I hooked up my Kicker 12 L7 to a Rockford 450s. It hit so hard the the roof of the car vibrate noticably, I can feel the air rushing past my face when the bass hit. Basically how do you guys determine when you have enough power, or can you ever?

 

When your happy with what your getting, you have enough.( Asumming it can take more) if you want more get more.

 

Is this a trick question Blaq??hehe
I think if your roof is jumpin, and you noticably feel the bass, that would be enough for me,,,only you can answer if it's enough for you.

I kinda feel like this. When we start out young, it's "never enough". When we grow up a little, we get to a point where "not enough" before, is "just enough" now. Then after a while(and some hearing loss...hehe), that "just enough" becomes "not enough" once again. So, we go out and get "more than enough". That way we can show everbody that we can hang. As time goes by, if we keep listening, we will get to a point where "more than enough" drops to "just enough" and then eventually when we have kids and they're playin loud music,,,, we might just decide that "THAT'S ENOUGH". As for me at this point,,,,I can't get enough!!

Just a thought or two......hehehe,,,,,,DMAN

 

You confused the h3ll out of me...but I get what your saying. In saying that I guess I am close to having enough...Ill play arounfd with it and see.Thanks for the reply!

 

how high up are your gains right now??

 

Sorry dude, I was just kidding around.... Basically, I agree with max'n'out. If you turn your stereo on and think to yourself,,,,"Man, this sounds good.",,,,and you are happy with the sound you have and the power you are pushing,,,,then you probably have enough. If you turn it on and think,"Man, that's weak!",,,,you might want to keep looking.

IF you were asking about power with your setup, specs for your speaker say it holds about 375 watts RMS,,, and specs on you amp say it will push up to 475 watts RMS bridged. I would say you might even have too much power depending on the way you have it hooked up.

Hope this is better...Good Luck!!!,,,,DMAN

 

On the head unit its at 15(max) and the amp its 2/3 up.

 

i'd say since you have your gains up, that maybe you could use a little more power. i'd rather have my gains all the way down and have it play to my liking than have the gains turned up and playing to my liking.

 

I agree with you victor, I prefer not to have to run my gains cranked up. I tend to believe that if you have to run wide open and cranked in order to get the volume you want,,,,you might need more power. BUT, you think more power is necessary here?? His speaker is rated to hold 375watts RMS, but his amp is rated to push 450watts RMS bridged (not 475 as I said earlier,,sorry). If that is the case, and he has his amp bridged, then he's already pushin his speaker to the limit. I don't think he needs more power. If the amp isn't bridged, then he might be pushing like 225watts and then he can stand to run more power to it.

Just my $.02,,,,,,DMAN

Hey Blaq, how do you have your amp running,,,,stereo 4ohm,,,2ohm,,,or bridged??? That would make a difference.

 

a 12 L7 can readily take 1000 watts and be fine. so i don't think he should worry about overpowering the sub. rms is just a gauge to set your power.

 

Here is another question, Should I go ahead and upgrade to the Rockford 500bd, or should I keep the 450s. I want to know is there that big of a difference using a digital amp? It would be a $50 price difference. I can get the 500bd for $50 more than I paid for the 450s...Is It worth it?

 

I've got gains a little before it's starts clipping. This way you have the "healthy" signal and you don't distort the woofer.

The other frequensy control I have on the equlizer.

 

does that mean your going to keep the 450s?? if you are then go ahead and get the 500bd also. use the bd for your sub, since it's a mono-block amp.

what are you running the amp at?? 2 ohms? or 4 ohms?? you'll get more power out of the bd at 2 ohms, but you'll get more power out of the 450s at 4 ohm.

oh and are you running your sub ported?? cause if you are the bd has a subsonic filter.

oh, and i don't know the digital amp thing.

 

I spoke with the guys from Al Eds where I bought the 450s, and they said if I wanted to upgrade I could. I have been testing my system against tons of different types of music. I ran into a problem, If I have my amp set to low pass, I the sub will not play some the low sounding bass. I then set it to all pass and I can here a lot more different bass levels but I still do not get the really low fequency bass. I have the cross over set to 50 and no matter what I still dont hear it. Very disappointed with my system! Any thoughts guys.

 

First you need to set it back to low pass, then you need to turn up the x over, prob around 80-100. If thats not enough, then the enclosure is prob to small, and or needs to be ported to give you what your looking for. You may also need a larger sub/ different sub, it just might not do what you want it to.

What type of "low bas" are you not hearing. Sometimes things that people think subs should play, don't.

 

i agree. turn you low pass on and put it at about 80hz. and leave it that way.

if your not satisfied, i bet you'll need to change your box. either port it (my suggestion) or make it larger. but the l7 should be able to play low.

 

I have to Kicker L7 12 port box from the kicker company. I do think I have the amp set to 50. I will try it higher and see. Just not happy with the amp/sub set up.

 

do you have the specs on the box??? if the box is good, then i think it's the amp and it's not giving the L7 enough power.

 

If it is the amp...should go with the 500db or should I try something different...I know they had a 800.2, would this be too much power?

 

 

800.2 = $ $ Ching $ $

 

and back to the amp topic, i think the 800.2 would be good, it puts out 800 x 1 at 4ohms bridged, so if your running at 4 ohms you should be good.

but i'm not completely positive it's the amp.....

 

I am thinking that it may be the speaker...you might see a posting for an 12 L7 or sale soon if a bigger amp doesnt do the trick. I will pick up the 800.2 today and see how everything works together. In the mean time what would you recommend to replace my current sub?

 

BlaqMax: I am in San Diego and have the 800.2 for the subs and the 800.4 for the fronts... If you want you can check it out and see how it sounds before you go to Al&Eds. I also have a good friend with a stereo shop and he can give you his input.(second opinion is always good) and prices if you want. Let me know

 

I used to get all of my stuff at Al&Ed's and the second opinion changed my life I haven't gone back. I am not saying they aren't good, but I was never satisfied with them. The first system I got wasn't that great and neither was the second one, which cost me more. But the third time (with another shop) and I love my system.

 

IK woul love any advise! Let me know when we can hook up and I will go down to your friends shop. I dont know if Im dis-satisfied with the amp or sub. I just want everything to work and sound good. And if your friend can give me a good price on an amp I would definitely be interested.

 

I think I may have seen your car before...were you at the Padre's opening day in section B? I saw a maxima like your playing music...By the way i love you rims!

 

Nahhh It wasn't me at the Padres game and thanks for the compliment on the rims. I dont know where you are in SD but I will shoot you an email and let you know whats up...