Which amplifier should I use?

I have an Alpine MRP-M500 and a Kenwood KAC-304. The alpine is 500w and the Kenwood is 600w. Does more wattage = better?

 

The main question is, what is that subwoofer rated for? More power doesn’t do any good if it’s going to blow your speaker.
I have used both of those amps in my wife’s car and they’re both great and simple.

 

Thank you for the info. Makes logical sense but sometimes things just are that logical so i thought i would ask.

 

Has subwoofer technology changed at all since 2003? That MTX is quite old but still sounds good. Would a newer sub sound cleaner? Not trying to wake the neighbors lol, just like a little extra bass when im listening to my tunes.

 

nope.
there's some alterations in some designs to reduce 3rd order harmonics and distortion, but most new car audio subs don't employ that tech anyways.

as long as it's not blown, there's no reason to replace it!

 

Use the Alpine if your sub can handle 300-500 watts. The Kenwood appears to be a four channel amp. Not ideal for a subwoofer.
EDIT: The Kenwood will work, but only puts out 150 watts bridged. And stable to 4 ohms only.

EDIT EDIT: If thats a 10" MTX Terminator, it can handle 150 watts at 4 ohms.
A perfect match.

 

Thanks for the info! It’s a 10” thunder, not terminator.

currently having issues with the speakers and sub cutting out intermittently. Right speakers worked originally, but now don’t work at all (they are brand new). Thinking it’s either the head unit or amp. I’m going to get a new head unit tomorrow and see if that fixes it and run the speakers off the head unit and sub off the alpine to see if that fixes my issue. Never dealt with a four channel amp before

 

Well, its hard to say how much power it can handle without knowing the model then. But if it can handle the 300-500 watts, the Alpine mono amp is your best bet. Pull the sub out of the box and find out the specs. Usually better to feed a sub with a higher powered amp(and adjust the gain lower) than to underpower it with the lower powered amp.

 

What headunit are you using? How did you wire the front speakers? Are you using factory wiring or did you run your own?

I ask because before you blow cash on a new amp, check all the connections. If the amp is connected via high level signal, check those first. Did you use wire taps or did you splice or a splitter harness? If taps, they are famous for crappy connections. I recommend a splitter harness and butt connectors or better yet soldering.

Did you put spade connectors on the speaker wire where connected to the speakers , or just twist it on? Spades are way better for being more solid.

From the amp, did you run your own wire, or are you using the factory wire? If it’s your own, check for pinches in the wire. Key areas are at door sills and in the boot from the body to the door.

Spend a couple “free” hours checking that before you spend a couple bills on a new amp.

 

Front speakers are wired to the factory harness with butt connectors. Speakers have spade connectors with little silicon covers so those all are legit. I inherited this problem when i bought the truck so just trying to troublshoot to the best of my ability.

From the Amp, it looks like aftermarket wire, not factory. The ground connection to the amp seems a bit suspicious since the wire is so thick but the connector to the amp seem a lot smaller. Don't think that would have anything to do with my right speakers working then all of a sudden they don't at all, but could be the culprit of the speakers and sub that do work, cutting out at low volume? IDK, just spitballing at this point.

I have that alpine amp just lying around so thought i would swap it out. Im buying a new headunit because i couldn't take my current one out and when i went to my local stereo shop to see if they could take it out, i ended up buying a new headunit because i really want car play for navigation through my iphone. They are installing it for free so im gonna pick their brain when i drop it off to see if they can figure out the culprit without too much headache.

I'm typically a do-it yourself kind of guy, but with this car stereo stuff, it seems like the options and configurations are almost endless.

When I did try to trouble shoot it, i took the speakers out and one of them fell apart, so i decided to replace the speakers. Door speakers are plugged into the oem harness that goes to the headunit, but there is speaker wire coming from the headunit to the amp as well. Sub wires are connected right below the L and R speaker wires.

I was going to try to remove the old alpine headunit to check the connections behind there, but i don't have the correct tool and don't want to rip up my dash. This led me to going to my local stereo shop to see what they could do and ended up buying a headunit.

Thank you for all the input, I really appreciate it. I'm getting the headunit installed today, a Sony XAVAX3250. So will update you if the issue gets resolved

 

Sounds like you have a good grip on what’s going on, and have had a good run at troubleshooting already. You may be on to something with the amp ground. Play something at a volume the cutting out happens and wiggle the ground. That could cause everything to stop if the ground is bad.

 

So I’m pretty sure it was the amp. Ended up wiring the speakers directly into the head unit and swapping out the Kenwood 4 channel to the Alpine mono. Speakers work perfect now.

Either the amp or the RCA’s but pretty sure it was the amp.

thanks again for the input, def learned a lot through this process