Haha O well live and learn.....you gotta break a few things before you get it right

 

talked to the local audio shop. They do very high end work for douche bags with exotic cars. the two guys i talked to said i should definitely get it repaired and they agreed that the amp probably was not getting enough voltage due to starting at the jumper box isntead of the battery (jumper box is connected to battery with approx 1 foot of 4 gauge) and also possibly poor ground (two 4 ft 4 gauge wires to BODY, not frame. So it looks like ill be sending this bastard in for repairs, and ill fix anything that has to do with voltage drop: better ground, power straight from battery, upgrade terminals that connect to battery and fuses

they said my ebay 0 gauge wire should be ok

 

0 ga?!? how big was that amp again? i am running 0ga. to 3 amps....wouldnt think you would need that big of wire for that small of an amp.....

 

2500 w rms

 

i stand corrected, i did not realize the awesomeness of that amp.....for $300!! that is an awesome cost to power ratio. what subs are you going to run on it now?

 

no idea...ive been out of the car audio world for a while...recommendations?
im looking for two 10's. i built small (about .78ft^3 each) boxes (3/4" mdf) with about 5.5" of available mounting depth. I could of course cut the hole bigger and stuff 12's in there too if they meet my box specs. I have not yet decided how much i am willing to spend. I guess it really depends on what the best quality to money ratio is, but certainly no more than $350-$400 (maybe only even $200-$250) for the pair. i will likely buy used since you can get really good deals that way. one friend recommended Xtant's but not sure. what you all think? oh yea, i can sell my mtx 10" black golds for some extra cash, but i doubt i can get much for em since both of the rubber surrounds are punctured and sealed with silicone. open to all recommendations (i like SQ and i DO like loud as well)

im going to get polyfil as well so i guess that would 'make' my boxes about .9-1ft^3 each

oh yea, to get my amp's max potential, ill probably be loookin for two SVC 4 ohm subs (amp is 1500rms @ 4 ohm, 2500w @ 2ohm)

 

i do not believe you are gonna be able to find 10's that are only 5.5" deep and able to take 1250w rms, and if you do i dont think it will be that cheep....your best bet is to get dual 4ohm subs (dual voice coil subs can usually handle more power then single voice coil) and parallel each sub then series the subs together to get a 4 ohm load at the amp.....here are some 10" subs that will take the 1500w rms at a 4 ohm load.....

http://www.kicker.com/06/kicker_home.html

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

https://ssl.perfora.net/www.ficaraud...iew.shopscript

http://www.jbl.com/car/products/prod...at=SUB&ser=GTI

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?series_id=5

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products...hunder8500.cfm

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...tailsComponent

these are just a few that would work power wise, however; they are all a little out of the price range you stated and i think the closest depth wise will be the Fi but all others are too deep for your box so you might have to do some modification to make them fit ......if all else fails you could just remove your back seat and put one of these in.......

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products...jackHammer.cfm

 

those fi subs look interesting. my box is 7" tall. i used 3/4" mdf. i think this means i actually have 6.25" of mounting depth avail. i liked those Fi subs...ill see if i can find a deal on a used set. I like to be different so i would probably shy away from most the brands you named (although im sure they are good stuff) unless i saw a good deal on em.

Do you know much about the xtant subs? they seem to be priced well (used for a little under $100).

As far as wiring goes, i figure i might as well shoot for a 2ohm load so i get the extra 1000w on the amp so that would mean i should go for dual 2ohm subs then do parallel / series

lastly (on this post anyway), are my punctured mtx black golds worth anything? if not, i can send them back to mtx and they will discount me on a purchase of a new mtx sub. unfortunately, that mtx 8500 sub no where near meets my specs but if i got a good enough discount, i could buy one and then sell it to get some cash for those Fi's or Xtants (or whatever). This would only be worth the hassle if i couldnt get much for the punctured subs on say ebay or somethin so what you think? (they are sealed well with silicone but it just doesnt look good)

o i see you said i should go for a 4 ohm load. you think it would be wreckless to overpower the subs? the fi subs want 1600w, you think its better to give them 1500w rather than 2500w? id be very careful with the gain

 

dont know much about the Xtant subs as i have never had any, all the name brands i mentioned earlier i have had or installed with the exception of the Fi subs which i just became aware of. check www.onlinecarstereo.com for some good deals on brand new stuff (its really priced good for never being opened).

as for how much you can get out of the subs it just depends if there is someone out there that wants those exact subs or not. they are $140 brand new from what i have seen but you can get brand new subs off ebay for half off ($200 Alpine Type R for $90 brand new) so i wouldnt expect to get much out of them since they are punctured. if you dont find anyone that wants them or send them back to mtx then pm me and i might shoot you a price for them.

the reason i said go with a 4ohm load is bc you said in an earlier post that the reason your amp fried was because the subs were way over powered. that being said, and assuming you dont want to go down that road again, i say give em 1500w rms even though they need 1600w you can just make the box on the larger side of the recommended specs to make up for the extra 100w rather than giving them 1000w more than what they need and possibly risk blowing the subs or frying the amp again......IMHO of course

 

thanks for the help. as far as how i fried the amp: one person that seems to be knowlegeable thinks i fried it buy over powering the subs but everyone else seems to disagree. the generally accepted 'theory' which i am thinking is most likely is that the voltage dropped due to:
- getting power from the alternator jumper box instead of directly off battery. this is bad because the box is connected to the battery with a single 1-2 ft 4 ga wire.
- cheap wire terminals at fuses, jumper box, ground
- ground to the body and not the frame (even though i sanded body down, apparently it's still not as good)

I'm going to see if i can find some of those Fi subs. I'll give it like 2 weeks to find a deal and whichever i find (2ohm DVC / 4 ohm DVC) is what I'll get, so ill let fate decide that. And if i can't find those, i might be stuck buying/making a new box.

after shopping for a few months (i did not yet have my truck), i bought the black golds for $200 shipped. that seemed to be the best i could do but i dont know what the puncture will do to my selling price.