Audiophiles enter, I need some advice.

[fastTa]

I'm going to put 3 - JL Audio 12" W6's in my 98 Tahoe. I am having a custom slot port box made by Custom Sounds in San Antonio, TX. My question is I have a friend with a Soundstream Rubicon 1000.2. What are your opinions on this amp?

[WICKED LT1]

The JL's beauty comes from the fact that you can run them down to 2 ohms in the right config. Your big question should be how low can that amp go? I used these subs with a PPI a600.2 for years and it was a great setup. Ran into the high 140's for SPL and produced great low end bass. The JL's are incredible sub's. If the amp is going to be happy at low ohm's and can drive 400 - 600 watts you should be very happy.

One thing though, there appears to be a large section of the net that believes that the Rubicons had some reliability issues. I cannot get a good read on the exact issue, but I was only casually googling. Talk it over with your local sound shop and see if they still recommend those amps.

Good Luck.


-Paul

[fastTa]

Yeah, I am looking for a little over 150db. I will ask around at some of the local car audio shops about any known Rubicon issues.

What about the JL Audio 1000/1 or the Punch 800a2?

[02Z28]

bah, go for the gusto and get a Soundstream Tarantula!!!

it's only rated for 2000 Watts RMS

but seriously, i've not ever heard any complaints about either the JL amps or Rockford Punch Series amps...if you can get one for a good price, go for it

[MN6WS6]

The 800A2 more than likely won't run the ohm load you need it to. I'm not real familiar with all of JL's "codes", so I don't know if that's a dual 6 ohm voice coil or a single 6 ohm voice coil. Regardless, if they are SVC, that's 2 ohm mono with the A2 can run, but can't run continuously without serious overheating issues. Otherwise, if they are DVC, you could run the amp a 4 ohm mono, but the Rockford 2 channels make most power at 2.66 ohm mono while still playing for extended periods. To do that, you would need 3 8ohm SVC 12's.

Finally, 3-12's won't do 150 in a Tahoe. That is a whole lot of air to compress with that small of a cone area. You could do it outlaw (unlimited voltage, db mic placed in a port), but it won't do that db legal on the dash (USAC and IASCA rules).

[rufrider76]

get the jl 1000/1 i have this amp. they are by far the best amp. i blew 3 10w6's with this amp. am running one 12 w7 right now and it blows it away period. if you wjere crazy you could get 2 but you car will fall apart swear. sounds good to. but i hooked my panet audio amp to this sub and it was way less power. the 1200d should be 200 watts aheld but sounded around 1/2. thejl power supply is so good

[02Z28]

The 800A2 more than likely won't run the ohm load you need it to. I'm not real familiar with all of JL's "codes", so I don't know if that's a dual 6 ohm voice coil or a single 6 ohm voice coil. Regardless, if they are SVC, that's 2 ohm mono with the A2 can run, but can't run continuously without serious overheating issues. Otherwise, if they are DVC, you could run the amp a 4 ohm mono, but the Rockford 2 channels make most power at 2.66 ohm mono while still playing for extended periods. To do that, you would need 3 8ohm SVC 12's.

Finally, 3-12's won't do 150 in a Tahoe. That is a whole lot of air to compress with that small of a cone area. You could do it outlaw (unlimited voltage, db mic placed in a port), but it won't do that db legal on the dash (USAC and IASCA rules).

if THIS is the amp that he's talking about, it will run 3 JL W6 subs with no problem at all....those are dual 6ohm voice coil subs, so all he would have to do is wire one coil from each sub in parallel to one channel of the amp for a 2ohm load, and the same for the other 3 coils to the other channel.

another option would be to just wire one coil from each sub in parallel, then do the same to the other coil of each sub, then connect the 2 sides together in series for a mono 4ohm load, which pretty much any 1- or 2-channel amp made nowadays will handle with no problem

[02Z28]

for clarification, here is the recommended wiring options, directly fom JL Audio's site...it only shows the wiring for mono mode, but all you would have to do in order to do it in stereo would be take half of what's shown here and put it on one channel of the amp, and the other half on the other channel:

[fastTa]

The 800A2 more than likely won't run the ohm load you need it to. I'm not real familiar with all of JL's "codes", so I don't know if that's a dual 6 ohm voice coil or a single 6 ohm voice coil. Regardless, if they are SVC, that's 2 ohm mono with the A2 can run, but can't run continuously without serious overheating issues. Otherwise, if they are DVC, you could run the amp a 4 ohm mono, but the Rockford 2 channels make most power at 2.66 ohm mono while still playing for extended periods. To do that, you would need 3 8ohm SVC 12's.

Finally, 3-12's won't do 150 in a Tahoe. That is a whole lot of air to compress with that small of a cone area. You could do it outlaw (unlimited voltage, db mic placed in a port), but it won't do that db legal on the dash (USAC and IASCA rules).

A friend of mine has only 2 12" JL Audio W6's in his Ford Excursion being pushed by a Punch 800a2 and he produced 147db at the rear view mirror. I figured I could easily get 150db out of 3 considering I have alot less interior cab space.

[fastTa]

BTW, we were planning on running them at 4 ohms overall resistance through the 3 speaker series setup.

Will the Rubicon 1000.2 handle this OK. It is rated at 1087 watts RMS into 4 ohms.

[02Z28]

from a purely technical standpoint, yes, it should handle it fine.

but just because a manufacturer states the specifications for a product, they definitely are NOT going to tell you if they goofed up and made the product incorrectly, causing it to fail prematurely, or have other problems....like WickedLT1 said, get some opinions from other users of that specific product to see if they have had problems with it....treat it the same way you would for any other mod you put on your car

here's a good way to look at any mod, audio-related or otherwise...."research 3 times, buy once"

you'll be glad you did

[fastTa]

The JL's beauty comes from the fact that you can run them down to 2 ohms in the right config. Your big question should be how low can that amp go? I used these subs with a PPI a600.2 for years and it was a great setup. Ran into the high 140's for SPL and produced great low end bass. The JL's are incredible sub's. If the amp is going to be happy at low ohm's and can drive 400 - 600 watts you should be very happy.

One thing though, there appears to be a large section of the net that believes that the Rubicons had some reliability issues. I cannot get a good read on the exact issue, but I was only casually googling. Talk it over with your local sound shop and see if they still recommend those amps.

Good Luck.


-Paul

Hey Paul, what type of box did you run your JL W6's in? What size and how many got you into the high 140's.

[MN6WS6]

That series wiring from JL makes sense, but your "hook one set of coils to one channel and one set to the other" will not. A sub with dual voice coils has to have it's two voice coils connected together in some form. You can't run half of a sub on one channel, and another half on another channel. Both voice coils have to see the exact same signal or they will fight each other and possibly overheat the sub. I've been doing car audio for 14 years, so I know what I'm talking about. The A2 makes a lot of power at 4 ohm mono, but it makes a lot more at 2.66 mono, and you might as well get the most power out of the amp even if you have to get different subs. Also, SVC subs use power more efficiently than DVC's do.

I've never seen any SUV with 2-12's do 147 legal on the dash. Legal db as measured by IASCA and USAC is done in the right front corner of the windshield, I believe 2 inches from the glass, 2 inches from the dash, and 4 inches from the A-pillar are the correct measurements, but it's been a long time since I've set a mic in a car so I could be off a little bit. Outlaw changes the rules because they place the mic in a different position for maximum SPL.

If it were me, I'd get 3-4ohm SVC subs and a mono block amp, capaple of 1 ohm mono, like Orion HCCA and Directed's line of mono amps. This would get you a 1.33 ohm mono load with 3 subs, and a ton of power. Also, remember that you need a minimum of 4 gauge wiring and a capacitor or you will kill your electrical system.

[fastTa]

Do you think a 2 farad cap would be sufficient? I've got 5 volt pre-amp outputs from my Eclipse head unit and we were going to run the DVC's in series.

People absolutely freak out when they hear these W6's. I know I did! They hit so hard it hurts. They blow away my older model W3's I had in another vehicle.

[Formulaboy95]

If you run the Rubicon.... 4ohms mono Bridged.... Soundstreams are like ovens at lower impedance. I used to call em SmokeStreams.

My best was 142.5db IASCA, with (3) 10W6's and my PG MS2250 running cool at 4 ohms mono. All are still in great condition, but I would never sell any of them.