Thread: rms question

Originally Posted by simbah

Charles "Chuck" McGregor, while serving as senior technologist for Eastern Acoustic Works, wrote a guideline for professional audio purchasers wishing to select properly sized amplifiers for their loudspeakers. Chuck McGregor recommended a rule of thumb in which the amplifier's maximum power output rating was twice the loudspeaker's continuous (so-called "RMS") rating, give or take 20%. In his example, a loudspeaker with a continuous power rating of 250 watts would be well-matched by an amplifier with a maximum power output within the range of 400 to 625 watts.^[6]

I just read the opposite, someone said make sure the driver could handle more than the amp so the sub doesn't blow.

Originally Posted by industrialfish

He said maximum aka peak. An amps peak is pretty much always more than double it's RMS anyway. Most 12V audio has an RMS rating for both subs and amps so match those up. You can blow a 2000w RMS sub with 500w RMS amp if you introduce enough clipping or too much gain or your ohms are mismatched etc.

To be blunt, you can safely run any wattage amp with any wattage sub if you know what you are doing. Safely, but not efficiently. A 20,000w amp going to a 200w sub is going to sound the same as a 200w amp going to a 200w sub if you properly set your gains.

My problems is I have a 2500 watt RMS sub 5000 max. Its a dual 2 ohm and I wanna pick out a good amp but I'm not sure if I should get a 2500 RMS amp. Would that basically push the sub to the max? Then I know amps and subs are underrated most most the time, making it a little more confusing.