Amp Ohm Ratings

wrightie · 03-08-2005, 07:07 PM

My Kenwood amp says it is 200W rms by 1 at 4 ohms
400W rms by 1 at 2 ohms
and 500W rms by 1 at 1 ohm.
I am confused because my amp is a mono block amp and has a set of speaker terminals for the left and the right. when i have both subs running what am I running at? how do I wire it at one ohm to take advantage of the power gain?

Help
Wrightie

jamcllw · 03-08-2005, 07:18 PM

What Ohms are you speakers?

03-08-2005, 07:51 PM

it all depends on your subs.

rowdygls · 03-08-2005, 07:52 PM

a little diff type of question but along the same lines. i understand the hook ups for subs and their ohm values. my question is, taking wrightie's amp as example of 500 watts rms by 1 at 1 ohm is i'm guessing bridged. now here is my question...i hook two 4 ohm subs in parallel (300 watts rms each) so total impedence is 2 ohms. What is my watts value???

mikegett · 03-08-2005, 08:21 PM

The wattage value of a sub does not change. If the rms is 300 watts then you should not exceed 300 watts rms at any ohm.
Writie, your amp does not change ohms. A sub will have a ohm rating (refering to its drivers impedence). The ohm rating will change deepending on how it is wired with another driver. By wiring drivers in parallel the ohms are cut in half. If wired in series the values will be added togeather. A amplifier will rate its output at given ohms. The lower the impedence (ohms) the more amps the amplifier will pull (creating more wattage for the speakers). The problem is that the added impedence creates heat. For this reason some amps can be wired to 1 through four ohm drivers. Pay special attention to this and read up on it. Wiring a sub or speaker in a lower impedence can drasticly shorten the life of your amp.

wrightie · 03-08-2005, 09:34 PM

how do you wire in series? how do you wire in parallel? My subs are 4 ohm apiece and am curious if I can get more power out of my amp right now. Only 2 subs are hooked up to the amp right now and want to know if I can run all 3 with enoough power to make them hit.

Wrightie

eag182 · 03-08-2005, 10:10 PM

My sony amp specifically says not to go under 4ohms, so check your own manual.

The manual for you sub should also include some info on resistence, specifically the parallel (Re^-1 = R^-1 + R^-1 +...) and series (Re = R1+R2+...)

rowdygls · 03-08-2005, 10:32 PM

here's a wiring diagram for ya.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-uNe8p8...&impedance=SVC4

rowdygls · 03-08-2005, 10:33 PM

with that link it shows you how to do some other diff wiring diagrams. it also shows subs wired in parellel and series.

03-08-2005, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikegett@Mar 8 2005, 05:21 PM
The wattage value of a sub does not change. If the rms is 300 watts then you should not exceed 300 watts rms at any ohm.
Writie, your amp does not change ohms. A sub will have a ohm rating (refering to its drivers impedence). The ohm rating will change deepending on how it is wired with another driver. By wiring drivers in parallel the ohms are cut in half. If wired in series the values will be added togeather. A amplifier will rate its output at given ohms. The lower the impedence (ohms) the more amps the amplifier will pull (creating more wattage for the speakers). The problem is that the added impedence creates heat. For this reason some amps can be wired to 1 through four ohm drivers. Pay special attention to this and read up on it. Wiring a sub or speaker in a lower impedence can drasticly shorten the life of your amp.

and as you decrease the impedance your amp is seeing the harder its working and the hotter its going to get........heat and electrical components go hand in hand.....the hotter something gets it loses its ability to produce a clean and clear signal regularly.....some amps are rated down to 1 ohm and some even lower.....in my opinion you are shortening the lifespan of your amp way too greatly by doing that just like mikegett said.......

heres a little something to kick at you guys......say you have a 2 channel amp, bridgable to say 800 watts rms......you got 2 subs, dual voice coiled at 4 ohms.......heres what you do......take each sub, and wire the coils in series, (you have positive going into speaker, its negative into the other positive, and the ground back to the amp....)do that to each speaker and that puts each speaker at 8 ohms........now run both of speakers bridged in parallel and you are taking full advantage of bridging your amp, its keeping your amp at a conservative 4 ohms(extending its life)......and your speakers are more than likely getting enough power.....

mike2002 · 03-08-2005, 10:58 PM

no offense bigD, but i never take your posts seriously, because i look at your avatar and in your picture you look EXACTLY like my older brother, it looks like it could be a picture of him....lol....sorry for jacking the thread

eag182 · 03-08-2005, 11:11 PM

Same here. Looks worried

03-09-2005, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mike2002@Mar 8 2005, 07:58 PM
no offense bigD, but i never take your posts seriously, because i look at your avatar and in your picture you look EXACTLY like my older brother, it looks like it could be a picture of him....lol....sorry for jacking the thread

lol dont worry man.......feel the same way, 1/2 the time it seems u dont fully know what ur talkin about......and the post a picture comment thread is in the off topic section.....just in case u were wondering.....

mikegett · 03-09-2005, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigd6983+Mar 9 2005, 06:27 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bigd6983 @ Mar 9 2005, 06:27 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-mike2002@Mar 8 2005, 07:58 PM
no offense bigD, but i never take your posts seriously, because i look at your avatar and in your picture you look EXACTLY like my older brother, it looks like it could be a picture of him....lol....sorry for jacking the thread

lol dont worry man.......feel the same way, 1/2 the time it seems u dont fully know what ur talkin about......and the post a picture comment thread is in the off topic section.....just in case u were wondering..... [/b][/quote]
I think this is due to the fact that half of the time we don't know what we are talking about. And the other half we are just fooling ourselves into believing we do know what we are talking about. Or so my wife leads me to believe. B)
I liked your response about dual voice coils. It helps to show the versatility of dual voice coils.

wrightie · 03-09-2005, 06:48 PM

Hey rowdy thanks for the wiring diagrams they were very helpfull. I tried some different configs but it really doesnt seem to make a big difference anyway I have it. Oh well what can ya do.

Wrightie

03-09-2005, 06:56 PM

get subs that can handle more power, and buy an amp that can put out more power.

03-09-2005, 08:20 PM

lol very well put travis99.......unfortunately that usually includes breaking the bank.....

and thanks mikegett.......you can get kinda creative, use amps that most people wouldnt think to use......like my interior speakers......all 4 corners are run off of one channel utilizing what i explained up there, the amp is 80x2 or 220x1 @ 4 ohms rms.......80x2 isnt what i needed and i didnt wanna run it at 2 ohms......so i put my electronics degree to work lol......

mike2002 · 03-09-2005, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigd6983+Mar 9 2005, 12:27 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bigd6983 @ Mar 9 2005, 12:27 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-mike2002@Mar 8 2005, 07:58 PM
no offense bigD, but i never take your posts seriously, because i look at your avatar and in your picture you look EXACTLY like my older brother, it looks like it could be a picture of him....lol....sorry for jacking the thread

lol dont worry man.......feel the same way, 1/2 the time it seems u dont fully know what ur talkin about......and the post a picture comment thread is in the off topic section.....just in case u were wondering..... [/b][/quote]
i think i know what im talking about, but you just dont understand :P

just saying you look like my brother so it seems kind of wierd

jamcllw · 03-09-2005, 09:31 PM

bigd that has got to sound like poop

03-10-2005, 10:43 AM

why would it sound like poop? the only thing im sacrificing is the abiliting to adjust left and right and front and back.......its like the amp sees one 4 ohm speaker.....the thd factor is i think a little bit higher when bridged but not really noticable until you really get high up in the power levels........trust me it works.......