ok, here's what you have:
Rated power is what you will see at around 12v, at any random time, where the max power is at 1 ohm, 14v. This amp (and most in this competition range) is not capable of handling 1 ohm. This rating is sometimes called 'when lightning strikes' since the amount of power required to actually get this rating is more than any normal car can output. Most car systems are closer to 13v when the alternator is running.
The power that this amp will output is also dependent on how it is wired to the subs, and such.
For example:
If you have two dual 2 ohm voice coil subs, wired in parrallel, then into one channel each, you would have a 1 ohm load, but probably blow the amp, wired the voice coils in series, and you'd have a 4 ohm load on each channel, and you would get 200w in each sub.
The best configuration for this amp is two dual 4 ohm voice coil subs (or two single 2 ohm voice coil subs, but these are less common). Wire each voice coil in parallel to net a 2 ohm load for each sub, and wire one sub to one channel, the other sub to the other channel.
Make sure they do not share any common air space in the box. This will give you 250W per channel on average, net of 500w, and when a good bass line hits, probably near 350w or so per channel, net of about 700w. (estimate) You'll also have more surface area to move air than if you have one sub bridged at a 2 ohm load.
I had the older version of this amp, and it was just fine, except mine would cut out after a while playing full volume. I put fans on it, and it helped, but not a lot. It will do just fine unless you are planning to put it at it's full potential all the time.
Terms:
Ohm - Measurement of the resistance of electricity.
Watt - Unit of electrical (and other) power measurement.
Series - raises electrical resistance, decreases power output.
Parallel - lowers electrical resistance, increases power output.
Bridged - Wiring one sub (or set of subs) to both channels together to bridge the power between the channels.
One thing to keep in mind when you get to tuning the amp is that the gain is not designed to be a volume adjustment or bass boost. It's designed to match the input voltage to optimize the output. Meaning my Pioneer Head Unit's sub-out has a pre-out voltage of 4v, so I would tune my gain to match this, not above, and not below. It's tempting to turn the gain up, but this may provide some distortion, and reduce the amp's life span. You should be changing volume settings through the deck, and not on the amp.
Also, set the cut off frequency (low pass filter) to around 150hz - 250hz, depending on the subs you use, and what other speakers are in your system.
Hope this gives you a good start with this.
There are LOTS of pages, threads, posts, whatever related to this.
Just search through, and I'm sure the answer is somewhere, since someone has already asked almost every single question you have about this.
Linear Mode
