What's more important, good amp, or good subs?

[Carbon]

I invested a few thousand in good electrical before I even thought about amps and subs.

Mechman 325a alt

4 spools of Sky High 1/0

6 Group 31 Deka Intimidators

1 XS D3400

Lots of aluminum bars.

around 30 fuses with holders

Im missing more. Know it.

[Rockford96]

I invested a few thousand in good electrical before I even thought about amps and subs.

i bet you have a few hundred in heat shrink too man lol

[Joe X]

Get good deals rather than bad equipment.

[Omega5002]

Shit subs and good amp, I can make the shitty sub sound good in a proper box, and have the gain low if the amp is too powerful for the sub, which also gives more headroom, and makes the amp run cooler. Then while I run the shit subs, I can save up for good subs.

[Dwn4BassAlan]

the key to the answer has to do with heat. Heat is the enemy of acoustical reproduction. As sound waves pass through air with different density it will bend because of refraction.

Obviously there's a lot to consider when looking at heat control as basically every step of an audio process can affect it; from the cars electrical capability, the wiring, the materials, the amps, the connections, the speakers, the enclosure, and the sound signals from the amps. If I had to directly answer sub vs amp, I would also say amp in this instance because of the fact that "dirty" power will force a sub to create more heat than it would with "clean" power. As you probably know, distortion is the killer for subs, which is caused by heat, improper powering, or an unclean audio signal. Heat will also kill your amps too, which is put on the express track if you don't give it enough power.

But a more realistic answer would be electrical like someone said earlier. You might have a 5000W RMS amp, but if your alternator is pushing 120amps max, you have an amp capable of producing 5000W RMS, but it is more realistically producing (120a x 13.4v=)1,608W and less because you don't have enough amperage from your single alternator. In order to get your 5000W you would need (at the least) 373 amps (5000W / 13.4v=373a) and more because your car has other electrical needs. You would also need batteries to be able to store and supply enough power quickly enough. This is also assuming your wiring and connections are very efficient.

If I do buss bars I plan on using copper since it's more conductive than aluminum and I'm trying to get the maximum amount of power from my alt and battery.

There's quite a few things you can do to improve your electrical system greatly.

[Nathan Daniel Galen]

I would say a high end amp then follow with high end subs because usually the better subs will be able to handle more power and if you get a better sub first you won't be driving as hard as it will take to truly enjoy and it could be working the cheaper amp harder, where as a cheap sub driven by a good amp won't work the amp as hard

personally I wait for sales /buy an amp used / manufacturer refurbished, much cheaper, it's the only reason I was able to afford my stuff, I paid half of true retail for everything I have in my car

[pioneerforlife]

I would have to say amp because like said before a crap sub can sound good in the right box. I have had crap amps before just to mess around with and some have an odd sound to them. so I have to say amp.

[Brandonbkd]

Clean power through a nice amp first

[SnowDrifter]

A member on here, Fecupe2001 did a 150 with sony xplods and a DD m3a.

You can usually feed a quality(cheap, but still quality) sub a bit more power than it's rated for, provided it's clean. But you can't quite do the same with an amp. When it clips it clips lol

[john253a]

You can't turn shit into jam

you can put jam on shit to dress it up, but in the end its still shit

Quality starts a power or you have nothing

Then signal

What ever you put in after that will never enhance the quality, it will alway go down

As each item changes it