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Dec 23, 2008 | 12:33 PM

offroad17

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Amp

You can see from my sig what kind of sound system I have in my truck but I was wondering if you guys think I should upgrade (brand name and size) my amp? If so what brand should I get, and where online can I get it from?

Dec 23, 2008 | 06:02 PM

ReAX

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From: Central Florida

While sony's xplode line has it's detractors, as long as your not pushing too hard it will work for quite a while. I don't know the spec's of what your pushing, but a 4x125@4ohm probably sounds good. I was looking at memphis a few years ago and they ran on pretty low power, most were under 75w. If they don't have an amp yet, it would be worth while pushing them closer to full power.

Dec 25, 2008 | 07:44 PM

offroad17

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Will a better quality amp make a big difference in the loudness of the music and the subs? Also, I am thinking about putting in a 3rd sub, if I can, and I was wondering if it was even possible to run an odd number of subs and if so would I need a 3-channel amp?

Dec 26, 2008 | 11:20 AM

ReAX

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From: Central Florida

Your asking some difficult questions to answer without seeing what you have. I suspect the Xplode amp doesn't reach it's labeled potential. It should have at least 2 25amp fuses, if it doesn't then it is not going to put out near 600 watts. However, you need to double the power to double the "loudness", but a slight increase can make it a little louder.

Running three subs plays with the load in odd ways that aren't quite as easy to figure in your head. When you do threes, they should be either parallel or series, don't mix them as parallel series. 3 4ohm subs lead to 1.33ohm load in parallel or 12ohms in series, so you'd either reduce the power to 1/3 or need a 1 ohm stable amp to drive them. I suppose it would work to wire two 4 ohm in series and one 8 ohm in parallel to the series to give you 4 ohm total or 2 2ohm and 1 4 ohm in series/parallel to produce 2 ohm, but my instructors didn't like the notion. All of this can be done on one channel. More channels can change the situation, but there isn't much need in it with subs.

Jan 6, 2009 | 03:08 PM

aquill1

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Do you currently have a kenwood? I've had a few kenwoods and they take quite a beating and keep on working but IMO kenwood sounds different than other stuff I've heard.

Every brand has an up and down but with you considering other options and adding speakers I'd buy into the future and you'd be best suited with a mono amp. What price range for an amp do you have?

Jan 6, 2009 | 03:27 PM

ttocs388

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between kenwood and sony I would do kenwood myself any day. Have you upgraded your factory power wires? If not then that is your electrical choke point to ANY system you install and will limit it. what kind of wires/cables are you using? There is a difference while you do not need to go overboard....

Jan 6, 2009 | 07:20 PM

ReAX

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From: Central Florida

There really isn't an overboard. The ground and alt wires need to be at least as big as the biggest wire in the electrical system. For a mostly stock vehicle, 8ga supplementing the stock will do, but 4ga is preferable. I went to 1/0 because of my winch and 230A alternator.

So if your planning enough power to need 1/0, you need to do 1/0 big three.