1 ohm vs 4 ohm

[kipster78]

I have 2 10 in dual voice 4 ohm subs what will be louder and hit harder paralle 1ohm or series 4 ohm i am trying to decide on anamp to push 1000 wats at 1 ohm or 1000 watts at 4 ohms does any one know which is better?

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[john denver 10+ year member]

1 wont be louder then 4 and vise verse you can probably find an amp cheaper at 1 though

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

it will sound the same. just pick one. imo I would probably wire to 4ohm

 

[Ferendon 10+ year member]

Amp will run cooler at 4 Ohm, but you'll save some cash on an amp if you find one that's 1000w @ 1 Ohm.

 

[pinkfloydms 10+ year member]

Do it 4ohm and get ya an alpine pdx-1.1000. I love mine!

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Amp will run cooler at 4 Ohm, but you'll save some cash on an amp if you find one that's 1000w @ 1 Ohm.

The only situation I know of where that would probably be true is if you were using an amp that's capable of ~3000w at 1 ohm, but just running it at 4 -- which would be a HUGE waste of money and power simply for the sake of a cool running amp.

MOST people running a kw at 4 ohms would PROBABLY be doing it with a BIG bridged 2 ch class a/b - which run hot by design.

A good class D that produces a kw at 1 ohm runs cool by design. That is what leads to efficiencies of 70-90%.

 

[cj407]

if you plan or dont plan on upgrading (which everyone does from their first system anyway) you should get one that does 1000 @ 4 ohm. 99.9% of starter systems are upgraded not downgraded or kept....so better to save you money in the long run by buying a bigger amp now.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

To assume everyone will want >1kw on their sub(s) at some point is ridiculous IMO.