Are walls always louder?

[KilluminatiDre 10+ year member]

I have my daily drivers wired down to .05 ohm and i havent regretted a second of it.
CBB

What amp are you running? I havent been able to find any info on any running xtrs at .5 for long periods of time. Im afraid to try it and potentially having to find a huge amp at 2 ohm or strapping another amp lol

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

What amp are you running? I havent been able to find any info on any running xtrs at .5 for long periods of time. Im afraid to try it and potentially having to find a huge amp at 2 ohm or strapping another amp lol

The juice really isn't worth the squeeze. If you can't afford the cost and downtime of blowing up an amp avoid .5. "I know a guy" or "one of my buddies" getting away with it for some length of time doesn't invalidate the fact that halving the impedance quadruples the heat. There's no amount of "good electrical" or "clean power" or whatever other horseshit you'll be shoveled that makes .5 good for an amp; the fact that few if any manufacturers warranty at that point should tell you what you need to know there. Notice even the "good" ones like DD and IA that a lot of people wire very low still will not warranty there.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

i beg to differ, the juice is totally worth the squeeze but if and only if you have a backup plan/spare amp. You also dont have to push it hard either to get higher amounts of output without having to redline the amp so the heat generated is actually less than 1 ohm clipped (because you are no where satisfied with the output there)

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

i beg to differ, the juice is totally worth the squeeze but if and only if you have a backup plan/spare amp. You also dont have to push it hard either to get higher amounts of output without having to redline the amp so the heat generated is actually less than 1 ohm clipped (because you are no where satisfied with the output there)

The big caveat being the "backup plan" which somewhat implies you are ready and willing to blow up your amps prematurely. Worth it becomes rather subjective. To guys like you and me, yes, but speaking for myself I have a budget of a certain amount of money I plan to spend every year on broken audio equipment. That said, I haven't blown up an amp in a while and I may well change my tune next time I do.

As far as pushing harder, class D amps are most efficient running at max unclipped power (though generally at higher impedance). That's where they get the published efficiency numbers. Running his 4K amp into 1 ohm rising up to 2 or 3 average at max unclipped volume will be far more efficient than running the 2K version at .5 ohm for the same output. Likewise running his 4K amp at .5 ohm to only use half of it's power puts it in a less efficient state even at half power you are still creating more heat. Again, every halving of impedance quadruples heat in the semiconductors.

Lastly we're not talking about running a 40.1 or Crossfire 4K, we're talking about Orion. I would not run .5 on that tier amp outside of burps.

 

[KilluminatiDre 10+ year member]

The juice really isn't worth the squeeze. If you can't afford the cost and downtime of blowing up an amp avoid .5. "I know a guy" or "one of my buddies" getting away with it for some length of time doesn't invalidate the fact that halving the impedance quadruples the heat. There's no amount of "good electrical" or "clean power" or whatever other horseshit you'll be shoveled that makes .5 good for an amp; the fact that few if any manufacturers warranty at that point should tell you what you need to know there. Notice even the "good" ones like DD and IA that a lot of people wire very low still will not warranty there.

Makes sense, that why I figured I'd just get a really big amp @ 1 ohm and not risk the issues.

 

[KilluminatiDre 10+ year member]

The big caveat being the "backup plan" which somewhat implies you are ready and willing to blow up your amps prematurely. Worth it becomes rather subjective. To guys like you and me, yes, but speaking for myself I have a budget of a certain amount of money I plan to spend every year on broken audio equipment. That said, I haven't blown up an amp in a while and I may well change my tune next time I do.
As far as pushing harder, class D amps are most efficient running at max unclipped power (though generally at higher impedance). That's where they get the published efficiency numbers. Running his 4K amp into 1 ohm rising up to 2 or 3 average at max unclipped volume will be far more efficient than running the 2K version at .5 ohm for the same output. Likewise running his 4K amp at .5 ohm to only use half of it's power puts it in a less efficient state even at half power you are still creating more heat. Again, every halving of impedance quadruples heat in the semiconductors.

Lastly we're not talking about running a 40.1 or Crossfire 4K, we're talking about Orion. I would not run .5 on that tier amp outside of burps.

Yea definitely not trying to blow up any amps especially for a daily lol