What kind of amp would be suitable for this situation?

Question

So I have these two 12" old Kickers in a carpet box and I need to know how big of an amp it would take to fully utilize the subs. So basically what size amp would be good for two 12" Kickers? Also if anyone could help me understand the amp to sub ratio that would be great. Thanks again.

Answer 1

Im definently not a car audio expert but i just installed my own system so i've been doing a lot of research. Ive found that you can pretty much use any amp you would like but you just run the risk of blowing your subs. Blowing the subs can easily be avoieded by just tuning down the amp, which is fairly simple.  Most of my friends use 1600 watt amps for the subs, and none of us have blown our subs. Just as long as you tune the amp ( youll be able to hear the subs limit), you should be fine. Like i said though im not expert, but i say go with 1000-2000 watts and you should be fine. Hope this helped a little.

Answer 2

you have to give more info on the subs.

Answer 3

this is the info that is needed (model number)

impedance (ohms)

are they SVC or DVC (single or double voice coils), for wiring

what is their RMS wattage handling (not peak or max wattage)

with out that info any answer you get is a total shot in the dark at best, all i can tell you from the info provided is to go with a mono class D and make sure it is CEA-complaint (makes or exceeds its advertised wattage with minimum distortion)

here are the top CEA-compliant brands

Alpine

Bazooka

Blaupunkt

Clarion

Eclipse

Infinity

JBL

JL Audio

Kenwood

Kicker

MTX

Pioneer

Polk Audio

Rockford Fosgate

Sony

here is what you need to know about matching amps to subs

If you send too much power to your sub, you risk damaging it. The cone of the speaker and the mechanical parts that make it move may break under the stress. Surprisingly, too little power can also damage your subwoofer — in fact, it's actually more common than damage caused by overpowering.

When the volume is turned up and the amp doesn't have enough power, the signal becomes distorted, or "clipped." This distorted signal can cause parts of the speaker to overheat, warp and melt. Not good!

You don't have to match speaker and amp wattages exactly. An amp with a higher output than the speaker's rating won't necessarily damage the speaker — just turn the amp down a bit if you hear distortion from the sub and don't run the speaker at extremely loud volumes for lengthy periods. Likewise, you'll be OK with a lower powered amp if you keep the volume down and don't feed a distorted signal to the sub.