Good morning!!
So, I've spent a bit of the night looking into amps that will drive the HK subwoofer, to its peak performance! No 80% stuff here. The big problem will be finding the right amp, to handle a 5.3 ohm load, (guessing real world the driver is about 5 ohms (.2 for cables and meter)) From what I've been able to discover is the HK sub/passive radiator can handle about 206 watts RMS. peak handling of course is more. My goal is to provide enough power, so its not lacking! And on the low notes that need more current, the amp will be able to provide, without clipping. Plus proper X-over and sound delivery.
Yea, this jumps up what your looking at for products. mono blocks won't chop the ohm in half, they will see the full load of the sub. 2 ch amps, running bridged will chop the load in half. (2ch, each ch see's half the load) So, to be clear... its important to match your sub, and amp! Or your going to have a bad day. lol Well, half assed sound!
with all that said, I think I'm going to choose the Kicker CX800.1. WHY? Well, at the 5 ohm load, the amp will bet able to produce a bit over 200 watts. with out breaking a sweat! Thats sort of what you want! Also, if I choose to change my driver in the future... this amp should be able to handle it. (1 OHM stable 800 Watt at 1 Ohm is decent) Also, provides 2 options for mounting! Verticle, and horizontal.
SPECS Class D amp
300 W at 4 ohm. (250 at 5 ohm guessing)
800 w at 1 ohm.
its 2.3 inch high, by 8.1 inch wide..
with only 6.7 deep. So, that should fit under the drivers seat, in the back under the rear seat, up on the rear wall.
It does have the ability for the remote gain unit, which is important when installing a sub amp to a factory system! You want to have some sort of control over the volume of the sub! And, to break it down simple... The remote gain, is sort of like a volume for the subwoofer.. (sort of, not really) This is to actually match the output of your radio! (match signals) But, knowing that not all music is the same, the remote gain, or subwoofer control is a huge key to having great sound!
Same time, the amp has a built in low-pass X-Over! range is 50Hz-200Hz.. ( this would be the cut off of frequency that the amp will allow the subwoofer to reproduce, example.. Set to 50Hz will allow 20Hz or in this case 25Hz to 50Hz to play, and after 50Hz the amps x-over will cut off the frequency to the sub! Not allowing it to play sounds out of this range! Again, very important to have a X-over, and a good one!
You can also use things like Audio control, and Rockford DS stuff to drive/x-over and more...this is another topic to chat about. If your amp does not meet your needs for X-over.
Last on topic for this second is the power wire!
They say 0-1000 you can use 8 Awg and get away with it... Anything over 1000watts you should really run 4 AWG. Well, being this amp is 800 watts RMS at 1 Ohm... The amps peak power (split second power) They say is at least double that... Is why Kicker used 4 AWG terminals on the amp. So, the amp could produce over 1000 watts... Being so, the split second it needs the current.. I want to make sure the AMP gets it. A nice 4 AWG wire will do the trick! MAKE SURE ITS REAL 4 AWG!! Very important to use good wire! A TON of companies cheep out on the copper, and will tin the wires, and or use a thicker coating to make things look legit.
No No No...
A good, real 4 AWG wire kit is what I will need. Quality kits can run you upwards around 60-125.00 depending what comes with them.. RCA's (your signal wire) Fuse and holder (match your fuse rating for your wire, and to protect your amp) Amp turn on wire, crimp connections and more. Most important, I like to make sure my kit is real copper, and real 4 awg. So, do your homework on the wire kits. Cheep kits, cheep results.
As well, the MOST important wire in the install, to which 90% of people over look.... THE GROUND WIRE! YUP, All noise starts here! All problems start here! Most people think that current flows from positive to neg.. This is wrong.. It actually flows from Neg to Pos.
Ground tips: MOST IMPORTANT... Never ever use a seat bolt ground, existing hardware to make a ground.. Unless its a ground for the vehicle with nothing else on it (intended for other models, or more features). Some cars and trucks have a open ground lugs that's not used. Scrape the paint and coating off... 100% (your system will only ever be as good as your ground wire) My suggestion... MAKE A NEW GROUND..No matter what. Use a aftermarket GM battery post (or what ever you choose) Filp it, nut it, and now you have a nice ground. Again, this is all up to you. Most will just shoot some self tappers in to the metal and call it a day. Your amp is suffering, and clipping.... Make sure that ground is what it needs to be! Again, most don't know and don't think this way... But treat the ground, as if its the positive wire! Make sure you connection is really good, large enough, (not to big) and clean. Also, if you are using a 4 Awg wire for power, you want to run a 4 Awg for ground.. And never run your ground more then 3 ft. Period.. Even that's long! Mismatched wires will give you bad power results. Best spot to get the best ground, they say is in the kick panel.. But nobody runs the amp under the drivers steering wheel. LOL.
Running signal wire with your RCA's can also induce some ground noise if ran together..( you know, that turn on pop, when you hit the brake, or rev the engine you hear it in the audio...lol) Rule of thumb, if you can... Run signal wire about 2-3 ft away from power wire. If you have to cross them, make sure you do it in the shape of a X or +. I know it sounds funny, and this divers right in to install rules.. But, keep this in the back of your head. Remote turn on wire can be ran with signal,(no the wire built into your RCA's is a ground noise drain wire, shield wire, not remote turn on wire if your RCS has this hanging off... Some do like Monster) So, run your battery signal down the same side as your battery.. if you can.. And run audio signal down the other side... or at least 2-3 ft away. Again, SQ people know this.
Oh SQ = Sound Quality SPL = Sound Pressure Level
Next up will be information about LOC (line out converters) And this is where I'll be digging in to see what I'm going to use.
Once again, if anyone has any info, they want to add. Please feel free... I'm no expert.. But I am MECP. This is also early AM, the lady is telling me its time to go, so I'll catch up with this more later. I do hope this finds someone and help them!
Thanks! If I Help just one person... I'm happy!
