I'm looking for some feedback on the better of the two.

Boston Acoustics GT - 2125
vs.
JL Audio J2 360.2

I'm looking to power a JL Audio 10W3v3-2 in a 4080 coupe box. I might go with the 10W6v2 but I haven't decided yet. Let me know what you guys (and ladies) recommend.

 

If you still have the stock headunit, the JL may be the better option, as JL amps take differential-balanced inputs.
If you do not, I'd do the BA.

 

yeah running the stock hu for now. Will probably change it out next year sometime. So the JL is probably the better of the two?

 

If you're running a factory bose, yes, I'd stick with the JL.

If you're not running Bose, then either one will work just as well through the speaker-level inputs, and the comparison gets a little more complicated. Additionally, there's likely other brands that would do better for the price. There's a few in this forum with a much more diverse knowledge of amp and sub choices, as I've never been in a position with the opportunity to objectively listen to different combinations.

I do, however, understand how to read the spec sheet to be able to tell you to get which is better when the two are clearly different, such as whether it is built to accept the signal you're putting out or not. But when they're both very close on paper, that's where my expertise ends.

 

Hmm.. great point. So it's sounding like the JL is the way to go since I'll be rocking the stock hu for awhile.

Anyone else out there want to put in their .02? haha.

I'm wondering what everyone else is pushing in their 4080 setup... maybe I should start a thread for that. lol

 

There's a "what sub is in your 4080" thread already. I think a lot of people will be listing what amps are pushign their subs in that thread as well.

 

Ahhhh.. just found it. NICE. Thanks again!!

 

No problem. And I can't remember if I'm on the list, but JL 10w6 in a 4080, powered by JL 5001/v2. Sounds awesome.

 

I just ordered tonight:

JL 10w3v3-4
JL 500.1 J2 (2010 Model)

I'm thinking its going to be a great setup. I almost went 10w6v2 but I don't think I'll need that much bass... although... thats what I say right now. lol.

 

I'd say the 10w6 is more quality than quantity over the 10w3, the amount of bass should be fairly similar.

Be careful with your gains though, the 10w3v3's recommended power guide:


Puts you well past optimum, so ensure you tune distortion out of it.

Whereas the 10w6v2, it's pretty close to optimum, with a little headroom:

 

Good call.

If I don't use the amp bass boost and keep the db at its normal level I should be fine right? I'm not going to max it out on the bass control either so I think that should help. ha.

 

You're not *over* the max RMS for your woofer with that amp, just in the zone where you can easily reduce the expected lifespan, just keep the volume down and you should be ok.

And if you do blow it, more excuse for the 10w6, right?

 

The amp pushes 500RMS if I have it at full blast correct? Not exactly sure how that all works.

 

It's capable of outputting 500RMS regardless of the gain. By increasing the gain, you'll hit be hitting that max RMS more often.

Just some basics, essentially the gain is there so that you can match the input level to what the amp expects in order to output the input waveform without clipping or distortion.

If you have 2v outputs on your headunit, you get 0 - 2v as your signal's dynamic range.
If you have 4v outputs on your headunit, you get 0 - 4v as your signal's dynamic range, requiring less gain from the amp, allowing for less distortion and greater separation between very quiet and very loud portions.

Say your amp accepts 10v as max input voltage, and your stereo outputs 2v, you'd set the gain so that it's multiplying the signal to what your amp expects as a full-volume (0dB) signal.

When you tune the amp with a test CD of 0dB signals, you set the gain as low as it goes (signal x 1) and with an A/C multimeter, check what the output from the amp is, and increase the gain until you reach the voltage stated by the manufacturer for optimal output. Now, if you reached the optimal output and kept upping the gain, you're not going to really get anything more out of your amp, you'll just make everything louder (compressing the waveform) and you're going to be making the intense hits less intense by turning them into plateaus. (If you're interested in this phenomenon, look up "Loudness Wars" on YouTube, as this compressing and clipping is disgustingly more and more common in music today)

You'll hit that plateau sooner and more often, increasing the stress on your amp and subwoofer.

Since input voltage is reliant on a lot of other factors, you can't really just put numbers on the gain **** for the claimed output voltage of your headunit and be done with it.

So you can't get more out of your amp by cranking the gain, but by reducing it, you can prevent it from ever hitting full output by reducing the gain.

 

Great writeup man. Do you have a general idea where I should be with a stock HU on the gain? I don't have an A/C multimeter or a text CD of 0db signals... so would it be best to just run the gain as low as it will go (signal x1)??