Too much amp for BA 12.5LF ?

Hello,

I recently bought a new amp. Up till now I've been running my single Boston Acoustics Pro 12.5LF sub off a Phoenix Gold XS2500. Now I have a Rockford Fosgate Power 1051S that is putting out 1119W RMS according to it's birthsheet.

Is this too much amp for that sub ? If so, what sub should I get ? Or can the 12.5LF handle this and nicely pound away ?

if that rf puts out anything near the spec sheet, i would suggest getting a second ba pro sub.  i heard one a couple of weeks ago and it seemed like a pretty good sq sub.  it wasnt too good at playing the lows though

The more power the better. The 12.5 LF is rated at 1200 peak. You won't be running the amp in bridged mode any ways. Is the 12.5 a 2 ohm model or a 4 ohm model ?

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

Jeff,

That's just the thing... I *will* be running the amp in bridged mode... This amp is dedicated to powering the sub. The sub is a 4 Ohm model...

Will I blow it up ? :-(

I have seen the ten inch boston pro sub run on 1000 watts all day and night.  However, Rockford Fosgate is not the cleanest power ever, so if you do send the sub into distortion, it will blow pretty quickly.  But if you never distort the sub, there isn't a much better sounding set-up then Boston Pro with tons of power. The nice thing about that sub, is that it will also run fine off of 150 watts, so you could run 4 of those subs off of the amp you have.  The best sounding bass I have ever heard in my life was in the Boston demo vehicle last year: 8 boston pro 12's. 

Trust me I have a ton of experience with boston pro.

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Deck -     Eclipse CD8443 - $475
Speakers - Boston BAZ5 - $1000
Amp -      Alpine MRV-T420 - $400
Car -      1988 PLymouth Colt - $450, it's been rolled!

Jeffpaulus,

Thanks. I do not plan on turning the gains all the way up on that amp, as I am not competing or anything, just like good bass in my car :-) It's just that I think the sub will be better off getting 800 clean watts from my 1119 watt amp (gain turned way down) than 500 clipped watts from my XS2500 at full tilt.

That way I would get more bass, not go into clipping, and have the amplifier not even sweat it or get sizzling hot like my XS2500 does.

I would appreciate your opinions on this.

As I said, I'm not an SPL competitor. Just a bass head.    I listen to just about all music styles, from Classical to Jazz to Metal to Rap...

I doubt that you will blow the thing, but as Jeffpaulus said, Rockford doesn't have the cleanest signal coming out of it seeing that it's a 2 channel amp and if you bridge it, it will definitely distort at a higher volume. Just set the gains lower on the amp and are you running a 2 or 4 volt input for this amp ?

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

[Putting on flame suit]

I'm keeping the stock HU since it's fully integrated in the car's fiber optic network (2005 BMW 5 series). You can not put in an aftermarket HU without ripping apart the dash so that's not an option. So keeping the stock system (which is good, just lacking bass). I will use a line level converter off the leads to the stock subwoofers to feed the RF amp and the BA sub. The output for the converter is 4V I believe.

I know this is not ideal, but I have no other option as I can not rip the dash apart, and I'm not keen on losing half the integrated I-drive functions by taking out the stock head unit. (everything is integrated)

First off, there is (to a certain extent) no such thing as too much power. I am running 85wpc to my tweeters (15 watt Infinity eMit Kappas), and I have never blown one. I am running 370wpc to my 6 inch midbass (120 watt Morel MW-162), and I have never blown one. I am running 4x120 to my 6x9's (Eclipse Point-Source), and I have never blown one. I am running well over 2000 watts to my Eclipse Titanium (used to be 10 inch, but I sold it, not blew it) 12". As long as the gain is set correctly, and as long as you use your volume control correctly, you CANNOT blow a driver, just because your amp "might be over-rated" for the driver you are connecting to it. So there is the long answer to your question.

The short answer is: (and this is the important part, so listen up ) Set your gain correctly, and no, you will be fine with this combination. Not a fan of either the Boston or the RF, and even though both may be perfectly capable components, this seems to be a safe pairing.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."