so I'm in the process of a little aftermarket hu project going into the secret compartment.

this will allow me to have direct ipod input w/ control through the deck, usb, line in, etc etc, more power distribution to speakers, and sub inputs.

My system I had before in my audi a6 was with the same pioneer deck, and such/amp config as follows:

2x Alpine 12" Type R SWR-1242D
500 watts rms, 1500 watt max
and a

Kenwood KAC9103D 1800W Amp
its a mono channel amp..
500 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (900 watts x 1 at 2 ohms)

now this combo has served me very well with a VERY loud system in the audi. However, I'm not looking to fit both 12" subs into the MINI, probably just one 12, if that, then if not then i'll get a new 8". But since these are pretty nice subs and I already have them I'd like to reuse one if possible.

Now running both subs I believe the amp was putting out 500 watts RMS to each sub, which matches very nicely. And when matching amps to subs, you want to make sure the sub has a higher RMS than the amp afaik, as I've learned from burning out my coil in my old rockford P2 punch sub.

So, can I use this same mono amp to power just ONE of these subwoofers?
It had 2 pairs of +/- for sub hookups on the amp, but if i just use one, will it still be putting 500 watts rms to the sub from the amp? Or will it jump up since its only powering one sub and not two?

Thanks!

 

i dont know much about this audio equiptment aside from using it but i dont think it would do any damage as long as you have the amps power isnt all the way up.

i have a 10inch 1000 watt competition sub and a 1000 watt monoblock amp - i believe the amp is running at just under 30% power and the sub is wired to 2ohm instead of 1ohm. - i guess what im getting at is see how the subs can get wired. i believe those Type-Rs you have (btw that was my first choice for sub they sound amazing) are the 4ohm subs? make sure theyre wired for 2ohm so they can *hypathetically* handle more power from the amp...

but again this could be TOTALLY wrong so get a second opinion.

GL and cant wait to hear/see what you end up doing.

 

That Alpine sub has two 4Ω voice coils. So if you're using a single sub, you can wire the two coils in parallel for an overall 2Ω load, meaning your amp will be capable of its maximum 900W rating.

I don't think you were getting 500W per speaker when you were running both of the subs. First, that's more than the amp can put out. Also, there's no way to wire two of those particular Alpine subs together to get an overall 2Ω load, which is what's required to get the full 900W out of the amp.