12 V vs 14.4V Amps

[cidley69]

might be a dumb question if you already know, but if you don't it seems puzzling.....

so what is the difference between them, and why would you use 12 V if 14.4 V gives you more/better sound?

do you need a special charging system to get 14.4 V from a car?



please help.

:dunno:

[BumpinTalon]

To rate an amp's power you give it a certain voltage. With higher the volts, the more power an amp will make into a certain load (to a point, after awhile it will just blow up). Different manufacturers rate their amps at different loads. Rockford rates at 14.4, Alpine rates at 12 and 14.4, JL rates just at 12, and so on.
14.4 volts will give you more watts, and in turn higher performance from your subs. More watts generally means a tighter, more controlled, louder bass. Cars do not usually give a steady 14.4 volts. They will when all accessories are off (so if your car is running, no headlights, interior lights, amps, heater, AC, so on), but as soon as you start driving your car and draining more power from the electrical system, it will probably only be putting out around 13.5 volts, and even more of the time it will only be putting out slightly more then 12 volts.
If you have a really powerful amp that draws a lot of power from your system, it can make your power dip quite a bit (under 12 volts), and this will give you bad performance from the amp because it will not have as much voltage to make wattage with, giving a quieter, sloppier, muddy sound.

To get more volts, you need bigger alternators, better and more batteries, but capacitors do dick all for anything and won't help you at all. If there is one part of your charging system you should upgrade, get a good battery designed for car audio use like a Optima Yellow Top or a Stinger. Alternators are expensive and big alts take a lot of horsepower to run, and you probably won't need a bigger alternator until you get 1,500ish watts in amps.

[cidley69]

Cool, thanks mega.

So, if i get you right...

when alpine uses both ratings, and your car is actually putting out somewhere in between these, say 13V, the watts your gonna actually get must be an average of the 12V and 14.4V ratings?

Does that make logical sense then?

[rahim]

they aren't different types of amps just different input power, if an amp is rated at 12V and your car is putting out 13.8V you will get more then the rated power, if your amp is rated at 14.4V and your car is putting out 13.8V you will get less then the rated power.

[heavyD]

V = I x R
E = V x I

V = volts
I = current in amps
R = resistance in ohms
E = power in watts or volt-amps

[digitalshogun]

Originally posted by heavyD
V = I x R
E = V x I

V = volts
I = current in amps
R = resistance in ohms
E = power in watts or volt-amps

While mostly correct ... I will piss on your parade anyway. ;) Just razzin ya.

The simple table looks like this;

P=Power in watts (V * I)
E/V=Voltage in volts (I * R)
I=Current in amps (V / R)
R=Resistance in Ohms (V / I)

The modified table (used when factoring in reactance) is this;

S=Apparent Power in Volt-Amps or kVA (V * I)
Q=Reactive Power in Volt-Amps reactive or VARs ( (Isquared) * X) -or- (Vsquared / X)
P=Actual disipated energy or "real power". Calculated by removing the "fake" component from the apparent measured power.
E/V=Voltage still
I=Current still
Z=Vectored value of resistance and reactance measured in Ohms. Can either be inductive or capacitive reactance and would be indicated by the vector value.

For almost all aplications in the car it is much less trouble to stick to the top table. Makes it easier to ignore things such as inductance and inductive reactance ;) Just remember when you err to err on the side of caution.