2ohm or 4ohm

[1BadHawk 10+ year member]

Is there any benefit to having 2ohm over 4ohm DVC's? Reason I ask, is i just ordered a pair of RE HC's and they are 2ohm DVC, but I understand you can order them with 4ohm DVC. Currently my amp wont support both 2ohm subs. So instead of buying another amp or two, Im thinking maybe I should call RE back and see if I can change to the 4ohm DVC.

I was just wondering if doing this will quality be lost with regards to performance?

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[oryan20xx 10+ year member]

2 dual 2 ohm subs will allow a 2 ohm load, while 2 dual 4 ohm subs will allow either 1 or 4 ohm loads (depending on how you wire them). If the amp is 1 ohm stable, dual 4 ohm is the way to go; if the amp is 4 ohm stable, dual 4 ohm is the way to go. If the amp is 2 ohm stable, dual 2 ohm is the way to go.

1 ohm is the most power, then 2 ohm, then 4 ohm.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

1 ohm is the most power, then 2 ohm, then 4 ohm.

Depending entirely on the amp.

What amp do you have?

 

[1BadHawk 10+ year member]

My amp is capable of 1x1200wrms @4ohm, so I should go with the 4ohm dvc instead of the 2ohm ones right?

Not sure I understand how 1ohm is more powerful then 2, 4. If my amp can only put out 1200wrms at 4ohm, how does that differ from an amp that 1200wrms at 2ohm or 1ohm? 1200w is 1200w right?

 

[oryan20xx 10+ year member]

1200 watts is 1200 watts.

My amplifier-

4 ohm - 200 watts

2 ohm - 400 watts

1 ohm - 800 watts

if the amp is stable to a lower ohm (less resistance) it will produce more wattage

 

[Ptown 10+ year member]

An amplifier tries to throw as much power into a resistance load as it can. Higher loads (4 ohms) restrict the amount of power delivered to the speakers, and therefore also allow the amplifier to run easier.

That's why 1 ohm and .5ohm loads are dangerous to some amps with unregulated power supplies - cause the amp will just keep pushing harder until it overheats.

Some amps are fully regulated for resistance, and deliver the same power into 1, 2, or 4 ohm loads. JL's slash series mono amps are like this - the 500/1 and 1000/1.

http://www.audioperfect.com

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Ptown did a good job explaining, let me try a slightly different way. Ohms is a measure of resistance on current (flow of electrons). The higher the ohms (4ohm vs 2ohm for example), the more resistance on the current. Therefore, say your amplifier is pushing X amount of pressure down the speaker wires. If you double your resistance on the circuit by going from 2ohm to 4ohm, the amp is pushing with the exact same force, but it is being resisted with twice the force, so its overall output is halved. Make sense?

Now about dvc's. Simply speaking, dvc's exist to give flexibility in wiring options. The more voice coils you have in your circuit, the more options you have as to wiring combinations for a final impedance. DVC's also are made to allow you to get ultra low impedances out of a small number of subs. This has become popular today with the low impedance, high current amps on the market today.

If your amps is stable to 4ohm bridged max, I recommend getting 4ohm dvc's, or 8ohm svc's. 2ohm svc's would also work, but those aren't too prevalent.

edit:

"That's why 1 ohm and .5ohm loads are dangerous to some amps with unregulated power supplies - cause the amp will just keep pushing harder until it overheats."

Running a lower impedance than your amp is rated for is dangerous to it, be it with a regulated power supply or not. And, being a regulated power supply is no guarantee the amp will run those low impedances.