BigJohn

I just got my 2 12 inch jl audio w1's yeah there old school but still pound now can i run a 2 channel amp to power the 2 of them and how much watts do i need on a amp to power them it says these subs can handle 250 watts each?

Javin028

250 watts RMS or peak power?

Del

Most companies advertise the peak power of any of their products, not the RMS, so 250 is most likely the peak. I would go with 2 mono amps instead of 1 2 channel amp though.

BigJohn

hey how about a 4 channel amp to run my 2 12's is that better then a 2 channel, I am looking at us acoustic amps, the 2 channel amp is at 100W x 2 @ 12.9V on rms power and the 4 channel amp 160W x 2 @ 12.9V bridged rms power both amps are same price at 124$, is it better when you bridge it? what would be a better buy

NCSU-4runner

i have two rockford fosgate HX2 12's , they are heavy duty , high quality subs and they hit hard with my fosgate 250x2 watt RMS amp. anything more than that is excessive in my opinion unless you are doing 15s or something crazy like that. these people that say they are running 1000 watts to thier subs are either feeding them way too much power or are quoting the MAX power output anyway, id have to check but id assume my 500 watt RMS amp puts out nearly 1000 watts max

im pretty sure when a company says a speaker can "handle 250 watts" they are refferring to RMS anyway and i wouldnt recommend exceeding that

BigJohn

hey how about a 4 channel amp to run my 2 12's is that better then a 2 channel, I am looking at us acoustic amps, the 2 channel amp is at 100W x 2 @ 12.9V on rms power and the 4 channel amp 160W x 2 @ 12.9V bridged rms power both amps are same price at 124$, is it better when you bridge it? what would be a better buy

Bumpin' Yota

No, don't go with a 4 channel amp unless you are trying to push mids and highs as well. Go grab a decent class A/B amp in the 400-500 watt range that way when you upgrade you can throw a decent 300+ watts on mids and highs. Those JL's are a tad underrated as well. (They will take more than that.) However be aware that the power rating is box dependant....

Del, sorry but that is incorrect. Most reputible companies only publish RMS values and on occasion, the peak. Peak means nothing.

impulsebrklyn

Bumpin' Yota

is correct if there is only one number on them its max power which is a marketing pile of bull˟˟˟˟.

bigjohn do you know if there the 4ohm or 8 ohm versions??
here are the specs on you subwoofers
http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/pdfs/12W1_BDS.pdf

it depends on your impedances before i can give a recommendation. but a class a/b amp that pushes 250 rms would cover it but i cant say without the impedances cause you need to match that up with the output of the amplifier. Your subs can only take 125 watts rms.

Chris

BigJohn

I have no idea would it say it somewhere on the sub cause thats all i got is the subs and box

impulsebrklyn

yeah it shoudl say it somewhere. look for a 4 or an 8 with like an uppside down u with feet. its on the pdf file i posted.

Chris

BigJohn

no it aint anywhere on the sub so whats the diff with a 4ohm or 8ohm

impulsebrklyn

its the impedance of the sub, without knowing what it is there is no way to correctly wire them. I think you can check them with a multi-meter but im unsure.

Chris

BigJohn

well i looked on the back of the woofer and there 4 hookups terminals for positive and negative wires

White SR5

If it comes down to it, take it into a car stereo shop and ask them to meter it. If they charge you tell them to screw themselves. Or if you have a multi-meter or ohm-meter laying around, you could do it. It's pretty straight forward with those things. Set the multi-meter to ohms and then connect the positive to the positive and the negative to the negative. 4 ohms is 4 ohms, 8 is 8. If you don't read anything, switch the leads around. If you still don't read anything, you're screwed -- your sub is blown, but I doubt that will be the case. :pat:

Zach

OneTrickToy

Most companies publish their peak values, not RMS. JL is one of the few companies that publishes their RMS values, and they are very conservative with those numbers. My JL 500/1 amp is supposedly 500 RMS, yet many independant companies have tested the amps to find that they run between 600-733 watts RMS.

HOWEVER..... the W1 is rated at 125 watts RMS.

http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/pdfs/12W1_BDS.pdf

If you ever have questions about JL products, just check their site. They have extensive information on all their products. Even the discontinued ones

impulsebrklyn

bigjohn is that 4 total between the two woofers or for each woofer????? it makes a difference im assuming total cause they dont make dual 8ohm subs

2 4ohm subs would wire to 2ohm or 8 ohm(cant wire to 8ohm for car amplifier dont run at this impedance)
2 8ohm subs would wire to 4ohm only

so without knowing the impedance of the subs you wont know what they can be wired to, so then you cant find an amp that pushes the 250 watts at that desired impedance

go to radio shack you can get a multi-meter for less then 10 bucks, maybe they will be nice and let you use one of the displays.

Chris

BigJohn

4 total hookups i am gonna buy the US Acoustics USX2100 it has 100x2 rms power my subs are rated at 125rms and i know that amp can push more so can the subs, 4 ohm or 8ohm i dont know what my sub is but the amp is still gonna power these subs.

OneTrickToy

If you just want an amp for the subs, best thing to do is buy a Class-D Monoblock amp. It will be one channel only, which is what you want for subs. As far as the speakers go, wire them in parallel, but coils in series. You are going to have to shell out big money to get a 1 ohm stable amp, but, by wiring the coils in series, then the subs in parallel, you will be running 4ohm, which isn't too bad...

BigJohn

so i can run 2 12 inch subs off a class d mono amp? I am looking at this amp what do you think http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/USAUSX600D

impulsebrklyn

i cant make any recommendations on amplifiers till you find out the subs impedances. if you dont know what your hooking up to you have a decent chance of ruinning the amp or the subs. and you want a mono a/b amplifier or a class D that would be best.