Hi guys I have 2 rockford fosgate subs P3D210 (dual 2 ohms) power handling 400 w rms in a ported box, I want to stay with the rockford brand and was looking at this amp, the P 300 -1 mono 1 ch amp. Would this be a good choice?
Can this amp run a decent front stage if I were to upgrade my subs and sub amp later? If not which rockford amp would you suggest, that can run my subs now and later run my front stage? I am not sure if the mono amp can do that?
Amp specs below
Number of Channels 1 Rated Power continuous power 150W x 1 @ 4-Ohms RMS 300W x 1 @ 2-Ohms RMS Total Power total sum of 'rated power' 300 Watts Dynamic Power powercube measurement (info) 240 Watts x 1 @ 4-Ohms 0° Res 404 Watts x 1 @ 2-Ohms 0° Res Bridgeable No Efficiency (average) 69% @ 4-Ohm 65% @ 2-Ohm Crossover Controls High-Pass (HP): 50Hz-500Hz 12dB/octave Butterworth Low-Pass (LP): 50-500Hz 12dB/octave Butterworth Tone Controls Punch EQ2 Bass: 0dB to +18dB @ 45Hz and/or Punch EQ2 Treble: 0dB to +12dB @ 12kHz Function depends upon LP/AP/HP switch position Signal Input Low level: 1 RCA pair Signal Output n/a Power Input Connector Block Power Wire Gauge 4 AWG Speaker Output Connector Screw terminal barrier strip Speaker Wire Gauge 8 AWG to 18 AWG Heat Sink Type Cast aluminum Cooling Convection Remote Controls Optional PEQ Remote Punch EQ (overrides built-in Punch EQ2) Visual Indicators Power Thermal Protect Circuit Topology Class Class A/B Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz +/- 1.0dB
That amp will work but you'll only be sending ~150 rms to each woofer. In all reality it will actually be less than 150 since that is rated at a constant 14.4 volts and you'll probably be seeing more of the mid to upper 13 volts area. I'd recommend a larger amp.
If you want the amp to later be used for your front stage, you cant go monoblock. Monoblocks are normally made specifically for the sub-stage, and being that they are single channel, hooking up a front stage to it wouldnt make much sense.
You would need to get a 2-channel amp. With 2 dual2ohm subs you cud get either a final ohm load of 2ohms or 8 ohms. So you would either need a decently powerful 2 channel amp that is stable to 2ohms bridged (1 ohm per channel) OR get a much more powerful amp and bridge your subs @ 8 ohms.
If you can find a 2ohm bridged stable amp I would find somthing along the lines of 600-800 watts @ 2ohms bridged (1 ohm stable per channel), which would be 150-200 watts @ 4ohms per channel. This kind of amp is going to be expensive. As far as Rockford Fosgate amps go, id look at the POWER series 2-channel amps. Either the T400-2 or the T600-2 should do the trick. EDIT: im not sure why these amps have the description "one 2-Ohm DVC or two 4-Ohm DVC subwoofers" on rockfords website. Under specifications they both say "2-Ohm x 1 bridged Stable" which means they should be able to handle Two 2-Ohm DVC subs. Id call them before buying anything.
If you cant find an amp thats 1ohm stable per channel then you need somthing that is 300-400 watts @ 4 ohms per channel which is probably, in my opinion, going to be way too much power for a fronstage in the future. Rockford doesnt make a 2 channel amp this powerful anyway.
I had those exact woofers in my car & I can tell you that I put 600w RMS into them with no probs at all. They are underrated in terms of power handling & are quite power hungry. Now I would definitely be looking at class D Mono amps. One that will do about 1000RMS Gain it down a little & you will get maximum un-clipped power to them = good spl & sq. A class A/B amp cant power those subs at lower frequencies, they just don't cut it. You need a class D mono for sub duties. All R/F Mono class D power series amps can handle a 1 ohm load & punch series only 2 ohm loads. All R/F multi channel amps can handle 1 ohm loads in stereo & 2 ohm in bridge mono. Punch series can handle 2 ohm in stereo & only 4 ohm in bridge mono. Two duel 2 ohm subs would have to be wired in a series parallel config to give you a final impedance load of 2 ohms: Sub's coils in series = 1 ohm + in series to each other = 2 ohm load. You are then gonna need an amp that can do at least 800 RMS @ 2 ohms. You prob should have got the duel 4 ohm subs & wired coils & subs all in parallel.That would have given you a final impedance of 1 ohm as there are more amps that can do 800 - 1000 RMS @ 1 ohm than amps that do it at 2 ohms, not to mention price. Don't limit yourself to one brand. A Rockford amp that will do 800 - 1000 RMS @ 2 ohms will cost you a lot of $. A Hifonics HFi1500D or Brutus BRZ1700.1D for under $300 will do the job for you IMHO of 15 years car audio experience.
Yep, You're looking at 1 cube sealed each or 1.5 - 1.8 cubes ported @ 37Hz works well. If you like your subs a bit peaky, go for sealed & if you like lower bass, go for the ported as I just suggested. I found that they sound best in ported enclosures & go much louder. Remember, enclosure software should only be used as a guide. I have played with them a fair bit. Real world testing for best results. I have 2 x P3s 10" 1200 RMS of DD power in a single slot port in a large car with a propane bottle in the trunk & there is plenty of bass in the front. Anyone who gets in is quite impressed. Use an online enclosure port calculator for port volume length Ratios. Pay attention to port volume. It's important or you will get port noise. This site is not too hard to use.
http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm?id=31
Then use the Rockford box wizard for box dimensions. Make sure you take into account the volume of the port / s. So your box volume should be 1.5 - 1.8 not including the port volume.
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/box_wizard.asp Good luck!