stuff but they will also blow w/e vehicle you own apart (as in extremely loud).
DD audio has the loudest 10's 12's and pretty sure 15's on the market (im positive about the 10's and 12's im not sure about the 15's).
Adire audio was the original company to use XBL^2 and they own the patent. but the agian you seem like the type of person that has never heard of XBL^2 and doesnt understand how JL's DL technoligy works and thinks that all woofers have a single magnetic feild motor deisgn. that or you dont know how a woofer works at all.
Before you try and flame, learn something about the material (and the person) you are flaming at/about.

and idiots uneducated opinion is subject to ridicule. MTX is a wonderful SPL only company. their 9500's are nearly about as loud as DD's 9500's and can be bought cheaper (if you know where to get them that cheap).
saying Kicker has good SQ is like saying audiobahn has good SQ. and both where said. there are only a select few woofers from Kicker that have decent SQL for mainstream. Little boy, you need to hear some of RE's SPL woofers. not only will they have better SQ than most of Kickers, audiobahns, and MTX's stuff but they will also blow w/e vehicle you own apart (as in extremely loud).
DD audio has the loudest 10's 12's and pretty sure 15's on the market (im positive about the 10's and 12's im not sure about the 15's).
Adire audio was the original company to use XBL^2 and they own the patent. but the agian you seem like the type of person that has never heard of XBL^2 and doesnt understand how JL's DL technoligy works and thinks that all woofers have a single magnetic feild motor deisgn. that or you dont know how a woofer works at all.
Before you try and flame, learn something about the material (and the person) you are flaming at/about.


LMAO! I never said this you idiot. Quote me on it, I said "Which is better, Kicker CVR or Audiobahn ***?" You moron. Get your facts straight you tard.

where did i say you said that? Dumbass, i said it was said in this thread, as i quote myself:
"saying Kicker has good SQ is like saying audiobahn has good SQ. and both where said."

Dont flatter yourself by thinking that everyone is pretaining to you. you decided to flame first, you started this, you where put in your place. you need to get some facts straight and learn how to read (along with learning a little bit about car audio).

Type X are crap, end of story. i will never own kicker, and only MTX if i get back into SPL drags. Pioneer has nothing decent as far as sub stage goes (or very much in car audio for htat matter).
Jesus why dont some of these Noobs read through our old posts before posting reccomending/complimenting woofers that are turtle feses compared to what most of us are accustomed to.

Looks like you were flaming first tard.

first off, that wasnt a flame, it is a fact, ask anyone who actualy knows something worth knowing about car audio (excluding installers at you locla audio shop).

first off, that wasnt a flame, it is a fact, ask anyone who actualy knows something worth knowing about car audio (excluding installers at you locla audio shop).


No, my point is.. you called me an idiot, which is a flame. I called you a name back, which is a flame. Either way, let's just drop, we are arguing about calling each other names which is pretty dumb on both of our parts...

for the reccord, i didnt specifically call you an idiot.

ok guys, thanks for the reply's, this is sorta like my sub:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=11292

Similar, but not the exact model

It came with an enclosure, I'll show you

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/-Davo/My%20Car/my152.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/-Davo/My%20Car/my153.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/-Davo/My%20Car/my15.jpg

Now I look at it, it might be the same model, and yeah, now I look at the prices, I did get ripped.


I was looking at a boss amp today that I'm thinking of getting, it's a 5 channel amp (I have 4 speekers, plus the amp), and it's a 1200w, it's almost the cheapest they have that I can get, but it's $299 AUD, is that good? I can't exactly get it much cheaper, I'm already getting a friend to get it down a lot more.

Ok first off type x's are NOT crap. Second off just because someone doesn't have xbl^2 or an internet brand doesn't mean there junk. And to whoever asked me about the kicker question....... I've heard everything from kicker but the comps. Compvr's get decently loud for the money but in the installs I hear them they didn't sound very good. L5's just blow end of story. L7's aren't very good either, but I do know they can get pretty damn oud in the right install. Solox's are useless. Even the 18's can't get low if it was for the life of them (I heard them in 35hz BIG ported box with 5,000 watts on each......there were 2) THey didn't sound too bad but no where near as good as my sexxx's or anything of the like. Well they're also useless for competition too becuase the shop that was runnning them blew one at a CLEAN 5000 watts. Subs should not blow right at rms if they wanna be competition worthy. Plus the moving mass on those things is rediculously high, which makes them horribly ineeficient. Yea so that's my thouht on kickers subs. Here's a story for ya that happened last night......... I was on the phone with some guy at an audioshop here in Cinci to see what amps they carried.......he was like kicker JL ...th usual...... I was like ohh sorry I wasn't looking for any of those.....he was like what subs do you have I told him 2 RE Audio sexxx's......he wanted to know what kinda power i was lookin for and I told him at least 2kw.......LMAO he was like that'll blow them subs I've never heard of them before so they must be junk.......I laughed at his face and was like w/e u don't know what your talkin about.......so I asked him what was in his car he had 2 L5 12's off a kx1200.1. I was like Ill be up thereI want you to hear my system. I get up there with my buddy Noah who runs an XXX18 and modded MTX 1501D w/ some nice CDT comps blahblah.....so he also knows what he's talkin about.....so the shop dude is sittin there EVERYTHING we tell him he just nodding his head obviously not believing him.......w/e..... he couldn't stand someone saying there was better stuf out there then w7's LMAO. So anyways I told him to come out and sit in my car.....I warnd him that it wasn't very loud cuz I only had 300 watts on the subs. I put in Bone Crusher's song grippin the grain....... Had the few little punches at the beggining which aren't to loud in my car then the BOOOOOM His jaw literally dropped and he looked like he just saw a ghost...... as the song was playin he just had a BIG ass smile on his face......I went and listened to his and obviously mine was louder, lower, and had better SQ...... He was like man I'm sorry for doubtin you but those subs are THE SHIT u GOTTA come back up here when you get the full 2000 on them.....I was like okay and we'll bring the xxx up here too.......yea it was great........but I worte down like 50 websites and was basically sittin there teachin him tons of shit for the next hour......It was so great.