I just got 2 x 10" subs (http://www.pioneer.com.au/au/products/25/131/201/IBF2501S2/index.html) for my AUII XR6 ute, but am wondering about what amp i will need...

Is it ok to get 1 x 1200W mono amp (http://www.pioneer.com.au/au/products/25/29/182/GM-D8500M/index.html) and some how split it to the subs? or is this not right... i dont have much knowledge of wiring speakers or anything of the like...

i dont want to spend a mint of amps, but i want to make sure i wire it all up well... aiming to spend alot of wiring and protection accessories to make sure i dont lose any of my new gear...

your suggestion/knowledge will be greatly appreciated...

jut put your amp in then bridge your subs

sweet thanks... just checking that it could be done...

also, do you know much about accessories that can be baught to minimise the potential of damaging the subs/amp?

I see a potential problem there, depending on how you wire the subs to the amp..

This might be a bit technical but it's stuff you need to consider when choosing sub/amp combo's

You mentioned you already have 2x sub's. According to Pioneer's spec's on those subs you have linked, they have an voice coil impedance of 2 ohm. Depending on how you wire both of those sub's to the amp, you can either present a 4 ohm (subs wired in series) OR 1 ohm (sub's wired in parallel) load to the amp. Wiring the 2 sub's in series will double the overall impedance, being wired in parallel will halve it. The lower the impedance/load put on the amp, the more power it will output.

Looking at that specific amp's spec's, it doesn't say if that particular amp is stable at 1 ohm (it only gives RMS spec's based on 4ohm and 2ohm loads) so my guess is it probably isn't. So if that's the case and you do choose that amp, you'll be limited to wiring the sub's in series which will present a 4 ohm load to the amp.



There's no problem with this and the sub's will get ~150wrms a piece off that amp at 4 ohm. It's unfortunate that you have got those sub's in the 2 ohm version and not the 4 ohm version, as with the 4 ohm version you could just wire the sub's in parallel down to a 2 ohm load at the amp and get ~300wrms a piece.

As far as wiring goes, a basic 4ga wiring kit would be plenty for that setup. Kits include basically everything you need (power cable fuse holder and fuse, earth cable, remote wire, various connectors etc) to wire up a single amp setup.

Hope that helps

cheers, yeah it did help a fair bit...

well i am buying them off a mate cause him and his partner need the cash, so im getting both of them for $600... so can always sell them on to someone else (they dont have the time to wait for a better offer sorta thing). But i see your point about the total impedance, running 2x4ohm subs would be better...

i know this question will be answered with some simple looking around, but i guess a different amp could also help? im guessing there is most likely an amp out there that will handle a 1ohm setup well?

could i run one sub off something like this?
http://www.pioneer.com.au/au/products/25/29/182/GM-D7500M/specs.html

then just get a second one when i can afford it (if i want a second sub), and run a 2xamp/2xsub setup? would that be better quality than running both subs off a higher power amp?

(ps i am thinking of running a dual battery setup from the tray of the ute - just need to figure out how i can house them... some sort of custom water tight 'toolbox' plastic welded into the from of the tub)

Yep, the other option would definitely be a different choice of amp. There sure is heaps of 1 ohm stable amp's out there, all you really need to do is find a good quality one that will be a close match with the RMS ratings of your sub's to be safe. I'd say an amp rated at 600-800wrms @ 1 ohm, would be ideal to drive those 2 subs. Trouble is there doesn't seem to be many of the more 'mainstream' brands producing them nowadays..

I'm not sure how good these MB Quart amps are (I know some of their older speakers were pretty good) but something like this would work well with the subs you are looking at.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MB-QUART-REF ... 454wt_1084


You could run one of those subs off that amp if you wanted to, would have more than enough power on tap to drive the single sub. I have no idea on how well those slimline sub's perform, but I guess with a ute, you are very limited space-wise, so it'll be a case of trying them out yourself.

IMO, if you were planning to buy 2 sub's, stick with a single amp to drive them. There would be absolutely no benefit in running 2 separate amps to run 2 sub's when you consider the extra costs involved (another amp, more wiring etc).

you could allways save your cash and get another amp the same and i believe you get better that way well i do in my car and i now have 2x rockford fosgate p3 / 2x 1000 watt kenwood D class
and a rockford 8 p2 in the a*** shelf sounds great

ok im confused you two guys are saying opposite things (from my understanding)...

hmmm... so am i right to say that delivering say 400rms to a sub, whether it be '1amp to 2subs' or '1amp to 1 sub' is the same in regards to quality of sound?

o another question, the subs are 300rms from memory... so does using a 800W amp make it any better than using a 300W amp? does providing 'extra' power help, cause my mate says otherwise...

sorry if i am asking too many questions, but i have NO IDEA about this sorta stuff...

Lol, I guess that's what you get with opinions, everyone will say different..

I only disagree with 2 separate mono's to power 2 different sub's because you could easily power both sub's with a single decent amp in this case.

I'm only speaking from experience, having done quite a few installs in the past etc, my recommendations are based on what I would do personally.

Providing more power than needed to your sub's is just so you have some 'headroom' but you want to keep things within reason. Obviously you don't want push 1000wrms into a 200wrms rated subwoofer as it's just stupid. You also don't want to underpower sub's/speakers too much either.

A guy on a car audio forum I'm on summed this whole thing up pretty well..


I typically like to choose an amp that is capable of putting out a few hundred more RMS than what the sub's RMS ratings are, e.g. right now I have 2x 350wrms sub's getting 1000wrms @ 1ohm so there's 300wrms extra headroom. They are used in a sound quality focused setup and I didn't notice much of a difference sound-quality wise between running them at 4ohm (pair getting 450wrms) or 1 ohm (pair getting 1000wrms). The main thing I noticed was the huge difference in sound output and movement/excursion of the cones, but that's all a given.


IMO as long as the sub's are being powered within reason and the amp(s) are tuned properly, the difference in sound quality between both types of setup would be inaudible to the naked ear. The main difference you'll notice is overall output.

If you are new to car audio or audio in general, first thing you need to do is forget max/peak figures completely. Take into consideration the RMS and impedance values as they are the important figures to know when matching sub/amp combo. Thing to remember is RMS values are sort of like a safe guideline to how much continuous power they can handle based on what the manufacturer has tested.