Lookin for an efficient amp

 

Silver Member
Username: Wfbass

Stephenville, NL Canada

Post Number: 148
Registered: Sep-08
im lookin for an amp that is efficient, mainly at 4 ohms. lookin for about 1300-1800 rms at 4 ohms. plannin on runnin 2 of them, any suggestions?

thanks in advance
 

Silver Member
Username: Joe1234

Post Number: 682
Registered: May-09
Wayne amplifiers are efficient according to their class:
Linear amps class A/B are 65-75% efficient.
PWM amps class D, are around 80-86% efficient.
There are PWM class BD amps from Rockford that should be a little more efficient.

But more of the efficiency you can get from a system is from the subs themselves, look at the sensitivity figure to hint you, also a single big sub is the most efficient configuration of all.

Now to the problem, why you need 4 ohm impedance??
 

Silver Member
Username: Wfbass

Stephenville, NL Canada

Post Number: 149
Registered: Sep-08
well if i can find an amp that is around 80-86% efficient at 1 ohm that would be great. but from the few ive been lookin at there mostly 69% or less at 1 ohm. i have a rockford amp now, its the older line,Tbd-2000 i think. the reason i wanna run at 4 ohms is that it seems most amps are the most efficient at 4 ohms. and i wanna run maybe 2 fi qs or fi bls. but id rather use 2 amps that are in the range of like i said 1300-1800rms at 4 ohms and are efficient.
 

Silver Member
Username: Joe1234

Post Number: 690
Registered: May-09
Ok Wayne let me try to explain efficiency to you with a plot from another thread I am doing in the subwoofers forum:

Upload

The plot is frequency vs. dB SPL

All subs 6.5 cuft@28Hz

3 TC Sounds Epic 10" (white) Each sub on 500W RMS (1500W)
2 Fi Q 12" (green) Each sub on 1500W RMS (3000W)
1 SSA XCON 18" (yellow) Each sub on 1750W RMS (1750W)
2 IDMax 12D4 V3 (orange) Each sub on 1000W RMS (2000W)

To be brief you can see that a pair of Fi Q 12" on 3000W RMS just can't keep up with a single SSA XCON 18" on 1750W RMS so as you can see amplifier efficiency has little to do with system efficiency.

For example the Fi BL is 89.1 dB SPL efficient while the Fi Q is 86.3 dB SPL efficient which means that if you put a BL into 750W you would need to put the Q in 1500W to get as loud.

Amplifier efficiency can improve at 4 ohms over 1 ohm say 6-7% while in the example above the BL is using 50% of the power the Q uses to get as loud.
 

Silver Member
Username: Joe1234

Post Number: 693
Registered: May-09
To answer the question from a different perspective, these class D amps will not overheat:

http://www.audioque.com/
 

Gold Member
Username: Sinful_systems70

15 INCH WANG...

Post Number: 1318
Registered: Nov-06
^^^^^^^^ "these class D amps will not overheat:" ^^^^^^^^

First things first:
I am not trying to prove anyone wrong but I don't want someone to come to this forum and read this and buy one and use it improperly and get overheating problems and come back complaining or blaming someone on here.

With that being said:
That is absolutely correct IF AQ amps are supplied sufficient power. If they are NOT supplied sufficient power they WILL get hot. If voltage drops enough the power supply portion of the amp will have to work its butt off and this will create heat. However, If you install system correctly then yes the Audioque amps will NOT get hot just as Joe stated above. As voltage drops, so does wattage output and if voltage supplied to amp drops far enough, then clipping could result and this will damage both amp and subs. A clipped signal will make the amplifier portion of the amp get warm. If you combine both horrible voltage drops with a clipped signal, heat is inevitable. If this is the case then the amp and subs will not be the only thing getting hot, The alternator will get hot trying to keep amperage output high while voltage is low. With alt getting warm, its power output is decreased which will only compound the problems.

Don't get me wrong, AQ amps are great and probably some of the best out there but if you don't run them correctly they can still get hot. It is important to do things right if you want your equipment to last. Also, Just like with engines, "Heat Robs Power".
 

Silver Member
Username: Joe1234

Post Number: 770
Registered: May-09
Correct, I would just add that not all amplifiers including those class D are equally efficient even propery operated.
 

Gold Member
Username: Sinful_systems70

15 INCH WANG...

Post Number: 1319
Registered: Nov-06
Correct, There are many other amps that are less efficient than an AQ but I can't neglect to mention that there are a few out there that are more efficient. JMO
 

New member
Username: Integra9023

Post Number: 1
Registered: Nov-11
Check out the Mmats amplifiers! They have a 1000.2 and a 1400.2 that are super efficient and waaaay underrated! These things are also pretty much bullet proof!

Robert, GP Customs
facebook.com/gpcustoms
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