2 ohm vs 4 ohm mid woofer

[vipervin 10+ year member]

Right now I have the A/D/S 346CS component set (4 ohm) hooked up to PowerBass 400.4 50Wx4 RMS. But my midrange is horribly clipping/distorting at moderate volume levels. The recommended power range for the components is minimum 45W. So I am guessing that 50W is not enough power and is causing the distoration.

Since the amp can do 100W at a 2 ohm load, would I be able to just replace the midrange woofers with some other brand 2 ohm woofer without negatively affecting the amp, crossovers, or tweeters?

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[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

So I am guessing that 50W is not enough power and is causing the distoration.

Too little power will never cause distortion.

That level of power might be overpowering the speakers and causing them to distort.

Or, you have the gain set improperly and are severely clipping the amplifier at high volume levels.

Or, you don't have the highpass filter set properly and are overexcurting the mids.

Since the amp can do 100W at a 2 ohm load, would I be able to just replace the midrange woofers with some other brand 2 ohm woofer without negatively affecting the amp, crossovers, or tweeters?

Assuming you are using the passive crossover...no, you can not do that. Changing the mids to 2ohm drivers will shift the xover point of the crossover.

 

[Notwerk 10+ year member]

I'd say that sounds like your gains aren't set right. And putting a 2-ohm driver on the standard passive crossover will affect the crossover points pretty bad. I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Go over the gain settings again, and carefully. Those are good comps that will run perfectly well with that power (and less and more). Power isn't your issue.

 

[vipervin 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info squeak and notwerk.

I don't think the speakers are overpowered because their recommended RMS power is 45W-150W (http://www.cardomain.com/item/ADS39306). I set the gain by setting my HU (Eclipse CD5423 - 5v preouts) at 2/3 max. volume and then turned the amp gain to reasonable listening volume (which was slightly past the half way point). The amp crossover is currently set on FULL, but I just learned from another member that a HPF should be set. .. because "overexcurting the mids" like you said sounds right for my issue. I will give the HPF a try this weekend.

It is just odd, the bass seemed cleaner and tighter when I was running if off the HU alone.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

It is just odd, the bass seemed cleaner and tighter when I was running if off the HU alone.

Probably because, if the mids weren't highpassed, then they weren't receiving nearly as much power when ran off of the HU and hence weren't overexcurting and being driven well into distortion //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

But yes, definitely turn on the highpass filter and set the frequency to whatever sounds best for your speakers.

 

[vipervin 10+ year member]

Will do.. thanks again =)