I have a Alpine 4 channel MRP-F250 amp in my 98 GS400 and a Kicker DC10 vented sub box with 2 10's in it. I have power, ground and all that good to go but the volume level of the bass is fairly weak.

I assume the subs are wired parallel inside the box as there is only one exterior connector and I currently have the subs connected to the 3rd and 4th channel of the amp bridged to get more power out of it.

Is there a way I can get more power to these subs without cranking the gain up? I dont suppose I can wire the 1st and 2nd channel to the same subs...


p.s. the subs are wired to outside terminals positive and negative currently [+][-] [+][-] as per the manuals instructions for bridged wiring.

 

The specs for your gear are as follows:

• Dual 10" Vented Enclosure with Kicker Comp Subwoofers
• 2 Ohm Final Impedance
• Peak Power Handling: 600 watts
• RMS Power Handling: 300 watts

» 4-channel car amplifier
» 40 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (50 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)
» 100 watts RMS x 2 bridged output at 4 ohms (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)
» 2-, 3-, or 4-channel output
» variable high-pass/low-pass filters (50-400 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
» tuned Bass EQ (12 dB bass boost at 50 Hz for channels 3 & 4)

Based on this, you should not be driving a 2-ohm sub with this amp in bridged mode. You can use one amp section for each sub if you bring out the additional two connections--then each amp will provide 40w for each sub. But that is still just 1/4 of what those subs can handle. If you used all 4 channels of your amp in bridged mode, you'd deliver 100+100w into the 4 ohm subs, and that would give you a fighting chance at moving some air. But then you need another amp anyway for the rest of your speakers. Looks like another amp is in your future regardless.

As for gain, the amp has a bass EQ in channels 3/4. Are you already using it to boost the bass levels?

 

You can run this amp and push those 2 subs. It's all about how you wire it up. You can bridge the 4 channel amp and push 100w to each sub. What you need to do is connect a wire between the positive side of one of the voice coils and connect it to the negative side of the other voice coil on the same sub. Do this for both of them. Then connect the speaker wires from the amp to the unused positive and negative on each sub (just like hooking up a regular sub, positive to positive, and negative to negative). Wiring it in this manner will place a 4ohm load on the bridged channels. Now you amp won't overheat or explode and now your pushing 200w total to the subs.

What you really need is a 2 channel amp that is 2ohm stable that pushes 200w a channel or more to really move those subs.

If you a diagram to follow for the sub wiring, go here......
http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rgbt....html?view=all

 

The ideal amp is mono into 2 ohm, since that would require no internal rewiring of the sub drivers. If you go to the Cutchfield link, there's 24 different wiring diagrams. This case is shown in the 6th one, "Mono amp, two 4-ohm subs." If you go for a 2-ch amp, (or use your existing Alpine quad as two bridge amps) then scroll down to "2-ch amp, two 4-ohm subs," the 16th diagram.

 

I was toying around this weekend and found that switch and it made a huge difference.

So am I doing any harm by running the amp the way it is... bridged to the speakers as is? It sounds really good and I hate to fool with it if it's not hurting anything.

 

nevermind. the subs I have are 4ohm subs so I'm good to go. It sounds really good for the amount of power I'm putting to them.