Planning for the future

[white4d96]

Right now I am running about 740 watts in my car: 70x2 off of a Sony '800w' amp to my 4 cabin speakers and 600x1 off a Power Acoustik '2000w' amp to my two Alpine S-10's. By the end of the summer I would like to upgrade to two Alpine R-10's off the same amp, running at 1 ohm to get '1200w RMS.' Whether or not this is an accurate figure I do not know; what I do know is that as long as it puts out at least 1000w I will be happy. I have not had a chance to check my voltage but I do get headlight dimming from time to time. I am running stock alt and stock replacement batt in a 1996 Grand Prix 4-door, no wiring upgrades, and the amps are wired with a run of Streetwires 4gauge for the sub amp and Fosgate 8 gauge for the speaker amp (it was what I had at the time and it works well.) I also may or may not upgrade to a 50x4 4-channel amp for my speakers.

Here is my question.

Assuming that the PA amp can put out 1200 watts (which I doubt) and I get the 50x4 amp, and I do the big three and still get a voltage drop, would it be better to get a stronger front battery or to run a better/more alts?

I have a spare stock alt from the original engine in the car, which still works. I could have a friend make a dual bracket and run two stock alts for not that much. Or I could suck it up and get a decent battery.

Right now I am running a real turd of a battery, one of those Wal-Mart ones, but it is sorta nice that I have 2-year free replacement that resets every six months when the damn thing dies. I could, however, save for a better batt, or a neighbor of a friend is looking to get rid of a marine battery. Perhaps I could find a way to squeeze that into my car, but it would definitely require some modifications (most likely to the batt tray and definitely changing to top-post terminals on the wiring) and I do not know how strong the battery is (they used it as a battery backup for a sump pump, but recently purchased a generator so they do not need the backup system anymore). I do know it is a few years old.

I guess I could put the marine battery in the back, but I do not have a couple hundred bucks to blow on 50ft of 1/0 and my back suspension is hating me as it is for the subs and amps alone (seriously, monoleaf suspension sucks arse, I probably have a wheel rate of 10lb/in!) and I do not know if the stock alt would be able to handle it, or even both alts.

If you guys think I will be fine with just the big three, or if i should do any or all of the upgrades listed above, just let me know. I am very very new to the idea of electrical upgrades, so if this is a 'varies by case' scenario, forgive me for being a newb lol. I am open to any suggestions/questions/comments/hate.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Equipment has all been put into sig with all model numbers I could recall.

[LordArcane]

you shouldn't have a problem with it, i run pa amp 2000.1 on 2 type r 10s and all i got is stock battery up front stock battery in back big 3 all in 2 gauge, stock alt and i can run all day, IMO tho run 2 pa 2000.1 or 1 pa 4000.1 with the type r's, i heard of many that run the 4000.1 pa to some type r's and it hits really well. but as for voltage i don't see you having a big issuse yet till you go bigger

[white4d96]

I was worried because the tens are rated at 500w each and at 1 ohm the 2000d is rated at 1200w.

Also right now I have my gain on the 2000d all the way down and I get 'clatter' that I have identified as clipping at my peak HU volume (26/34) with 'sub' on the HU at +10dB and the knob all the way open. I figured it was due to voltage drop with the 2-channel on, because before I had the gain up about 1/4 and did not notice this noise. haven't smelled any woofer stink but I don't want to chance killing my woofers.

...Or maybe I'm just confusing shake for clipping. I know that when I had the Sony amp pushing my subs I got the same sound, the amp got hot, and the bass was drowned out by the sound. When I was just running the 2000d I did not get this noise.

[LordArcane]

i'm not sure if thats clipping or not someone else will have to figure that one out, as i don't have another amp running at this time, but my type r's handle the 2000.1 easy i've even hooked 1 up to the amp at 2 ohms and they still handled it, pa at good amp for the price but they don't do what they are rated at, in time i would like to clamp and dmm mine and see what its really doing but still then i just say its atleast doing 70% of its rated power, or you can try and setting the gain using the gain chart is the amp section, i just have my gain at half till i can get o scope to really tune it in. with both them amp too you might need bigger wire if your running them both off one main power and gound and just have them blocked, mines all 2 gauge power and ground all the way thru so that could be your problem? also look around and see how many amps your alt is, just saying stock doesn't help cuz mines stock but its 136amp alt i beleave can't remember right now but ya just go over everything if you have a dmm check your voltage at each amp with car running and see if your getting voltage drop, i'm sure someone else can help alot more then i can just going off what i know from first hand with my system

[white4d96]

I just figured it was clipping because everything moves when the volume is below that (like trunk lid, rear bumper [its really badly mounted, damn GM] and such) but when you get to a certain point it sounds like everything is rattling from in the car, and the old amp heated up like heck at that point. Unfortunately I don't think any local shops have o-scopes, and I do not have the money to buy one myself, so that is why I have just slammed the gain to the bottom for now. I will dmm my batt and my amp wires tomorrow to see how bad my voltage is tanking. We will see what happens.