Expert: Cleggsan - 1/12/2009

Question
I have two 12' kicker cvr's and I am in a jam on what kind of amp i should get.  My subs have:
Frequency response: 25-500 Hz
Power handling: 50-400 watts RMS
Peak power: 800 watts
Impedance: 2 or 4 Ohms DVC
Dual Voice Coil
Sensitivity: 86.7 dB

Do you have any suggestions?
are any of these good choices:

HIFONICS BRUTUS BXi1608D 1600W Mono Car Amplifier/Amp

HIFONICS BRUTUS BXi2008D 2000W Mono Car Amplifier/Amp

KICKER 2006 ZX750.1 Mono Car Audio Sub Amp/Amplifier

if these are good choices which would you recommend? Thanks a lot!  

Answer
I don't do equipment recommendations because there are so many subjective factors involved.

Any of the choices you have listed will work just fine.

My comments are:

ONE:  The power ratings on the speakers are rather meaningless. The two most important things to look at are impedance and sensitivity.  You must match impedances with the amplifier for best power transfer and to keep the amp from going into overload protection (if the impedance of the speaker load is too low for the amp).

TWO:  The enclosure the woofers are mounted in is a key issue for performance.  Also, the car it is installed in has a tremendous effect on sound quality you will get.

THREE:  Sensitivity is rather low for the speakers you chose so you will need as much power as you can push to them safely.

FOUR:  With these brute amplifiers you may need  to beef up the alternator and battery in the car electrical system.  And, you will have to run wiring directly to the battery to get enough current - and a line fuse of at least 50 amps - maybe more if you use the highest power amp. (Batter power will be roughly 12v times amps.  So 100amp fuse can allow 1200watts of power.  But, with music you will not reach that level because of the random signal strength of music being considerably less than maximum).  Use 4 gauge wires to the amps.

Hope this will help you with the design of your system.

Let me know if you have further thoughts.

C