sub and amp rms rating and clipping

I have a 500W RMS rated amp and a 600W RMS rated sub (type r can handle more people say) so theoretically if I set my gains on the 500W amp incorrectly and it began to send clipped signals, is it less likely to harm the speaker due to the sub having a higher RMS input rating than the amp is capable of providing? Also I have a bose system with mid range drivers in the cabin. When I play the 50hzs test tone the inside of the car is reacting to the tone so I cannot even begin to set the gain settings for my sub correctly because the car is so loud. Any tips? I am connected to an LOC from the harness right before the bose stock sub that I disconnected. The bass knob in the stock headunit also controls the mids in the car as well as the signal the sub receives. I do not have access to an other testing equipment unfortunately. thanks for your time.

amp: alpine mrp m500 sub: alpine type r 12inch 4 gauge OFC wire all around

year make and model of the car please. just because the rms of the sub is slightly higher than what the amp is rated for it can still be damaged over time by a heavily clipped signal. a clipped signal exposes your speaker to longer bursts of straight dc current which will cause the voice coil to heat up faster than normal and your sub will only be able to take it for short periods of time. i will say this though, rated power handling is never an exact figure, its more of a recommendation. so depending on what you listen to and how you listen to it and even the type of box that the sub is in can raise or lower your power handling ability. i dont know what kind of car you have yet but if your bose system has a factory subwoofer then you should tap the LOC onto it, and then you should disconnect the factory sub all together so you dont get any back feeding from the factory sub moving in and out. if you do that you shouldnt have a problem setting your gains.

thank you for the quick response. The car is a 2008 Infiniti g35 sedan with Bose package. 10 speakers in total (including the 10in stock sub) here is a link to more info: http://wardsauto.com/ar/infiniti_studio_wheels/      The new G35 sound system has 10 Bose neodymium-magnet speakers, including an industry first 10-in. (25-cm) woofer in each front door so this is why it's so hard to use a test tone, then speakers in the cabin are going crazy when I put it on...

also my box was built to spec for my sub: MEASUREMENTS LENGTH: 24" DEPTH: 13 1/2" HEIGHT: 13 1/2" GROSS AIRSPACE: 1.9 CU.FT. NET AIRSPACE: 1.5 CU.FT. PORT: 12" X 1 1/4" X 22" PORT VOLUME: .29 CU.FT. TUNING: F3= 27Hz, RIPPLE= 4.2dB, FB= 33Hz

LP filter is set to 80hz no idea if that is optimal? Bass boost is set to 0 because I know it is bad. The gain is half way past the nominal and max setting.

when you say that you hooked the LOC to the stock sub, and this is saying that this car has a 10 inch woofer in each door then to me something doesnt add up. where is the stock sub that you tapped into? in the back deck? all i can say is that the door woofers are on a high pass filter which is why they are responding to the 50Hz tone, but if that is the case then i dont see why they would decide to have a separate subwoofer if the door woofers do the same thing. but if you have your stereo turned up to the point that your door speakers distort on a 50Hz tone then you need to turn them down to the point where you hear no distortion and then set your gain at that level. eventually you could try some bass blockers on your door woofers and just let your aftermarket sub take on all the duty, it should sound better like that too because right now its not the best idea to have multiple different speakers trying to play the same notes in a system

soundnsecurity wrote:    dont know what kind of car you have yet but if your bose system has a factory subwoofer then you should tap the LOC onto it, and then you should disconnect the factory sub all together so you dont get any back feeding from the factory sub moving in and out. if you do that you shouldnt have a problem setting your gains.

exactly what I did, tapped my LOC to the harness pre factory sub and disconnect that harness all together so the sub is unpowered. Let me know if you need any more info, think I posted all pertinent info. Thanks again

soundnsecurity wrote: when you say that you hooked the LOC to the stock sub, and this is saying that this car has a 10 inch woofer in each door then to me something doesnt add up. where is the stock sub that you tapped into? in the back deck?

correct there is a rear shelf mounted Bose 10in sub. I am just adding more bass to the system everything else is adequate for my needs so I disconnected the lacking stock sub for my higher powered one. It sounds much better! Just that my gains weren't set by any proper methods so I run the risk of damaging them right now. should I set the headunit bass control to the center most position, play the 50hz tone to the max level that the cabin speakers do not clip to and then go set my external amp gain from there?

samsizzle wrote: should I set the headunit bass control to the center most position, play the 50hz tone to the max level that the cabin speakers do not clip to and then go set my external amp gain from there?

i think you should turn the bass control most of the way down then set your amp to make up for the loss of bass from your doors. this way it will keep the door speakers from ever distorting. because like i said, its not that great to have different speakers trying to play the same notes because it will make it sound very sloppy at high volume. your doors apparently cant take bass that well so i would do my best to make then not ever have to deal with too much bass.