Need some planning help please!

[gettheledout 10+ year member]

Here is the full story, I currently have a 1st gen Orion 250 HCCA, bridged at 1 ohm powering my sub. I have an older alpine 4ch powering my door speakers. My sub is a dual VC, so it can be run at either 1 ohm or 4 ohm. My car simply cannot handle the current draw the 250 HCCA pulls, so I need an amp that puts out around 600w RMS with pretty good efficiency. I need to either sell my 250 HCCA, or trade it for an efficient amp. What should I do? Should I try to keep my alpine 4ch, and find a decent amp to run at 1 or 4 ohm, or is there an efficient 5 channel amp that will allow me to run my sub at 1 ohm and my door speakers at a different impedance? Any help is appreciated, or any ideas of trades for my HCCA 250! Thanks!

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[ahole-ic]

Here's an idea. Wire your sub at 4 ohm. Problem solved.

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[gettheledout 10+ year member]

That's feasible, how many watts do you think the 250 HCCA will make at 4 ohm? Compared to a newer amp making similar watts at 4 ohm, is the loss in efficiency of this older amp worth keeping it?

 

[ahole-ic]

At that low of a wattage, it really shouldn't be a big issue. When you get up around 1000 watts you'll want to go class d.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

there will be maybe 100-200W difference in efficiency comparing the HCCA class A/B vs. a newer Class D - 50% vs 80% (approximately). but there is a lot more to it than that, as efficiency varies with impedance load and output.

if you find that you're wanting more output at 4 ohms, you can look at an Alpine MRP-M1000 which makes a CEA rated 600W RMS at 4 ohms

Alpine MRP-M1000 Mono subwoofer amplifier 1,000 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com

 

[gettheledout 10+ year member]

Thanks for the replies, I'll be running the 250 HCCA at 4 ohms for now.