amp sub help

[napkinthief]

I will soon be purchasing my sub system and an amp, still deciding exactly what I want but I am not sure how much power balance I need. I read it before somewhere but now I can not find it again. Is it supposed to be the amp has more power than the subs or the subs handle more power than the amp can put out. I know one of them is fatal for the subs, but I am not sure if I need to match the amp outputs to the subs needs?

exampple because I confused myself with the thing on top

400 watt rms sub x 2 = 800 watt total (what would the difference be if i used a 600, 800, or 1000 watt amp with those 2 subs)

Also, anyone have any autocad layouts of the trunk of 96 eclipse, or the whole car?



EDIT:: also, my headunit is 50wx4, using the stock speakers, but it has plugs for an amp, would I have to take speakers off the headunit and run them from the amp or should it work as it is? thx

 

[Eclipse45150]

As a general rule of thumb I always get subs that will handle about 100-200 more than the max of my am. But you have to remember, the lower class amps will not reach the maximum output in most situation. Also, your amp should rarely even get to full power, you really dont want to go above 3/4 of the way up on your gain, once the amp reaches 3/4 all you really do after that is burn the amp up quicker, most of the what the amp will do is reached at 3/4. Does that help ya?

 

[Attack Eagle]

As a general rule of thumb I always get subs that will handle about 100-200 more than the max of my am. But you have to remember, the lower class amps will not reach the maximum output in most situation. Also, your amp should rarely even get to full power, you really dont want to go above 3/4 of the way up on your gain, once the amp reaches 3/4 all you really do after that is burn the amp up quicker, most of the what the amp will do is reached at 3/4. Does that help ya?

I try to get them as close as possible tending towards the amp being bigger since you actual voltage will never be the 14.4 volts that teh specs are based on...

I like to look for an amp where the 12v rating is near but not over the sub's rating. best if you get 12 and 14.4 ratings and call the actual power in between them, then match to the sub.

Eclipse45150 seems to think the gain control has something to do how hard the amp is working... not in the way he thinks...
It's to match the amplifier's input stage to the incoming voltage on the rcas (h/u output) so that it doesn't under amplify or over amplify the signal...

example, ifyou have 4 v outputs and the gain rating is 6v to .5 you would never be any where near 1/2, much less 3/4's gain. probably between 1/4 and 1/3... (pet peeve, not listing 4v (clarion/alpine most good upper end units) and 2v positions (basic units from pioneer and most other brands) on the gain scale).

GAIN is NOT a volume control. cranking it too much will cause poor audio quality, and possible damage to the sub and amp when playing at high volume levels.