What kind of amp is needed to run two 400 watt rms subs?

Question

I'm new to having a system and don't understand all of it. Will I need a two channel amp? or a mono? I was told mono but some of the pics of mono amps only have spots for one set of speaker wire? the subs run at 4 ohms just so you know.

Answer 1

Four ohms each or together?  Mono amps are pretty much standard for subs these days.  when you have multiple voice coils or subs, you can alter your impedance by wiring your subs in series or parallel or some combination of the two.  As far as how much power do you need, how ever much it takes to be as loud as you want to be.  If you're looking for SQ or SQL, you may not need more than about 600 watts.  If you're going for SPL, you may want to go for broke.  1,200 watts or so based on your speakers.

Answer 2

If you wire the subs in parallel (google it) you can achieve an overall load of 2 ohms.  This also lets you wire a subwoofer directly to the amplifier, and as for the second sub, you wire it to contacts on the first.  If you do this, then I highly recommend the Kicker ZX750.1 mono amp.  It pushes 750 watts rms and you can usually find it for around $270 check out onlinecarstereo.com, they have it for around $268.  If you REALLY wanted to run a 2-channel amp, it will get very pricey very fast to push 400 watts per channel.  Are your subs Kicker CVR 12"s by chance?

In response to the answer below me, mono amps are far more superior for subwoofer applications because they are much more effecient than, say a 2 channel amp, at using the energy drawn from your car.  That is why it becomes very expensive to find a high-powered multi-channel amplifier.

Answer 3

basically some subs come with more than one magnet and have more than one set of wires for it.. your sub can say 4 ohm but if it has more than one magnet then its not 4 ohm the magnets are call voice coils and we talk about it like this. the sub is a 2 DVC (dual [two magnets] voice coil ) or a 4 DVC or a 4 SVC (single [one magnet] voice coil) or 8 svc they even have subs with four magnets but i dont even bother with that because i just want to bang not shake the world.

the ohm and voice coil are just as important as knowing the wattage on a speaker that is how you match the amps together

next is a lesson on ohms law and i will not be teaching that one i will be in a seat listening

Answer 4

2 channel amp,but it should be running at 4 ohms,as for mono,dont get a mono amp

Answer 5

make sure your amp is running at 4 ohms, and a two channel amp will do fine.