Amplifiers for 2x SR124 SVC

JBHorne

Hello everyone,

I currently have 2x SR124 SVC's connected at 2ohms to a C500.1. I also have a C400.4 connected to 4x Polk MMC's. I have a 4ga wire from the battery to a 10farad cap, then into a dist. fuse box. From there, I ran 8ga wires to the two amps.

First off, the subs seem plenty powerful, even though they are only running off 500watts together. What will improve by adding a second C500.1? Sound quality, tightness, or just SPL? I really could care less at the SPL level, since they are already loud enough to cause ear damage!

Second, can you bridge two C500.1's so that the 4ohms subs still run down to 2 ohms parallel?

Third, is the 4ga wire enough to support a C400.4 and two C500.1's? I'm guessing not, in which case I would have to rerun 0ga wire.

Thank you very much!
Justin

audiobliss

Since I don't know enough to answer your question, I'll just pick at your typing!

It's a C400.4, not a C400.1.

Hope you get a solution!

JBHorne

audiobliss wrote: »

It's a C400.4, not a C400.1.

Thanks!

audiobliss

Wow, that's the first time I've gotten thanked for picking on someone.

I think I like you!

MacLeod

JBHorne wrote: »

First off, the subs seem plenty powerful, even though they are only running off 500watts together. What will improve by adding a second C500.1? Sound quality, tightness, or just SPL? I really could care less at the SPL level, since they are already loud enough to cause ear damage!

Right now youre running your subs at 250 watts each. If you buy a 2nd 500.1 youll be running a 4 ohm load to each so youll only be bumping up to 350 to each sub. It would add about 3 db more volume and it would sound better but honestly youd be better off if you could manage to get a single amp that makes at least 1000 watts RMS at 2 ohms mono.

Second, can you bridge two C500.1's so that the 4ohms subs still run down to 2 ohms parallel?

No

Third, is the 4ga wire enough to support a C400.4 and two C500.1's? I'm guessing not, in which case I would have to rerun 0ga wire.

Thank you very much!
Justin

It would be enough but you cant have too big a power wire. The 4 gauge would handle the load but youd likely loose 2 volts from the battery to the amps due to the resistance that would be present in a 20' run. 1/0 gauge would offer much less resistance and so youd have less voltage loss which means more power.

JBHorne

Well that sucks because I want to keep with Polk for the amps. I was previously running a single SR124DVC on the C500.1. Long explanation, but I replaced that single SR124DVC with 2 SR124SVC's. So if I had 2 SR124DVC's, I could still run 2 C500.1's at 2ohms.

Darn...

Will I get any improvement in sound QUALITY from running more power? Or only SPL?

EDIT: Oh, and is it bad to run the SR's at only 250 each when they can handle 700 RMS each? What should I be careful of? How can I detect clipping?

audiobliss

You will get more sound quality because there will be more power to 'inflict' its control over the woofers.

How much better is the question.

JBHorne

I guess my question is: does a subwoofer use "all" of the power provided to it all the time, or does it just use what it needs and therefore power is directly proportional to volume.

For example, 500W/12volts is approx. 42 amps. Can I measure to see if, at the highest volume I listen to, my amplifier is ever peeking 42 amps? If not, then will adding more power really increase sound quality?

I really don't know if that made any sense...

MacLeod

You will always get an improvement in SQ by adding more power.

The sub uses all the power its sent. The amp however doesnt always make all its power all the time. A 500 watt amp isnt making 500 watts on a quiet part of a song at low volume.