I'm wondering something, about a future project that I have...


Currently, I have a Rockford-Fosgate P2 10" Sub driven by a 400w MTX amp.



In my closet I have another Rockford-Fosgate P2 10" Sub and a 400w Kicker amp.

Both amps are monoboards.


All I gotta do is buy another enclosure.

Ok here is my question. I'm wanting to hook up both amp's and both subs, and I wanna tune it so that each sub handles a different frequency instead of handling all the ranges, one does the low's and the other does the highs (both bass obviously).


Now someone was telling me, I'm not going to want to have two 10's for that kind of set up, that I'm going to want either a 12 or a 15 and a 10. The larger sub handling the lower freq's then the smaller one.


What are ya'll opinions on this? I feel it wouldn't matter cause I have currently a single 10 handling everything, if anything it would be better due to the fact that each sub now has less work to do??

 

I would avoid that setup. The reason to avoid this is that using one 10" driver for the lows and one 10" driver for the highs would equate to haveing one 10" driver operating at the full bass frequencys in your truck providing all of the crossovers were set correctly in how you say you want it setup. If you setup both 10" drivers to operate at the full bass frequency range you would have two 10" operating the low and higher bass frequencys. You would be doubling your effective cone area while still using the same space as far as box volume.

 

I'm not questioning you.

But I'm curious as to why you say one of the drivers will operate the entire bass frequency?


If i set driver 1, to do the low bass frequencies, and driver 2 to do the high bass frequencies.. that wouldn't be better then just having two drivers operate the entire thing?

Also, if I'm going to have both drivers operate the whole frequency...would there be a purpose of having two 400 watt amps involved? Or would I be better off wiring them both to one of the amps and sell the other.. or buy ONE larger amp..

 

whoops....i re-read my post and I must have been thinking faster than I was typing. I was talking about one driver operating lows and one operating higher bass frequencys.

The reason running two identical subwoofers at different frequency ranges isn't benificial is because of the use of the surfice area of the subwoofer operating at each frequency range. for example: hooking each subwoofer up using one to operate from say 20hz-50hz and one from say 51hz to 80hz. the frequencys each subwoofer would cover vs the db level they would produce would still be equal to the output of one 10" woofer. Only because each subwoofer is ONLY producing the frequencys you have them setup to produce. The box would take up the same amount as two 10s' but only have the output total of one 10". Also your crossover points would have to be spot on to eliminate possible peaks in your frequency response due to the frequency roll offs that crossovers naturally make.

Personally I would setup both 10" subs in their optimum box size and design and set both of them up to run off of one amp. The P2 10"s are rated at 250w which can easily be handled by one 400watt amp. You box would take up the same amount of space as the other setup but the difference would be in the ammount of surface area each frequency would get. ie: (2) 10's makeing the same freq instead of (1) 10.

As for the other 400watt amp that you have I would sell it and pick up either a headunit (if you don't already have one) or a set of mids and highs....maybe even some performance parts.

 

Ok got ya.... thanks.

I had a friend try and describe it to me. He said something about the bass would sound much more clear and distinct because each driver would have less responsibility or something like that. That when one sub is handling all the ranges it will be some what blurred while two subs doing different frequencies is the most optimal set up you can get.

I'm going to assume that having a 12" handle 20-50hz, and the 10" handling 51-80 is out of the question as well eh?




So with that said, I got my MTX 400w monoboard amp that is quite a few years old, but gets the job done, and my brand new Kicker 400w monoboard amp, one better then the other? I'm also going to assume that a monoboard amp can power two subs? and two, 250w drivers attached to a 400w amp wont "overload" the amp, but simply underpower the subs right?
I just want to be clear on everything..


Already got all new door speakers mids/highs, infinities in the doors, still got the stock paper highs up front in the doors, an extra set of speakers that I just didn't replace... not to bothered by it though.

ANd yes aftermarket head unit as well. Did the whole ghetto riggin of the sub/amp for years by tapping into the rear speaker wire.






Thanks for your help!

 

There is SOME truth to what your friend is saying but its not worth using 10" to do it with, also a good quality subwoofer can handle anything you throw at it. Most cars that compete in sound quality only use one or two subwoofers crossed over at the same point. IF they do split the frequencys up they would do it with 8" in the doors and a 12" or 15" for the low frequencys....but this is just an example. I would skip using two different size subwoofers.

As far as your amps go I would choose which ever one you like the best. One mono block amp can power multiple subs as long as they are hooked up correctly. Just refer to the owners manual to show how they should be hooked up. It should give all the power your 10's can take. Dont worry, your not going to under power them. They should pound pretty good.

 

Now that is what I am thinking...

I am NOT getting into making my truck a "show truck" where I wanna win an award for "best sound!"

There for I probably won't even notice it.. however, hooking up the subs to handle 20-80hz I'll notice alot more......BOOM =)


I might stick with the 400w Kicker Amp, since, well, its new and the MTX I've been using for years now. Or just simply sell the Kicker since its still sealed in box and make some money off of it. That 400w Kicker Amp should be plentiful for both 10" P2 Rockford Subs, which are high enough quality to handle anything, from what I'm told.

Also, take into account that I don't turn the music up to loud without hearing nothing but distortion and air anyway, makes my ears bleed.

 

Tuning is the most important thing of any system, You can make those 10's pound pretty good !!! This is how I start to tune all of my systems

1. Turn down all treble/bass/mid range on deck.

2. Find Operating Volume on deck - Turn the volume up as loud as you want to be able to listen to your music, no amp connected or turned on. You only want front stage speakers for this. Example - my deck I dont turn volume up past 40 . P.S. You will eventually get to a volume level on your deck where no matter how far you turn the **** or dial the music doesnt get any louder, you do not want to have your deck set at this volume becuase you will be almost maxing out your front stage speakers and will loose sound quality when you start adding in the mids and high's.

3. Once you have found operating volume on the deck start to add in your other frequencies such as treble/bass/mid's. If you start to hear any sort of distortion you will need to adjust that frequency you are adjusting and back it off. A hint - If you keep getting distortion from the speakers output but you want to have it just a little louder, then you can usually turn down the Bass on the deck and that will allow you a little more treble to flow through the speaker.


Once you have all of your frontstage speakers set (Cabin), Now you can start to go in and adjust your amp and subs to match the frontstage. Keep in mind that if your subs start to make any kind of popping cracking or just sound slow then back the gain down.I wouldnt go past half on the gain until its broke in and is used to the heat cycles, when you start tunring your amps up past 1/2 -3/4 of the way up then they start to run hot and unless you can keep them cool they will burn up, and shut off till they cool backdown.

 

The the system you have will be PERFECT! The 10"s will handle anything you throw at them.

 

Sounds good guys sounds good..

gonna probably get it hooked up this weekend.

Gonna wire up both subs to one of the amps.

Not sure which one I should wire up though, the MTX, or the Kicker.