Dirty727 Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 I have two SWR-12D4 Type-R 12's. At the moment i am running them on 900w I am curious what i would need to do to upgrade to a "true" 2000/2500w amp, from battery to amp and ground i have 1/0 wire. and from amp to speaker i have 8g. In my vehicle i have a 160 amp alternator and am wondering if i will have to upgrade this to use a newer amp in my car. At the moment i have stock door speakers and a couple tweeters Or if maybe a second battery being added would do the trick. All information will be greatly appreciated. Thank you from Florida Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgage Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 To me it depends on what type of amp you decide to use. If you use a Class D amp, those are 90%+ efficient and so shouldn't pose too large a load on your alternator. If you use a traditional amp, which are more like 50-60% efficient, you could potentially tax your alternator, which, if stock, is likely not a true 160 amps. A second battery would primarily help you play your system while the car is off without running down your primary battery, assuming you put in an isolator designed for two batteries. Plus it would be an additional load so if the battery did help you while the car is running, you'd have to periodically take a break from playing your system to let it recharge. To me it adds complexity without much benefit. One thing you can add to your system that might help your high power sub amp is a capacitor, which is essentially a really large battery that charges and discharges quickly. It will help handle the (peaks and) valleys when the amp is really trying to pull power during demanding material. Wire sizes sound good, especially if they are actually copper instead of CCA (copper clad aluminum). And just because I can, please remember there is a whole lot of content above what a sub plays. For gosh sakes, change out the stock speakers so you can have bass with sweet sounding midrange and upper end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty727 Posted December 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Lol well thank you for all the quick infor with your reply! And no i dont have CCA lol. Something i was also wondering was what kind of amps i should be looking at, at the moment i do have a class D amp. And i wouldnt mind going with another Class D. I really dont want to be suckered into a "2k amp" thats really a 1400... Just curious. Again, Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgage Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 You might want to go to a place like DIYMA (DIY Mobile Audio) as they're up on all of the equipment. I've liked Soundstream equipment and bought some of their Picasso Nano amps, which are inexpensive (and tiny) Class D amps. For your needs, they have the Tarantula, Rubicon Nano, and X3 lines with some powerful subwoofer amps. DIYMA is also focused on brands and that you have to pay more for better sounding amplifiers. I put that to the test by going over to Westco's place and taking my expensive and revealing JTR 212-HTLP speakers ($2,000+ ea). We tested several sources he had including a Panasonic tube and couldn't tell much difference between them. Then we tested amps and he had a McIntosh, Arc Audio, and a few other high dollar ($1,000+) amps and we compared my little Picasso Nano ($140) amp. We couldn't tell a sound difference in any of them except the McIntosh, which had a different sound...I guess that is the "warm" McIntosh sound (I didn't like it). So spend extra if you want, but as long as you stick with a quality brand, the amps should sound the same...when not pushed beyond their limits or to clipping. And clipping is important as it will sound bad and can damage your equipment. You didn't mention your source/head unit so make sure it has a strong enough signal to drive the amp without clipping and if it doesn't, look at getting something like a line driver or the MiniDSP mentioned below. Also, the MiniDSP for the home is pretty popular on this forum and MiniDSP just released a C-DSP 6x8, which is a MiniDSP for the car and is quite capable at a very good price. It can take a speaker level signal from your stock head unit and then output to your amp, along with some DSP control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty727 Posted December 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 Im back again lol been looking around and i think i found an amp that is a pretty darn good price on Amazon and a few other places($220-$275) http://hifonics.com/brx-2016-1d/im just curious if anyone knows anymore about this amp. it says it recomends a 200A fuse, but does anyone know if it actually holds one? or if it is nessicary because it is not a true 2k... Thanks again, you guys are awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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