ok well i bought a new 800w kenwood amp and found out one of my mtx thunder subs were blown. ive had it for around 3yrs+ now tho so no complaints. i took it to circuit city and had everything installed and had the choice between 2 diff subs. mtx roadthunders for $111 (second subs are half off), or audiobahns for $158. i went with the mtx's. they sound great and are loudd. but they are 200w rms and 400 peak, my amp is 800w. they said i have 30 days to trade them and just pay the difference to get the audio bahns . so should i go with the audio bahns i think they handle more watts (pretty sure anyway, maybe 500w-600w a piece) or should i stick with my mtx's? i am really lazy i dont want to have to go back up there (1hr drive, i live in middle of nowhere) and let it sit there in their shop again but i dont want subs that will blow on me anytime soon. any advice? i have links i think to the 2 types of subs i gotta look for them tho but i am pretty sure hte audiobahns handles more watts.

oh yah both are 12", 2 12" audiobahn = $158, 2 12" mtx = $111

Well I don't think that the amp you have will handle the Audiobahn's... What about the Infinity's from Circut City are they running a deal on them cause there a great sub for the price that your amp should power with no problems. I just think that you'll run into underpowering also overheating problems with the Audiobahns . Just my .000002 worth though

one thing to consider: the audiobahns have dual 4ohm voice coils, as where the MTX are single 4ohmers. this could make a bit of a difference in how the amp is wired up and how much power it is producing. you didnt mention what the model # of the amp was, so ill assume its the typical 2 channel that is stable to 2ohms stereo, 4ohms mono.

assuming thats correct, you could run the amp in 4ohms mono (getting the most power and eliminating l/r cancellation issues from a stereo signal) with the audiobahns (wire each coil on each sub in series, wire both subs in parallel briged). the MTXs, however, must be run seperatly...one on each channel at 4ohms (or parralel briged at 8ohms mono), meaning they will get less power.

SQ wise, i find the audiobahns to be more "punchy", and they will get fairly loud w/ enough power and sound great for the majority of music...but they tend to lack low-level (sub40hz or so) output, especially in a smaller box. the MTXs tend to be a little smoother, and allthough they might not seem as dynamic as the audiobahns, they have a relativly flat frequency response and are more forgiving about the box size.

i cant really say what i like better. i used audiobahns in my eclipse in a massive ported box for SPL applications and was very pleased, but believe-it-or-not, im on the search for an old school MTX blue thunder legand 10" to put in the dash of my neon, as ive found it to be the best SQ sub ive ever heard in a small box. ironically, it will be by far the cheapest component in the system, lol.

edit: i hate to disagre w/ pudd dogg, but underpowering subs will never blow them. now if you are running an amp right below the RMS power capabilities and you clip the hell out of it, that MIGHT lead to excess heat and thermal failure. also..assuming you are running the subs in a generic (read: smallish) sealed box the tight air compression/rarification should lend itself well to adding another layer of protection from mechanical failure due to overexcursion (in the case of the MTXs).

everyone has told me to get the audiobahns even the store said they were the best match for that amp. but still id rather spend the $$ on something else because my sys is loud i dont care for something that will start breaking stuff =P. rearview mirror already down =\. i do have to punch the volumne until the vocals distort tho to get the loudness i want. the mtx's are RT1204 model #. the audiobahns are AW120T #. so the audiobahns are 500 watts R.M.S. , and my mtx's are 200rms, 400 max... so im afraid the 800w amp will blow them but the audiobahns will leave room for improvement as well.

I should have explained my response much better than what I did. I was refering to just under-powering by not giveing the audiobahns enough power. I didn't know if he was useing a 2 or 4channel amp or if he was using the dual voice or single coil sub with that I thought there might be a problem with the ohm load for the amp. I took a few things for granted.

ive come to notice 9x out of ten when a person comes out and says "i have a XXX watt amp" they normally don't know what they are tlaking about. being familiar with kenwood im sure this amp says '800 watts' on the case but in all reality its probably 160x2 or so. do some math and built the box right and wire everything smart and either combination will sound nice. just be sure to face the subs straight up or straight back