I recently bought a PPI A404 amp to power my MB Quart PVI-216s.

The amp is rated (at 4ohms) at 50w x 4 or bridged at 200w x 2.

But the speakers are rated at:

RMS Power Handling: 70 watts
Peak Power Handling: 140 watts

The guy I bought the amp from said to run the amp bridged, that too much power is never a problem. But I'm nervous about putting all that power to the speakers.

Thoughts?

 

Turn the gain down. You don't run an amp 100% if you don't have to.

 

Outstanding, wasn't sure what the gain did (I'm a noob).

Thanks!!!

 

Best to read a guide on setting up the gain then when you get all your gear in the car.
Noob too, but always thought that too little power was worse than too much, as its the clipping of the sound that is more likely to damage the speaker???

 

pretty sure too little power is NOT worse than too much power

 

and i'm also pretty sure clipping doesn't come from too little power

 

 

too much power is a good thing. if setup the gains correctly and the crossover setting (if you can)

 

To clarify:

The AVAILABILITY of too much power is a good thing. Too much power on it's own is NOT a good thing. It is better to be able to turn the gain down than to not have enough juice and over-work your amp/cause clipping.

 

http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm

Is this correct?

Contrary to popular belief, an amplifiers gain control does not determine the maximum power that an amplifier can produce. As long as the preamp/drive signal has sufficient level, the amplifier will produce its maximum power output level. The gain controls are used to match the amplifer's gain to the gain of the other amplifiers in the system (in the case of a multi-amp system). The gain controls also allow you to match the amplifier(s) to the head unit. Not all head units have the same maximum preamp output voltage. Some head units are capable of producing 9 vrms out while others are only capable of 1.5 vrms out.

Please note that a head unit will reach its maximum output level (clipping) well before the volume control reaches the upper end of its range (usually at a point of 85-90% of its maximum range). This is especially true of tape decks, not because the audio section is of lesser quality but because some tapes are recorded at lower levels than others and the manufacturer must design the deck to be able to produce a sufficient output level with virtually any tape.

NOTE:

1. This example uses a rotary volume control instead of the digital type pushbutton controls but the same basic concept applies.
2. The output of some decks will clip at less than 50% of its full volume when the loudness is engaged or bass and treble are boosted. Many of the low to mid priced head units have a maximum output level (before clipping) of 2 vrms. If a 100hz test tone is played in the head unit and the bass control boosts signal levels at 100hz by 10dB, the output would clip if the pre bass boosted signal would have been .63 vrms. In other words, If the output of the 100hz test tone is more than .63 vrms and the bass control was turned to its maximum level, the signal would clip. This would very likely be at less than one-half volume.