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How little power can i get away with?

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:42 pm
by J_Dunavin
I already have two peavey ips 400's and one peavey ips 800. I really like these amps, though they are on the bigger side. The problem for me is now trying to decide if these are enough amp, for what i am trying to accomplish.
My end goal is four dr250's with four or more T39's or 24's.
My current plan is to use the 800 on all four subs. I figure that will be about 200W per sub. Then for the tops I thought about running a 400 per side. The problem is though, that I'm going to end up with a 5 ohm load per side, and that would be a bit low to run the 400 bridged.
The specs are:
IPS 400- 200W per ch. @4 ohm or 400W bridged @ 8 ohm
IPS 800- 400W per ch. @4 ohm or 800W bridged @ 8 ohm

It just doesn't add up right in my mind.
I also want to BI-amp, my tops. Regardless of the reasons why that is a good or bad idea, I decided that I need to buy another amp, and that maybe the IPS250 would be good for the highs, or if i can find another 400 just run it with the gain turned way down.

I'm open to other amp options, but i got these for so cheap I doubt I could find something else for what I have into it now.

Thoughts? :feedback:

Re: How little power can i get away with?

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:34 am
by SeisTres
My xls402 runs my jacks just fine but it does struggle with the bp102's. Your 800 will get by as it is pretty similar, but I much prefer to use the xls802 with the bp102's as it easily averages 25volts and the peaks don't clip it. the smaller 402 can average around 18volts before the clips start firing up the little red clip light. And no, I wouldn't bridge it, just run two cabs off each channel, whatever sub it is. However, if you are going to be using the kappalites on the subs, personally I would probably want something like the xti4000 as I feel that my 802 would struggle.

Re: How little power can i get away with?

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 5:10 pm
by Ron K
Anything less then 8 ohms in bridge with those amps and you will most likely burn up the amp at one point or another.They just are not rated at 2ohm stereo and 4 ohm mono. Sell them both and get a bigger amp capable of running a solid 400-500 watts at 4 ohms per side.Heck with the cost of new amp technology it's entirely possible to get what will do the job for under $300.00.

Re: How little power can i get away with?

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 6:48 pm
by J_Dunavin
Right....
I am still after a good sounding system as well and would like some head room. So the search is on, to see what I can find.