Yes I did have 0 gauge wire. You can't ask for better information than two people here trying to wire up the same speakers you have with the same amp you want to use. I would think about returning it if it's still new in box.

I'll cut you a screaming deal on mine (a month old) if you REALLY want an an MB Quart Onyx and you are confident your luck is different than ours. :)

The scary thing is dirty power kills speakers.


1000 clean watts into a 500 watt speaker will play all day

250 dirty watts into that same 500 watt speaker will not last long

My first comment was spend the money on the wiring and amps if your budget is limited. A system with good power will make mid line speakers sound amazing, and speakers are easy to upgrade later.

I have been reading this post and am looking to upgrade over the winter also. So if you go with say the 2 - 12 Kicker comps, and they are only rated at 150W rms, it would still be ok to pump 1000 - 1500 watts to them. What would be the best configuration, 2 ohm and parallel them, or dual 4 ohm and parallel the duals and 2 speakers to make 1 ohm?

4 ohm DVC parallel is the hot set up with subs, assuming you have a 1 ohm stable amp.

The kickers will take more wattage than they are rated for, as most speakers will, as long as it is clean. Application is key. If you are going to run free air or ported, too much wattage may cause an over excursion of the woofer. Sealed box let them eat. This is rare however...clean power is the main concern, not too much.

I ran a pair of them freeair off the 5 channel of a soundstream amp that was rated for 500 watts rms at 1 ohm with a THD >.02 %, they sounded great and are still going 3 seasons later in the sides of my old cruiser with no grills! They have seen rain and sun, no issues. I would guess they can take even more power, but sound great as is.

I would rather back off an amp that run it to the threshhold of distortion. A larger amp only running to 50 percent capacity will also stay cooler. Keep in mind the initial distortion levels that harm a speaker are hard to hear, not as obvious as the high distortion that comes after.

Many amp ratings you see are max power, but the real number you are looking for is RMS. RMS is the clean consitant single you can expect from your amp every day.

So, for the kickers that are rated for 200 rms, 400 max EACH

you want at least an amp that is 400 rms with a low thd

Ideal would be an 800 watt rms amp with a thd of .05 % That same amp would prob be rated at 1600 watt MAX.

Great post 4bus. I totally agree.

Distortion is what kills a speaker. Take a 200w rms woofer, and hook it to a Jensen 75w rms amp with gain turned to the max. Crank it up and the distortion will eventually kill the speaker.

So many people think of watts like hp. As in say a bravo drive can take 450hp , so u don't want to put a 600hp in front of it. But that's not the case with amplifiers and speakers.

Also, not too many amps on the market today can put out a clean 1000watts continuous at 12.5v.

I just have a question. What size box would be needed to put 2 10" subs in(sealed box)?

Depends on the subs and what they ask for. Some subs can use as little as .50 cu ft, like the alpine type r. Other larger subs like the JLW7 and Orion HCCA will need upwards of 1.75 cu ft just for a 10.

The manual of a sub will have the sealed and ported recommended cu ft listed. Design the box from there. the box doesn't need to be square, however you want to leave a few inches behind the magnet for cooling and resonance reasons. I have also found that in extremely shallow applications such as a boat that the total cu ft must be increased slightly when the magnet is close to the back wall.

If you are close to the recommended min cu ft space poly fill can be added to esentially make the box "bigger" buy tricking the driver using surface area. I have had it help, but there is no replacement for displacement

Thanks for the info 4bus, that's the information I was looking for.

So what amp would you use to power 2 10" kickers in a sealed box?

My favorite amp for a simple system. Loud and clear, strong enough to run 8 mid speakers off 4 channels at 2 ohm and two DVc subs off the 5 channel at 1 ohm bridged

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00273...0497200&sr=8-1

Great amp, and a great buy at that price