OK to start off I have two 12" alpine type R and two 800 watt alpine mono block amps. I had one amp to each sub, but I think im going to sell a amp. Amp spec are 800 at 2 ohms or 500watts at 4 ohms. So my question is do I run one 12" at 2ohms at 800 watts or two 12" at 500 watts(so 250 watts each). What would you pick?

 

i would run two 12"s at 500W for a couple reasons.

though your amplifier is rated at 2ohms, running it at 4ohms will not make the amplifier work as hard. the amplifier would run cooler, and in theory last longer.

running the two 12"s would also still have a higher output than one 12" running at a higher power. this is due to the fact that you have more cone area plus will also benefit from speaker coupling.

 

Even though the each 12" will only get 250 watts? Also the sub is rated at 500rms would feeding it 250 still be ok for it? I dont want to under power it.

 

Troo.

Not necesselery. One 12" with 800 watts would sound about the same as 2 with a total of 500 watts, maybe even a bit louder. When you add a sub but maintain the same power level (800 total in this case), you get a higher output of about 3dB. If you double the cone and double the overall power, you may gain up to 6dB. Since the power drops dramatically, it will yield less output overall.

Power or underpower doesn't usually kill subs. Distortion does. If you find yourself consistently running out of volume, you need to look into more power, more subs, or bofum.

Big Mack

 

You only get so much DBs out of your subs plus it only adds 3 dbs when you add one more sub.

 

[QUOTE=Big Mack;6528967]

Not necesselery. One 12" with 800 watts would sound about the same as 2 with a total of 500 watts, maybe even a bit louder. When you add a sub but maintain the same power level (800 total in this case), you get a higher output of about 3dB. If you double the cone and double the overall power, you may gain up to 6dB. Since the power drops dramatically, it will yield less output overall.


I actually had a 90 Honda Civic with an identical situation. I thought that it would result in the same or maybe a little less output, just as you had pointed out. But to our surprise it actually gained some volume and the bass was pleasantly deeper.

The deeper bass we were experiencing was probably due to the additional conal area that was added with the second sub. And the added volume was a mystery for some time. A friend of ours had pointed out that maybe the additional volume we were experiencing was due to the subs being closer to the sides of the trunk area thereby helping to reflect/amplify the sound. Also because the enclosure now was twice the size previously, the total volume of the trunk area was less which could have also contributed to the increase.

I guess what it comes down to is that every situation has many variables, which in turn will give sometimes surprising/conflicting results.