I bought the new Alpine Type R 2+2 ohm sub and will run it at 4ohms through the new Alpine MRD-M1005 sub, pushing about 500-700rms (depending on voltage). The sub is rated at 500rms and 1500w max. I just came back from a local car audio store, and one of the guys there has the exact same setup, but he is running the 4+4ohm subs at a 2ohm load through that amp. That means that he's running about 700w-1000RMS (depending on voltage) to one sub. I was told that it was bad to underpower subs (which I already knew), but with my setup, wouldn't 500-700rms be enough for that one Type R sub?? The kept saying that these subs will no blow and running 700-1000rms to them would be just fine. What do you guys think?
It's not bad to underpower subs, its just that you won't extract the full potential of the subs. Yes 500-700 watts is plenty enough. If the guy keeps pushing close to the max rating, the closer he is to damaging the sub.