Hey all at Aussie Magna.

First off i've done a bit of research to start me on my way. But even after reading through guides several times, im still confused.
I currently have 2 sub's installed in the boot of my Solara.
From memory the subwoofers are:
12" - Single Coil - 1400W - 700W RMS. (Please correct me if this doesnt appear to be accurate or logical. I dont have the box they came in anymore and cant seem to find them on Google anywhere. Although i have an image of one saved to my pc - which i will upload further down this post)
the amp i was previously running, i gave to a friend to start his system.
Now - what i require is a new amp that will power these 2 subs (stated above) to their full potential.

So here is where i am confused:
Should i be looking for an amp that is:

2-Channel
1400W
700W RMS

Or something completely different?


I am utterly confused as to what amp i should be looking for.
Here is an image of my the Sub that i have (times 2):
http://i.imgur.com/o7aBf.png

Cheers,
James

Running those (2) subs will take a fairly serious mono ( single channel ) amp, wired in series, or in parallel, this can only be determined once you find the ohm rating of the pair of subs you have...

Or 1 Ohm stable1500 watt rms mono if your subs are 2 Ohms..
2 Ohm 1500 watt rms if your subs are 4 ohms...

But 1000 Watts should be enough, check my post in the diy audio thread on how to wire them up

I wouldn't be using a 2 channel as they are not designed to run subs, mono blocks however are with a subsonic filter and more advanced Low Pass Filter options its the logical choice.

My assumption will be that those subs are Single 4Ohm subs, so Option Audio make a new model of the OAX1502 which produces 950wrms @ 2ohm which would be perfect, or Jaycar make a mono block that will do the job but may fall short.

When looking for amp just forget the Max rating, some companies "Boss Audio" being one of those really like to overrate their products to get them to sell when in reality they don't even come close to what they say. With the subs this is not too much of an issue where as with their amps it is, but warnings aside you will get a much better indication of what amp you need when you look at RMS figures, I myself always try to at least match the power levels of my subs and amps but if I can afford it I normally try to provide at least 50% more power, if not double. In this instance though you don't need to worry about that, if you can match it then thats just lovely.

Below is a diagram of the choices you have to wire them up if they are infact Single 4Ohm woofers.
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/images/woofer_wizard/2_4ohmSVC_2ohm.png
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/images/woofer_wizard/2_4ohmSVC_8ohm.png

Okay, just to clarify what has been said.
Assuming they are Single 4Ohm subs, I should be looking for a Mono Block amplifier, with about 1400W RMS?

Well ideally you should always have an amp that has a higher continus power than what your sub can take, but in reality a 700w rms monoblock would be fine.

Getting a decent 1400wrms amp would be hideosly expensive. There's probably plenty of cheap ebay crap that claim to go near there, but any decent branded amp that uses quality parts, is efficient and actually gets close to 1400rms output would be near the 1k mark or higher.

You don't have to feed even 700wrms of power, unless you're actually going to pushing the sub to its full capacity. I'm not sure what plans you have and how loud you go, but I doubt you'll really ever hit near the full power usage of the sub anyway. Especially considering the sub you pictured which appears to be a very low end cheapie so I figure you must be on a budget.

Anything around the 500wrms mark should be more than enough though. I run a sub at 400rms (amp can do max 420rms) and it performs great. Good hard punchy bass, that doesn't 'shimmer' much and hits hard. Be sure to tune the low pass filter well. I have it at 50hz at 12db and I'm quite happy with how it sounds.

Just look at something from a decent brand. You really don't want an amp frying and killing your electrical system or worse - causing a fire.

Hi James!
I'm going to be a spoil sport here, so apologies for being critical, but I think it might need saying.

1) If your subs are "BOSS" branded and you can't find details on line, then I doubt they are capable of handling 700W RMS.
2) Mono or stereo amps don't really matter on their own - the important thing is how much load the speakers are putting on the amp to determine if you bridge two channels or go mono.

I used to run 2 Earthquake 12" subs from 2 channels of a 4x40W RMS Alpine amp - it was good for 134.1 dB and I still have hearing loss 15 years later. :) So power isn't always everything.
(The birthsheet did say 2x46W @ 12V, so with alternator bumping V to 13.x it might be good for 2x60W RMS)
Right now I'm running a single Rockford Fosgate 12" Sub in a sealed wedge box similar to your photo and the amp is a Jaycar 2x250W - basically it's running a max of 500W in bridged mode, but I have the gains down a bit and the sub out set to -2 on the head unit so I'd be surprised if the sub has ever seen 350W of input power.

If your sub enclosures are ported, you don't need heaps of power. If they are sealed, more is better.
If they are indeed BOSS brand, then I wouldn't personally feed them any more than a true 200W RMS each with sealed enclosures.

If I had time, I'd be happy to let you test your subs with my amps - I've still got the original Alpine, an RF Punch 2.100 (an under rated 2x50 that probably produces 2x100W RMS) and the Jaycar, so a good range of amps with low to medium power.

I'm agreeing with what MagnaPI said.
And to recap - if your subs are 4 ohm SVC, wiring them in parallel will put a 2 ohm load on the amp, so you need either a 2 channel amp that is 1 ohm stable (expensive) or a mono block that is 2 ohm stable (more common) with a power rating that will make you happy.
If they are 2 Ohm SVC (single voice coil) they will present a 4 ohm load and this will work best on bridging a 2 channel amp, just ensure it's 2 ohm stable, I think most are.

Also, even if you do get a stupidly powerful amp, it will be less likely to kill your subs than getting a weak amp and trying to push the amp to go harder than it can. Pushing an amp causes clipping and a clipped signal causes the speaker's voice coils to be damaged (melting and I believe even catching fire is possible).

Okay.
I think i have made up my mind.

Taking the advice from everybody here, i will be looking at a complete makeover to my Solara's sound system.
Most likely a set consisting of:
2 x 6inch Front speakers
2 x 6x9 Rear speakers
1 x amplifier that can power a decent sub or two.
1 or 2 x subwoofers giving me the bass i need.

I thank everyone here for their help.
I will post here again with other questions or with pictures of the project once complete.

Thanks,
James