Hey guys,

My friend has a GX and is looking for an amp to power her 12" JL audio W3. It is already wired with 8 Gauge. My question is:

Will a JL audio 250/1 be enough power for the 12" or should we opt for more?

The 8 Gauge power cable that will be running into the amp - They installer told us that we are losing a ton of power unless we switch to 4 gauge and that would be getting the most out of the amp. I know that it is ideal but does it make THAT much of a difference?

Any opinions on some great amps that we should look into?

Thanks for your time and expertise guys,

LL

 

If you really want to power that sub I have a JL 1000/1 for sale, but that may be overkill on one sub

 

Thanks GS300,

But the 1000 watts would be WAY to much for that sub. We are only looking at about 400 watts RMS max!

Anybody else??? Opinions?

LL

 

What you should do is find out how much RMS power the sub can run at, then you need to look for an amp that has that.

As far as the 8 gauge cable, yeah that's a little too small for amp nowadays. You should probalby upgrade it to 4 gauge and you should be set.

 

I concur, run 4awg cable... better safe than sorry. I have a 500/1 in my Z71 along with a 300/4. They're great amps for the money. A bud of mine tested one here and got something silly like 603 out of a 500/1...

 

Hey thanks for the replies guys..

The 8 gauge is really going to make that much of a difference? I know that the sub says that it can handle 250 watts RMS. But I have heard it with a Kicker that was pushing like 300 +. My friend doesn't want to switch out all of the cables if he doesn't have to (if it's not going to make that much of a difference). Any opinions on the amp?

Price IS an issue and would like an amp that is great but if there are others that are comparable for cheaper....then....we will swing for that!

LL

 

AWG depends on the distance the power has to travel also don't forget... 4awg cable is common and shouldn't cost anything more than $20 to replace. Better than replacing an entire car due to it melting and catching on fire. I could swap a power cable in maybe 30 min if it's already been ran before and most things are ready to go.

JL makes great amps, I run them. Tons of options to really fine tune the sound if you know what you're doing. Power output stays the same at different ohm loads, 11-15v, fully adjustable X-overs from like 20-500 then you can multiply it by 10x (at least on my 300/4 ya can, haven't changed my settings in a LONG time). Bass boost, Q-factor adjustmenet, infrasonic filter too.

Draws less power than a Class AB amp, more power, and all. Just good solid stuff that works day in and day out. I also have a 300/2 in my old F150, it runs a pair of Polk DXs off and old Pioneer Premier. I have maybe $450 in that whole setup and it plays loud and clean.

Shop smart and you can get deals. I got two of my three JL amps used, my Premier I got from an old neighbor that worked for them (now with the INS), and the Polks I got mail order...

 

It completely depends on how hard you plan on pushing the sub/amp combo. With one sub, if you like your music ear-splitting loud, you will constantly be pushing it to the limit, or worse yet, beyond. The other issue is the JL W3 itself, which isn't as clean as a W6V2 or W7, so there's NO POINT in overkill with tons of power, the sub doesn't have the mechanics to support that and give you clean sound anyway. So the bottom line is, if you're looking for ear-splitting sound, you'll need a second sub and a bigger amp than a 250/1, but if not, the 250/1 will be perfectly fine, and SO WILL THE 8-GAUGE cable. If you were running the cable from scratch I'd recommend running 4-gauge, but since you're not, 8 is fine. It will not melt or catch on fire if it was originally run properly and the connections are solid.

 

Enginear-

Thanks for your reply it helped! I think that we will grab a 250/1 off of ebay and hook it up as soon as we get it and just leave the 8-gauge in the car. Thanks for your help.

LL

 

Just watch for warranty issues. I got my JL stuff a couple of years ago from www.woofersetc.com, great service, full warranty, very aggressive prices. They're selling 250/1 right now for $300, but I see ebay is a little cheaper.