ShooterK2

I'm not really sure what I would be doing if I could go back with the knowledge I have today, but I can tell you one thing I would NOT be doing: Staring my ex-girlfriend in the eye as she tells me she's pregnant.......longest nine months of my life......... I spent most of my 21st year sweating bullets...... Now I wouldn't trade my 18 yr-old son for anything in the world........but I sure would have done some things differently.

I once worked for a guy who drove his '73 Blazer into a local lake to show off for the kids on the beach. He got stuck, sunk it to the bumpers trying to get out, it sat there overnight and most of the next day before a wrecker finally winched him out from the top of the nearest dune, we pulled it back to the shop and went to work...... it took months of spare time to rebuild both differentials, all wheel bearings/assemblies, and finally, the transmission. He was finally able to drive it again, and then it went to knocking....... that's when he sold it and lost his tail end........ All in all, I'd say it's not really a smart move. I'm sure my ex-boss would tell you the same. Unless you are into spending TONS of money and work for a few seconds of glory, which could very easily (as in my ex-boss's case) make you look like a real winner for a long time in the eyes of your friends (and customers).

Interesting. Thanks for the replies guys. If my nephew buys my AP, I'm gonna order it and hope it's here by Friday.

I may have one of my APs sold already. Which means I can order ONE AQ2200. Can anyone tell me if the AQ2200 can be run at .5 ohm? It will just be temporary, until I can get another one.

Resale, when the time comes, is exactly why I'd rather go with two AQ2200s instead of the one AQ3500. It's much easier to get rid of a couple of smaller amps than one huge one. Not too many folks can afford, or want to spend the money on the big one for just beating around town. I'll see what I can do about selling these APs now. Got a show this Saturday, so I need to either hang onto them a while, or get something else ordered QUICK.

Both of those amps do look interesting, and not too terrible of a price either. I'm thinking maybe it would be better to go with a pair of the 2200s instead of one 3500. What do you think?

The reason I think we don't have enough power is that, at full volume, the subs aren't anywhere near their limits. We can sort of get them close, but they get stinky. I wish I had access to an O-scope, but I don't know anyone around here that has one, so I have to just do the best I can. I'm confident that we would be louder with more CLEAN power, and without harming these subs.

I don't know much about the Planet Audio stuff. Never been around it. If I'm not mistaken, the Big Bangs are their top-of-the-line amp? How do they stack up against other brands? Good stuff? Better than we have now?

That sounds like a plan. Thanks guys. What's the price range on the AQ, and where can I get one?

What I'm more concerned with than anything is, if we were to get two more AP1500s, is that we will be wiring them at two ohms. Right now, we have two of them (1 on each pair of subs, at a 1 ohm load), and as soon as we get the volume where we feel like it's pretty close to all it can do, we start heating up the subs (smelled voice coil a couple of times), so we know it's a clipped signal at that point. Turn it back down a couple of notches and all is well, but then, we know it's not as loud as it could be. Don't get me wrong, we are impressed with these amps for the money. I can't give an actual watt reading on them, as I don't have a clamp meter, but they DO put out. I just feel like they clip the signal at full volume. So maybe having two more of them at an easier ohm load will get rid of that clipped signal, and give us the power to max out these entry-level subs without clipping. So I'm basically wanting to know if these amps will give a cleaner signal at 2 ohms than at 1 ohm. Anyone have any experience with this situation? Anyone running AP amps at less-than-optimal ohm ratings?

Well that's where we screwed up. We got dual 4 ohm coils instead of dual 2s. If we had gotten dual 2s, we could just add two more APs and be done. But we didn't think the 1500 series DD subs could take that much, so we planned on just using two amps at 1 ohm each, which we are. And, don't get me wrong, it wangs now. Plays really low, and still meters in the low 150s on the dash, and almost 153 in the kick. BUT, we really feel like it is capable of a little more........ I mean, I've seen these subs in other vehicles GETTING DOWN, looking like they are gonna jump right out of the box, and ours are nowhere near that.................. By the way, we call it a budget build because it's DD's entry level 15s, and cheap amps. I mean, we have less than $1000 in subs and around $300 in amps. Not a drop in the bucket to some of you guys on here.

Thanks for the reply. Well if we sold our 2 Audiopipes (for, hopefully, around $100 each), we could put that toward the purchase. So it would still be within budget, but I'm not sure we would be better off with the two Crescendos as opposed to FOUR Audiopipe 1500s. Like I say, the only problem with having the four Audiopipes, is that our ohm load would be less than ideal for max power from them. They do best at 1 ohm, but they would be wired to two ohms, yielding (supposedly) 950 watts to each sub. BUT, since the ohm load is easier for the amp to push, would it be better that way? Louder, even though it not producing as many watts, because the wattage is "cleaner"? We've all heard the arguments about the APs and their supposed "dirty" power..... Also, for what it's worth, we do have a 190 amp alt, and two extra truck batteries, in addition to the stock battery under the hood. 1 run of 1/0 on positive terminal. I'm very confused as to what to do. We want our subs to do all they can, but we can't spend a fortune either. So far, I think we have done well as far as money spent compared to system output. We want to continue with that theme.

My son and I have done a budget build in our Honda Civic hatchback. We have built a wall with 4 15's, which are rated to handle 500 watts each. So we bought a couple of Audiopipe 1500 watt amps to run them. Subs are wired to a 1 ohm load at each amp (dual 4 ohm voice coils on the subs), and the amps make their best power at 1 ohm. So we figured we would be just about right, power-wise...... As it turns out, however, our subs are still hungry. We are doing decent numbers and it sounds good, but the subs just aren't doing what we feel they are capable of doing. We desire more power, but are uncertain how to get it on our limited budget. Should we add 2 more amps (which we can afford) like the ones we have now? Then each amp would be wired to 2 ohms, where they are rated to do around 950 watts. OR, should we sell these amps and buy new? We need to stay in the $300 - $400 range for this upgrade. Any help is appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Good stuff man. I like it. Grandpa will be happy when it's all said and done, I bet.

Nice truck. What's the orange light on top for?