Car Stereos: Kicker ZX1000.1, dual voice coil, watts rms

Question
I have a Kicker ZX1000.1 and have questions on what kind of subwoofers to purchase.  Should I buy 4ohm or 2ohm.  Right now I'm only looking into buying either 2 or 4 12" subs.  I can get a good deal on 4 12" CVR DVC 4ohm but, I was told that my amp would run them efficiently.  I'm just confused on my options. Should I stick with 2 12" dual voice coil subwoofers only and if so, at what ohm?

Answer
Hi Carlos,

Your amplifier is designed to produce its maximum rated power with a 2-ohm impedance, so if you want to get the maximum output from the amp, you'll need to  wire the subs so that they combine for a 2-ohm load.  That means that the choice of subwoofer impedance will depend on the number of subs you're using.  

With the CompVR, if you decide to stick with one pair of subs, you'll need 2-ohm DVC subs to get a 2-ohm load at the amp outputs.  If you want to use four subs, then you'll need to use 4-ohm DVC subs to get a final impedance of 2 ohms.

Keep in mind that the power produced by the amplifier will be divided evenly among all the subwoofers.  If you connect two subs, and the amp's producing its rated power of 1000 watts, then each sub will get 500 watts.  With four subs, each sub will get 250 watts at the amp's full rated output.  My advice would be to stick with two subwoofers, at least for now; the CompVR is rated for 500 watts RMS, so one pair of subs would be a good match for a ZX1000.1.  If you want to run more than two subs, then your best option would be to add a second amplifier.

Hope this helps!

Brian