# Old school amps and subs question



## Geardownson (Feb 28, 2021)

I posted a thread a while back on newer car audio that I was looking at putting in my f150. Well my buddy from my childhood had some gems he said he would let go for nothing. I have a few questions for you old school guys to see which would be the right route to go. Here we go

He has 2 boxes that have 2 12s in each. The yellow face kickers and a old set of kicker comps? He said the kicker comps say 8ohlms on them but we can't figure out if they are dual voice coil or not. He said the speaker connections are right beside each other on one side. (seems odd) So 4 connections. Are they DVC? The yellow face kickers he thinks are blown but i was going to use the box for another set of 12s.im going to try to find a old school set to match. I'm looking to run 4 12s in the end. 

Now on to the amps
He has 2 ppi art series a200
1 Memphis 16 mcd-500
1 alpine mrp-500

I'm leaning towards replacing the paste and running the old school ppi amps but I'm up for suggestions on why the others may be better. I'm going to get 2 12s for the other box but what ohlms should I get to fully utilize everything? Thank you for any input

Link below for pics

Old school stereo


http://imgur.com/a/4dpac9a


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## SQ_Bronco (Jul 31, 2005)

What do you mean by “replacing the paste”?

the PPI amps are very nice, but won’t have as much power as a cheap class d amp. They should be about 200W bridged into 4 ohms and I wouldn’t run them lower than that.

I would use the ppi’s to power your front stage and the other two to power your subs. I think they are both 500W class D amps but I’ve never used either of those models. Google says the alpine is 500W at 2 ohms, so two DVC 8 ohm speakers could be wired to that amp and maximize the power output. The other option is 2x DVC 2 ohm speakers which could also be wired to 2 ohm, or two 4 ohm single voice coil woofers.

It’s highly likely that the kickers are dvc given what you describe.


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## Geardownson (Feb 28, 2021)

SQ_Bronco said:


> What do you mean by “replacing the paste”?
> 
> the PPI amps are very nice, but won’t have as much power as a cheap class d amp. They should be about 200W bridged into 4 ohms and I wouldn’t run them lower than that.
> 
> ...


The paste I'm referring to is the thermal paste to the heatsinks. These amps are 20+ years old but were very very good for the time. You could run a ppi 100x2 on 2 12s and it was much louder than a hifonics ect 250x2. Just like the old punch amps before they sold out. Very clean power. I would think they are dvc but those look like 90s subs. I don't remember when they even started making dvc..

This whole thing is just powering subs. No fronts ect. I have an upgraded component system In my truck.


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## SQ_Bronco (Jul 31, 2005)

I have about a dozen old PPI amps, mostly M and AM models (series prior to the arts), so I’m pretty familiar with those amps. Be careful and make sure you use silicone heat sink compound, not the CPU stuff, as that is usually conductive and could short out your fets.

Also be careful as ppi used little Mylar rectangles to isolate the fets from the chassis and its fairly easy to lose them or reinstall the board and miss the pad, which would also release magic smoke.


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## Geardownson (Feb 28, 2021)

SQ_Bronco said:


> I have about a dozen old PPI amps, mostly M and AM models (series prior to the arts), so I’m pretty familiar with those amps. Be careful and make sure you use silicone heat sink compound, not the CPU stuff, as that is usually conductive and could short out your fets.
> 
> Also be careful as ppi used little Mylar rectangles to isolate the fets from the chassis and its fairly easy to lose them or reinstall the board and miss the pad, which would also release magic smoke.


I initially was stoked to be able to finally run some ppi amps in my setup but the more I look into it the Memphis may be the better amp of the bunch because of the newer tech and crossover.. Thoughts?


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## SQ_Bronco (Jul 31, 2005)

Yeah, that would be my recommendation. 

What are you using in your front stage?


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