Can You Notice The Difference?

[Harrison486 10+ year member]

Hey guys! What's going on?

Well here is my stupid question:

I know that technically when a sub is being run at 4 ohms it is technically under more control than a sub being run at 1 ohms or 2 ohms. Is there an audible difference or anything?

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[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

nope. I dont know who told you the sub was under "more control" at higher impedances. Sure the THD might be .03 higher, but I wouldnt consider that noticable.

 

[Harrison486 10+ year member]

nope. I dont know who told you the sub was under "more control" at higher impedances. Sure the THD might be .03 higher, but I wouldnt consider that noticable.

Well technically, the higher the ohmage (sp?), the higher the resistance, which could be considered more "control" on the power supply

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

the higher the ohmage (sp?),

The word you are looking for is "impedance".

And no, there shouldn't be a noticeable difference.

 

[Harrison486 10+ year member]

The word you are looking for is "impedance".
And no, there shouldn't be a noticeable difference.

haha, thank you.

I may be clinically retarded //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/drool.gif.b5e863e893038027711d4402f340dad0.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Damping factor doesn't change significantly unless the amp's output impedance changes...

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

There are a couple things to consider here. A dvc 2ohm sub for example, with the same amp, wired to 1ohm mono or 4ohms mono (assuming amp can handle it), output will be lower at 4ohms (obviously) but amplifier performance in terms of THD and damping factor will be higher. BUT, in a different situation, amp and sub one combo running at 4ohms, different amp and sub running at 1ohm, the 1ohm setup isn't necessarily putting out more distortion. The 1ohm setup may have an amp designed/built for superior performance at that 1ohm load.

So it is true to say lowering the impedance will raise THD and damp factor (for a given situation), but not true to say all higher impedance setups are running 'cleaner' than lower ones.