Newbie Needs Help :)

Hey,

I need a few things cleared up. I'm pretty new, so dont rag on me too much for something that may not make sense, or is blatantly obvious. : )

First off, I bought 2 12" Infinity subs. It says on the speaker;

POWER HANDLING : 300Watts RMS, 1200Watts Peak

I bought a 1600Watt Amp, that delivers 300Watts RMS x 2 at 4 Ohms, so I'm just gonna wire one sub to each channel. My question is, whats the difference between RMS and Peak??

Secondly, I want to get another, smaller, 4 channel amp to boost my other speakers (6.5 Components up front and 5x7s in the back). If I hook up an amp to the speakers, will this ADD to the power of the Head Unit (52Watt x 4, 23.2Watts RMS x 4) or will NULL the power of the head unit and just run off the AMP?

I'd like to know before I buy another amp, so I can see if I'm gonna need more or less power.

Thanks,

First off, everyone is new at some point and you always have to start learning somewhere, so don't worry about what kind of questions you ask.  I like to help people learn something new--no matter what it is--every time they visit the forums and that's why my responses are often lengthier than others'....   And I find myself learning new stuff all the time too.

RMS mean root mean square, it's a method for measuring power output.  Basically what it means is the continuous power output/handling of the component.  This is the spec. that you should pay attention to when comparing different models and brands because it's the only one that really applies to the real world.  The peak power is what it can handle/output for a split second musical peak.  Usually manufacturers put out the peak rating cuz it's always about twice as much as the rms rating...just for advertising and stuff.

If you use a 4-channel amp for your main speakers, you will only be powering them using that 4-channel amp.  You can't combine the power of the head unit with the 4-channel amp, and you can't use them both to power the same component.  You could power the components with the 4-channel amp and the 5x7s with the head unit's amp but you'd only be utilizing half of each amp's potential power output.  If the 4-channel amp is hooked up then the speaker output wires from the head unit would have to be taped off individually to prevent a speaker short.

As far as the wiring for the subs, you seem to be on the right track with those.  300 watts RMS is enough for pretty much any infinity sub and being able to run the amp at 4 ohms stereo makes for an easier install.