Help with subs

[Casey]

I am having trouble with which ohm setup to get with my system. Can someone clarify if a low number of ohms is better than high or what? Can someone explain to me what exactly that they do? I am a little fuzzy on what they really do

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[RangerMan Premium Member]

Okay, first of all, what subs do you have and what how many ohms are they, and are they DVC?

 

[Casey]

I am planning on buying a 15" adiobahn sub which is at 1 ohm

 

[taylor 10+ year member]

Ohms is the measured impedance of the speaker. Your amplifier that you plan to buy will also have an optimal ohm load that it will be able to run at. Most mediocre amps will run optimally at 4 ohms. But if you buy a Class D amp they can usually run at 1 ohm, which is what you will need for that sub you are getting. Also the lower impdeance you take your amp down to the more power it will put out, example my planet audio 1200d puts out 700watts@4ohms. 1060watts@2ohms, and 1510watts@1ohm. But lower impedance also means more THD (Total Harmonic DIstortion). THD isn't very noticeable on a subwoofer amp though so it's not too big of a deal.

THIS IS IMPORTANT...If you buy that sub that has dual 2 ohm coils you MUST buy a Class D amp that is 1 ohm stable. If you try to run that off of an amp that is only 4 or 2 ohm stable it will either shut off or it will fry...

You can also bring your amps impedance up or down by different wiring combinations. Bridging two 8 ohm subs off of your amp will result in a 4 ohm mono load. Two 4 ohm subs will also get you a 2 ohm mono load OR if you have a DVC sub with two 4 ohm coils it will also result in a 2 ohm load. and your sub that you are planning to buy has Dual 2 ohm coils (you stated it is 1 0hm) so bridging that off of your amp will result in a 1 ohm load. All of the above wiring is called paralell. You can also wire in series and series parallell. If you would like wiring diagrams EMAIL me. taylor1623@hotmail.com

 

[taylor 10+ year member]

there really is no better way, 4 ohm will be cleaner supposedly, i have a 15inch type r with dual 4 ohm coils and my amp is running @ 2 ohms and i cant notice if it sounds any dirtier than 4 ohms. SO really if you have the money to spend on a class d amp it will kick ass. If not find a sub with a higher impedance like 4 ohms. then you don't have to buy class d.