How should i spend $200 for an amp?

[Briggiboy33 2]

My birthday is coming up and id really like to increase my power to my sub as much as possible with $200. I currently have a power bass 400 rms at 4 ohms. My sub is single 4 ohm. Rated for 500rms. But id like to give it quite a bit more. Whats the biggest amp i can get for 200? I have a fi x12. In a ported box tuned to 33 ish maybe a tad higher. But i dnt play it at high volumes for more than maybe 10-15 mins. So im not too worried about anything blowing. I was thinking about geting a recone and try to recone it to dual 2 ohm.. And run my amp at 1 ohm... But thats kinda reckless because its only stable at 4 ohms. But if i set everything at 1 ohm and tune the amp with a dmm i feel confident... Like i said i only play for short periods...

[slim2fattycake 85]

if your amp is only stable at 4 ohm, i would never go down to 1 ohm unless its a cheater amp and even then you gotta know what you're doing.

Are you getting this amp for just the Fi X or for future upgrades? Audiopipe ap18001 is 190 shipped. plenty of power at 2 ohm and 1 ohm for future upgrades.

[liljestrand 244]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-AUDIOPIPE-APSM-1500-1500-Watt-Mono-Car-Audio-MINI-Amplifier-Amp-APSM1500-/230776669619?pt=Car_Amplifiers&hash=item35bb5c85b3

138 shipped. 500 @ 4 ohms. These are the newer ones being made in korea and testing ive seen they are pretty stout. And they are pretty small.

[Impious 1,476]

First question is why do you want to run the subwoofer at significantly more than it's rated for?

Second question is do you plan on upgrading your subwoofer in the near future?

Third question is what enclosure volume are you using, and do you know the T/S for the X12?

Fourth question is what is your overall goal?

Unless you plan on upgrading the subwoofer soon, I guess I don't really see the point in moving up substantially in power. You would need to at minimum double the power to enter the realm of audibility and make it worth it (even though depending on power compression, change may not be that great). At that point you are 50% over the power handling of the subwoofer thermally and it may not handle it mechanically, so you are significantly increasing risk of failure.

You would probably be $$ ahead to spend the money more wisely....either upgrade the subwoofer, upgrade your speakers, add sound deadening, etc etc.

[Briggiboy33 2]

Yes id like to upgrade the sub later on. The box is roughly 2 cuft. 2.75x like idk 14" port.. Not positive of the width of the port but the box suggested for it.