Amp power question.

[Pantinate]

Hey guys!

First of all...I'm very new to car audio, and I've had a burning question since I put my very first system together a few weeks ago.

I'm short on money, so I just bought two Alpine bassline 12" woofers with an alpine mrv-m500 amp. The subs run at 250W rms, and, if you didn't see by the name, the amp is a 500W amp. My question is am i getting 250 watts to both subs? I am new to this as I said, so when the amp says it does 500 watts at 4 ohms x 1 it doesn't make much sense to me (The subs are 4 ohm impedence each)!

Thanks guys!

[pioneerforlife]

it depends on the way you have them wired. either way, you are going to have an impedance that s not recommended for that amp. if you wire the subs in parallel, you will have an overall impedance of 2 ohms. if you have them wired in series, you will have an overall impedance of 8 ohms. so to answer your question, if you have the subs wired to 8 ohms, they are not getting 250 each. probably closer to 100-150. if you have them wired to 2 ohms, you are probably getting close to 250 each.

just to let you know though, usually you don't want to have your subs wired above or below the recommended impedance. if it works for you, then your lucky but in the future, if you are buying a 4 ohm subwoofer 200 watt RMS subwoofer, try to match it with an amp that puts out 200 watts RMS at 4 ohms. you can get into dual voice coil subs but for now keep it simple.

also, ohms or impedance is the resistance of the subwoofer. the subwoofer has a voice coil which is wire wrapped around a former that moves inside of a gap inside of the subwoofer's magnet. so for example, a 4 ohm subwoofer is like a small pipe that only lets a little bit of water (or power) through. a 2 ohm subwoofer is like a larger pipe that lets a lot of water (power) through at once.

also, don't pay attention to the peak wattage on an amplifier/subwoofer. you want to look at the RMS power. RMS means continuous power. peak is power over a very short period of time

there is a lot to learn in the car audio world so take your time. nobody becomes an expert overnight.