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A few questions...

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Old Aug 1, 2014 | 08:39 PM
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Default A few questions...

So I have 2 12 kickers cvr. I just bought a 1500 watt amp. I previously had a Kenwood 1000 watt amp. Figured I get a better wattage amp.

These are the specs on my kickers:
12" subwoofer with dual 4-ohm voice coils
injection-molded polypropylene cone
ribbed Santoprene rubber surround
suitable for marine use
power handling: 50-400 watts RMS (200 watts per coil)
800 watts peak power handling
frequency response: 25-500 Hz
sensitivity: 86.7 dB
top-mount depth: 6-1/4"
sealed box volume: 1.0-4.6 cu. ft.
ported box volume: 1.75-2.25 cu. ft.

This is the specs on the amp I just bought:
2-Channel Gorilla Series Car Amplifier
RMS Power Rating:
4 ohms: 250 watts x 2 chan.
2 ohms: 325 watts x 2 chan.
Bridged, 4 ohms: 650 watts x 1 chan.
Max power output: 1500 watts x 1 chan.
Pulse Width Modulated MOSFET power supply
LED power (green) and protect (red) indicators
Variable Bass Boost (0 to +12 dB bass boost at 50 Hz)
Soft start turn-on
2 or mono channel operation
3-way protection circuitry (thermal, overload, and speaker short protection)
Heavy duty aluminum alloy heat-sink
Nickel-plated RCA level inputs
Nickel-plated screw terminals
Input sensitivity: 250mV-6V
high-pass filter (fixed 80Hz)
Variable low-pass filter (50-250 Hz, 24 dB/octave)
Frequency response: 15-20000 Hz
8 gauge power and ground wiring is required for installation.
Dimensions: 9-1/10"W x 14"L x 2-3/10"H

How do I wire my kickers to have them at their potential?
Series? Parallel?
Can anyone link me to the proper wiring diagram.
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Old Aug 2, 2014 | 01:57 PM
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Your best bet is the 325W into two channels at 2-ohms. The 200W at 4-ohms is more than 50% less and the 650W into one channel is exactly the same but only one channel.

So, to achieve that configuration you want to wire the dual voice coils of each sub in parallel and then connect each sub to a separate amp channel. Connecting each sub's voice coils in parallel just means that the two positive terminals are wired together and the two negative terminals are also wired together.

Never pay any attention to peak ratings of amps or speakers because they are meaningless in real world usage - they're just marketing numbers. Your new amp is a 650W amp not a 1500W.
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Old Aug 4, 2014 | 05:50 AM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
Your best bet is the 325W into two channels at 2-ohms. The 200W at 4-ohms is more than 50% less and the 650W into one channel is exactly the same but only one channel.

So, to achieve that configuration you want to wire the dual voice coils of each sub in parallel and then connect each sub to a separate amp channel. Connecting each sub's voice coils in parallel just means that the two positive terminals are wired together and the two negative terminals are also wired together.

Never pay any attention to peak ratings of amps or speakers because they are meaningless in real world usage - they're just marketing numbers. Your new amp is a 650W amp not a 1500W.
This^^^^ and another thing, you don't want to underpower a sub either! While with what you have now should be fine. Most people get caught up on thinking that they're going to blow a sub with too much power. Not the case all the time
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Old Aug 4, 2014 | 05:48 PM
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So what were the specs on the Kenwood? Older amps seem to have used slightly more honest advertising so it could very well be 500w x 2 at 2 ohm or even 1 ohm mono compatible.

With current set up I agree best configuration will be 2 channel at 2 ohm. Just google "dual 4 ohm 2 ohm sub wiring" if you need the diagram.

Last edited by WhiteBird00; Aug 5, 2014 at 06:47 AM. Reason: Merge consecutive posts
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Old Aug 7, 2014 | 07:00 PM
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Thank you guys. Will search for the diagram
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Old Aug 7, 2014 | 11:14 PM
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Basically wire them up like on the wiring diagram on the left right?
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/.../cvrwiring.jpg
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Old Aug 8, 2014 | 06:43 AM
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Yes, the left image is parallel, the right is series. Connecting the 4-ohm dual voice coils in parallel presents a net 2-ohm load to the amplifier making the best use of the power available.
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