you could get an amp for almost as much as that power pack costs. I wouldnt waste my money on that. the head unit would work. but it looks low end. I would either save up and get a nicer alpine or buy a pioneer. you can get a lot more for your money if you go with a brand other than alpine. I have always used pioneers and never had any problems with them. my gf has a alpine in her car and it is nice but I dont find it to be any nicer than any of the pioneers i have owned in the past

 

Wow I think I'm confusing myself with all of these numbers that have to match up and stuff. I kind of wish someone would tell me a couple examples of what products to get. I guess that's what the people at soundsational and ovation are for though.

 

numbers that have to match up? I am not sure what you mean. there are a ton of good brands. if you want mid of the line (judging by your budget that is what you are going for) you have alpine, jbl, powerbass, diamond, kicker, kenwood, clarion, pioneer,and a lot more.

 

I just mean like the wattage having to match up and the ohms and stuff so I don't blow anything. Should I not be worrying about that?

 

no you should worry about that. have you checked out the twelve volt yet? it is linked in KHA's sig. that is a must read.

but as far as wattage goes. it is different at different ohm loads. an amp puts out A/C power (measured in volts) then your speakers are resistors (resistance measured in ohms). the higher the resistance the less wattage that the sub gets.

watts = volts^2/ohms

unless you are trying to get extremely detailed to a point of competition or something like that i find the easiest way is decide on subs. see what your options are on impedance and find an amp that will do that power at one of those ohms

 

Yeah I read that but it's just hard to put everything together when you have as little experience as I do. I just think it'd do me good to either talk to an expert in person or on the phone or something so they can show me how stuff works and what works together etc. Because really the only thing I want right now is to improve on my current system.

 

I gotcha. It doesnt really get anymore expert than KHA. but like i said. It may be easiest to decide on subs first. then choose an amp.

I know it is a lot to take in all at one time. why dont you focus on one part of the upgrade at a time.

decide what you want to do first. then we may be able to help you with each aspect as you go along.

you could check out some car audio forums too. KHA is partial to sounddomain.com, I on the other hand am partial to Groundpounderzinc.com

sounddomain has a large population and you can get a lot of different info on a lot of stuff. GPI is a small community with helpful, knowledgeable people who try there best to help. (it does tend to be more focused on spl)

 

If I were to get this type r sub Alpine SWR-1243D (SWR1243D) 12" Dual 4 ohm Type-R Car Subwoofer what amp would I need to get?

 

any amp that is rated at around 500 watts at either two or eight ohm. it would be easier to find them at two ohm. I am thinking you only want one (if you got two of them you would be looking at 1 or 4 ohm). kicker makes a 500 watt monoblock that would be perfect for that and it runs about 200.
Kicker ZX500.1 (10ZX500.1) Class D Mono Amplifier Car Amp

 

That looks great! But I guess I still need a 4 channel amp for the speakers. Here they are Boston Acoustics SE65RC 6-1/2" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com and Boston Acoustics SE95 6"x9" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com What do you think would work well with those speakers. Also since I'll be running two amps, does that mean I have to get a certain type of head unit?

edit: I tried finding an amp on my own and I found this Rockford Fosgate one. Rockford Fosgate R300-4 (r3004) 300W, Prime Series 4-Channel I'm pretty sure it will work with my speakers but it may be a bit too powerful. Let me know what you think