Car Stereos: Question about Amp wattage, wiring, and Ohm load, dual voice coil, alpine type r 12

Question
Hi, I've currently got two Kicker 10 Comp subwoofers, and looking to upgrade, But i'm a little confused about amplifier ohm load, and Amp/Sub compatibility.
I plan on purchasing two Alpine Type-R 12", they are rated at 300-600 RMS, 1800 Peak, and are available at 2 Ohms, or 4 Ohms.

      I've been recommended a few amplifiers, but i'm a little confused on wiring for 2(or 4 Ohms), and what ohm load these following amps can handle.  

Kenwood 1800W:
Continuous Watts per Channel (4 Ohms) RMS 500 x 1
Continuous Watts per Channel (2 Ohms) RMS 900 x 1
Peak Power Watts per Channel (2 Ohms) 1800 x 1

Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D:
1 x 450 @ 4 OHMS,
1 x 900 @ 2 OHMS,
1 x 1200 @ 1 OHM,

Alpine MRPM1000:
RMS Power Per Channel Into 4 Ohms: 600W X 1
RMS Power Per Channel Into 2 Ohms: 1000W X 1

If none of these are compatible, would you have any reccomendations? Thanks.
-Dave

Answer
Hi Dave,

OK, step one is to completely ignore 'peak' wattage.  It means nothing.  It is a term made up of marketing weenies that doesn't reasonably tell you anything .

Here's how it works.  If your subwoofers can do 2 ohm, but your amp can only do 4, it will overheat/stop due to overload protection, or break.

If your subwoofers can only do 4 ohms, but your amp can do 2, then everything is fine.

The speakers are the load.  The amp powers the load.  The amp can safely hold the # of ohms it says, OR MORE.  Never less.

Lower impedance on the same device will get you more power, but will get hotter, and puts it closer to its limit as far as safety goes.

Now, you've told me you're buying Alpine Type-R 12" subs.  If I remember correctly, all of the Type R subs are dual voice coil.  This complicates things a little because we now have to deal with FOUR voice coils (2 on each subwoofer).

So, if you buy 2x4 ohm, dual voice coil subwoofers, then your options are:

Hook both subwoofers up in series and their voice coils in parallel: 4ohms
Hook both subwoofers up in parallel and their voice coils in parallel: 1ohm

(Hooking everything up in series gets you 16ohms; you don't want to do that.)

If you buy 2x2 ohm, dual voice coil subwoofers, then your options are:

Hook both subwoofers up in series and their voice coils in parallel: 2ohms

(Any other configuration doesn't make sense with these subs.)

Which amp you want to buy is up to you; I'd suggest visiting a store and giving them all a listen; you might find they have different features, and/or characteristics you like/dislike.

But as you can see, the only configuration of the products you've given me that won't work would be the 2x4ohm subs in all parallel on any amp except the Hifonics.

I know this might all be a bit confusing; I hope I broke it down reasonably enough for you.

Justin