Whats the best amp for my 2 12" Kenwood subs?

Question

I have two 12" kenwood KFC-3011 subs with a 2000 watt American legacy amp i got at a garage sale for 20 bucks, so i wasnt expecting a lot from the amp. I dont know what amp to get for them. Total the subs have 2400 watts. would a 2400 watt amp from kenwood do the trick? Like the KENWOOD KAC-X1R MONO-Channel eXcelon 2400W AMPLIFIER, or is that too much? What should i get?

Also, im not really interested in any new subs, but is open to suggestions. THANKS

Answer 1

The peak of the subwoofers NEVER matter EVER. You need to find the RMS of those subwoofers and match them to the amp of your choice.

Answer 2

sub specs=

MAX POWER 1200W

12" Woofer with 4-ohm voice coil

High-roll Rubber Surround

Removable Reversible Gasket

8AWG Wire Capable

Power Range: 50-400 watts RMS (1200 watts peak power)

Frequency Response: 25-800 Hz

Sensitivity: 90 dB

Mounting depth: 6-3/4"

so if you have two of them they will give you a 2 or 8ohm load at the amp (here's some wiring diagrams http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer... the lower the final impedance (ohms) at the amp the lower the sound quality but the easier/cheaper it is to power (2ohms is fine, and 8ohms would cost an arm and a leg)

so the amp needed will have about 800watts RMS @ 2ohms and also be CEA-compliant which means that the amps have been tested and produce or exceed the advertised RMS wattage with minimum distortion (over time distortion is the main cause of speaker damage)

here are the top CEA-compliant brands

Alpine

Bazooka

Blaupunkt

Clarion

Eclipse

Infinity

JBL

JL Audio

JVC

Kenwood

Kicker

MTX

Pioneer

Polk Audio

PPI

Rockford Fosgate

Sony

its impossible to properly match your subs and amps without knowing the real RMS wattage and with non CEA-compliant brands you are lucky to get half of the advertised RMS wattage and is usually distorted

heres the problem

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

here are some good candidates

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_8518_Alp... ($270 perfect match)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_12248_JB... ($250 700watts RMS)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_9082_JVC... ($235 700watts RMS)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_8515_Ken... ($170 900watts RMS)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_6595_Kic... ($300 750watts RMS)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_7559_Ori... ($360 perfect match)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_13580_Po... ($470 perfect match)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_2809_Roc... ($460 750watts RMS)

http://sonicelectronix.com/item_7013_Son... ($150 900watts RMS)