audio setup question

[cody911911]

I have 3 rocford fostgate 10 inch punch Z subs in my car. Currently I am bridging them all. They are 400 watts max and 200 watts rms each totaling 1200 watts max and 600 watts RMS. they run on either 4 or 8 ohm impendence. I am currently running them on a amp that only puts out 150 watts rms and 300 watts max...it's a lightning audio amp I commandered from my brother. Any suggestions on an amp. I am limited to about 12 inches wide but as long as the amp needs to be, I would think a 4 channel amp would be best 3 channels 1 to each speaker but im not a audio expert. any suggestions would be appreciated thanks.

[bumpinneon]

since your running rockford subs i would say go with a rockford punch amp but not the new ones you find at best buy now go with the 2002 punch models they make really good 4 channel amps im currently running a 400x4 rockford punch amp from 2002 great amp i would go with something bigger then 400 watts like mine though and definitly junk the lightning audio amp but i would say a good RF punch amp would push them nicely you can go with better but im just saying since your running RF subs why not stick with a RF amp to match it

[cody911911]

I agree I would like to keep with a rockford amp but which one would be best suited for it and I am on somewhat of a budget....My Lightining Audio (junk amp) shutsdown from its overload pretection before I can even get these speakers semi cranking. any model # and specs would be appreciated thanks

[bumpinneon]

i would go with something like this
http://www.boardersparadise.com/merc...roduct_Count=1

its gonna be hard to find a 2002 model but just search around the 500x punch series amp should do it just see what the rms rating for x4 is and dont exceed 200watts x4 rms or you can kiss your subs goodbye just dont go with there new line of amps there not as good as there older stuff

[SickVette]

Accorrding to RF the Z woofer was avaliable in either 4 ohm or 8 ohm. Which do you have? Also not a good idea to get a 4 channel to run three subs. You are still better off with a 2 channel or even a mono amp.

[cody911911]

I stated above that they are 4 or 8 ohm, they can be either by what the box says but it says 4 on the actual woofer. Why would it be bad to run 3 speakers on a 4 channel amp? If I were to use a mono channel amp would it run good at 4 ohms? What kind of rating would I want at 4 ohms on a mono channel amp as far as RMS would I want close to 600 or does it all just run into the speaker from the amp, if it is slightly under 200 rms@ 4 ohms?

[cody911911]

Oh and Bumping neon with that amp could I bridge it all into say a single channel or would it have to be by 2 if i bridged it(don't have much need for 2 channels need either 1,3, or 4 with that one being usless. It ran 62.5rms@4 ohms would that be enough power to run these subs good? Im not necessarily into making lotsa of noise i just want a good quality thump.

[cody911911]

I am currently looking at one of these its rated at 776 actual power by 4 channels. I don't know what it would be at at 4 ohms probably like 100 rmsX4?

[cody911911]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EBWA%3AIT&rd=1

Forgot to put that above!

[cody911911]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...096328149&rd=1

Or maybe something like this?

[SickVette]

Well if the woofer says 4 ohm on it then it is a four ohm driver. According to RF the subs were only available in a single voice coil configuration and either 4 or 8 ohm. So now that we know it is 4 ohm you really need to get one of three things. Either drop one woofer, get a fourth woofer, or get an amp that is 1ohm mono stable.
If you wire 3 four ohms subs in parallel...which is the only way you want to wire it. Will give you an impedance of 1.34 ohms. That is very low. If you had another woofer you can get a 4ohm impedance which nearly every amp on the market will rum 4ohm mono. That honestly would be the best way to do it. Get another sub and a strong 2 channel amp or a mono amp.
Reason not do a 4 channel amp. To properly run multiple subs off of multiple amps you will need to chamber each sub seperately. Also being that the subs are 4 ohm you will need to get a 4 channel amp that puts out like 300 watts per channel not 300 total. You will also have tuning problems because it will be difficult to match the gains on the four channels.

You want my professional opion (15 years in the car audio business) Either get a fourth sub and nice 2 channel amp...that would be best. Or get a nice amp that can truely run 1 ohm mono. I did a quick search of RF products and found one amp that would be close to what you need.
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...r%20Amplifiers
But that is 1000 watts in 1 ohm mono. Those Z woofers are only rated at 400 watts peak. Again best bet is drop one woofer and get a nice 2 channel amp or get another woofer and get a nice 2 channel amp.

[cody911911]

I have a 3 sub box for 10 inchers I could take out my middle one and maybe intall the amp there but it is limited to just over a 12X12 req so most amps wont fit here. I don't want to run 2 speakers and have a big whole in the middle of my box either. They are all individually sealed however. I was warned that 3 subs could be a problem but I guess I should have looked into it a little more. I dont have the ability to put another sub in either because the box was basically custom made for my car which is a 91 firebird which is not known for trunk space. I ran it the other day with a Kenwood KAC-929 bridged at like 230-250 watts rms at 4 ohms to all the speakers and that sounded good. that is a 2 channel "1000 watt" amp as it says. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

[cody911911]

I don't currently have them paralleled, I have a bridged wire coming out that I then wire nuted all three wires together(each speaker has its own line cause i was figuring I would get a 4 channel amp)( so 4 positives/4 negatives) this then carries the power to each of the subs.

[SickVette]

with all three subs wired in parallel you are getting 1.34 ohms to the amp. Not good...most amps will shut down from that, some will make hardly any power. If you want to have three subs then I would change the subs to something like the JL audio 10x3...they are dual 6ohm drivers and when wired in series/parallel you will get a 4ohm load.

[cody911911]

hmm well that sucks, I have seen some 1 ohm stable amps. Does that still send 4 ohms to the speakers or no?