# How much wattage per woofer?



## aaron629 (May 4, 2005)

I have a sony xplod 1200 what amp that is rated 200x2 and max 400x2. With this I have 2 12" xplod subs at 1300 watts or 380 rms each. Is this ok. Am I going to need any regulators or tornicators or fornicators or anything else additional? Please get back. Peace


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## Azgrower (Oct 1, 2004)

aaron629 said:


> I have a sony xplod 1200 what amp that is rated 200x2 and max 400x2. With this I have 2 12" xplod subs at 1300 watts or 380 rms each. Is this ok. Am I going to need any regulators or tornicators or fornicators or anything else additional? Please get back. Peace


What do you mean by additional gear? With that amp you really dont need anything else. Just look for either an 8 or 4 gauge install kit. You wont need any capacitor because that amp prolly only draws like 40 amps at the most.

Are your subs dual voice coils? what is the ohm rating of each sub? You can wire your subs together in two ways, one way will almost double the output of your amp, or to say, it will allow your amp to give more power to your subs. Now what is the ohm rating of your amp? Meaning what is the max power and at what ohms? Usually if its a 2 channel, it can be bridged to yield more power, and usually 2 channel amps are rated at 4 ohms bridged.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I say about 16,000Watts, blow it up and get it over with. LOL, Xplod is one of the least respectible names out there. IMO, just find a nice amp, between 500 and 1000Watts (non-sony).


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## Azgrower (Oct 1, 2004)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> I say about 16,000Watts, blow it up and get it over with. LOL, Xplod is one of the least respectible names out there. IMO, just find a nice amp, between 500 and 1000Watts (non-sony).


Well those are my thoughts as well, but that really doesnt answer his question. We should try and give him as much advise as possible. :thumbup:


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

actually, it kinda does answer his Q, I said between 500 and 1000W (total). He does not have to do a 2 channel amp either, he can run them in parallel and get 2ohm total on just 1 channel. 1 channel/sub is quite useless, a good amp will take in both channels and output one channel.

I recommend a JL amp, personally, b/c I use them.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> actually, it kinda does answer his Q, I said between 500 and 1000W (total).  He does not have to do a 2 channel amp either, he can run them in parallel and get 2ohm total on just 1 channel. 1 channel/sub is quite useless, a good amp will take in both channels and output one channel.


What are you talking about? A good amp will take in both channels and output one channel? A mono amp will, but a mono amp isn't any "better" than a multi-channel amp, in fact mono amps are arguably worse than multi-channel amps in every aspect other than efficiency. He already has the amp though, so we need to find out what it is so we can tell him how he should hook it up, not tell him a mono amp or a non-Sony amp would have been better.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I didn't mean to say it that way. I guess 'Mono amp' is a better term. I'm pretty sure the JL 500/1 and 1000/1 take in both channels from the HU, but of course, since they're mono amps, they only output one channel. What is it called when the amp takes in 2 channels and outputs 1?

Anyway, I would still prefer a mono amp to power 2 subs, expecially if they're in the same box, running 1 channel/sub is pointless IMO. You're not going to be able to tell the difference between the right sub and the left sub.

I didn't realize he was making a statement about his 1200WHAT Sony amp, I guess 'WHAT' is the super cool term for power. I was trying to answer what seemed to be a question about, "how much power should I run through my sony subs."


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

I had a speaker enclosure with two 12" subs which was almost 100 lbs if not more... I sold it for 200 and I bought a 15" sub with a plexi-glass enclosure for 200 bucks. It weights less and I have more trunk space left. Oh, I bridged the amp too... really nice kick... if you sit in the backseat you can't breathe lol... my rearview mirror is vibrating like crazy.


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## ga16freak (Dec 31, 2004)

Twiz said:


> I had a speaker enclosure with two 12" subs which was almost 100 lbs if not more... I sold it for 200 and I bought a 15" sub with a plexi-glass enclosure for 200 bucks. It weights less and I have more trunk space left. Oh, I bridged the amp too... really nice kick... if you sit in the backseat you can't breathe lol... my rearview mirror is vibrating like crazy.


Got any other useless stories?


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## aaron629 (May 4, 2005)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the info fellas. Here is what I have: 2 12" subs. I guess the omega sign is ohms? Which means each woofer is 4 ohms (it says impedance 4 with the omega sign behing it) and rated 380 watts. And your question about if they are dual voice coils, I have not a freakin clue dog. The box doesn't say jack about dual voice coils so I assume they are not. As for the amp: it is 1200 watts and I believe that it is a 2 channel amp. (The info says I can connect another amp to the unit) But, the flyer that came with the amp said "do not bridge the amp because damage can occur. And in terms of being a shitty amp. I am not too worried about it. I got the whole system for under 200 bucks brand new. Head unit and all. I love ebay. I also got a set of alba rims (4 of em) for 330 shipping and all. Peace thanks for the info and tips.


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## Azgrower (Oct 1, 2004)

To determine the voice coil configuration (single vs dual coils) check to see if you have only one set of connections or 2 sets (usually on opposite sides). Each set will have the appropriate pos and neg binding posts. If you have one set, then you have a single coil, if you have two set, well...you get the idea mane.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

ok, 2 DVC subs, 4Ω resistance per coil. In this situation, most people would run both coils in series and then run the subs in parallel, this will bring each speaker to 8Ω and then back down to 4Ω total when the 2 speakers are run in parallel. This meaning the amp would be run at a total of 4Ω. BTW, this is if you are using a mono amp or a bridged 2-ch amp (which is my preference):









be careful how you hook it up b/c this configuration will prolly fry your amp:









If you want to give each sub its own channel, you will be running at 2Ω per channel. You should run the each sub/channel like so:


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## Azgrower (Oct 1, 2004)

He doesnt know what he has yet. I was waiting to hear back from him before trying to confuse him with the concepts of Parallel and Series wiring.


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## aaron629 (May 4, 2005)

Azgrower said:


> He doesnt know what he has yet. I was waiting to hear back from him before trying to confuse him with the concepts of Parallel and Series wiring.


Ok. I do not have dual voice coils. I saw the first picture and I think that is bridging, correct? Any way I have single voice coile. What's the best way to proceed now? I do know that when I hook up my amp I have to get through the firewall, then put a fuse as close as poss. to the battery in my power wire. The amp rem. wire on my head unit will go to the the blue amp wire in my wiring kit and I need to ground my wire as close to the amp as possible. I am also running 5 awg wire for my power and 16 awg for the woofers. I am pretty good on how to hook up the woofers unless anyone has any tricks up their sleeve to get better sound. 

Really do appreciate the help fellas. Peace.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

bridging occurs at the amplifier, that first picture is just a pair of dvc subs wired in series/parallel

so you have a pair of single voice coil 4ohm subs and a generic 2ch amp. There is only one way to hook it up since you can't bridge it. You want to simply wire each sub to each of the amp's channels individually, it's probably the simplest way you could possibly hook a pair of speakers up to an amp.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

well, he could do it either way. Don't amps run more efficiently at lower resistance?

I don't really understand the point of running each sub on its own channel, I don't like the idea of 2 subs in the same enclosure doing 2 seperate things at certein times. I mean, you will not hear the difference, low tones lack a definate direction (meaning, it's fairly difficult to pinpoint the source of the low-end sounds in a well-built setup)

Anyway you can do it 2 ways:

2 channels:
Wire each sub directly to the amp's +/- inputs. Left speaker to left channel, right speaker to right channel. You'll be running around 200W/sub @ 4ohm/channel.

mono (bridged):
The amp should come with instructions on how to bridge it. Usually, it's the positive of the left channel and the negative of the right channel, or something of that nature. It may even say right on the amp's connections which 2 terminals are the bridgable terminals. In this case you'll run the subs in Parallel, this meaning:








The amp should put out a total of 400/1W (to be divided equally among the 2 subs...200W/sub). It might even put out a bit more since amps run slightly more power with a lower resistance.

As a side note, go by the RMS power that the amp is rated. You mentioned the amp runs at 200W/2 RMS and 400W/2 Max. The max really means nothing b/c you'll never be running at max power, RMS is what you'll be running on average.


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

You should check the amp's manual before you bridge it. The amp will say 2 or 4 ohm per channel or 4 ohm bridged...meaning you can't connect your speakers in parallel and bridge the amp cause that'll be 2 ohm or prolly less. Take an ohmmeter and test the two leads from the speakers leading to the bridged amp you're going to use... you have to follow the amp's manual here.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> well, he could do it either way. Don't amps run more efficiently at lower resistance?
> 
> I don't really understand the point of running each sub on its own channel, I don't like the idea of 2 subs in the same enclosure doing 2 seperate things at certein times. I mean, you will not hear the difference, low tones lack a definate direction (meaning, it's fairly difficult to pinpoint the source of the low-end sounds in a well-built setup)


He said the amp can't be bridged, so there's really not much else you can do. Even if he could bridge it, what you just told him would kill the amp because it's not 1ohm stereo stable (needs to be 1ohm stereo stable to be 2ohm bridged stable). Since his is only 2ohm stereo stable then it would be a minimum of 4ohm bridged stable, which means the only way to bridge it to those subs would be to wire them in series to 8ohm and bridge the amp, which will give them the exact same amount of power as simply running 4ohm stereo. I would normally recommend wiring in series and bridging the amp if they're in a common enclosure, but since he said the amp can't be bridged....


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## aaron629 (May 4, 2005)

sr20dem0n said:


> He said the amp can't be bridged, so there's really not much else you can do. Even if he could bridge it, what you just told him would kill the amp because it's not 1ohm stereo stable (needs to be 1ohm stereo stable to be 2ohm bridged stable). Since his is only 2ohm stereo stable then it would be a minimum of 4ohm bridged stable, which means the only way to bridge it to those subs would be to wire them in series to 8ohm and bridge the amp, which will give them the exact same amount of power as simply running 4ohm stereo. I would normally recommend wiring in series and bridging the amp if they're in a common enclosure, but since he said the amp can't be bridged....


Ok fellas this thread is officially closed! ..... nah but I did get everything hooked up. Sounds good. Now it's time to work on the shocks.


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