I'm a beginner, need some help...

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

your amp killing itself and/or sub.

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

Lol, stupid Q, What clipping?

Instead of writing 4 more paragraphs on the basics of amplifiers, I am instead suggesting you visit this website:

http://www.bcae1.com

 

[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

Instead of writing 4 more paragraphs on the basics of amplifiers, I am instead suggesting you visit this website:
http://www.bcae1.com

Good site. I learned alot on that site.

*edit* Should be a "must read" for all noobs.

 

[Slay]

is there a tutorial i can read on this site that'll tell me how to know whether this amp will work with that sub?

 

[truaudio]

Don't give advice if you don't know what you're talking about.

don't be a smartass... smartass

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

don't be a smartass... smartass

I appreciate your intelligent response to my post. Please enlighten me with additional intelligent posts. You're awesome.

To the OP:

To match an amp to a subs, there are a couple things to know about: power ratings and impedance ratings

Power ratings are reported at certain impedances. This is because when you lower the impedance (also called resistance, but slightly different, I won't go into it now), the amp can generally produce more power. I said generally. There are some amps that produce the same power into different impedance loads, but we won't go into that either.

Always look at rms ratings. I think you know this already, just a reminder.

Now look at the sub voice coil configuration. A voice coil is the coil of wire in the subwoofer which creates a magnetic field when electricity is run through it. This magnetic field interacts with the permanent magnet in the sub and causes the cone to move in or out, depending on the direction of the electricity.

SVC = single voice coil

DVC = dual voice coil

You probably won't see it much, but some subs are quad voice coil

Each voice coil will have a "nominal" impedance. This is the number you use to match it up with amps. The actual resistance of the sub varies greatly with frequency.

If the sub is SVC, then you only need to know the nominal impedance, and match that up with the amp.

If the sub is DVC, then the coils can be run in series or parallel. If you wire them in series, the impedance you present to the amp will be double of one of the coils. So a 4 ohm DVC sub wired in series would be 8 ohms total. a 1 ohm DVC sub wired in series would be 2 ohms total.

Now, if you wire the coils in parallel, the total nominal impedance load seen by the amp will be half of one of the coils. So a 2 ohm DVC sub wired in parallel would present a 1 ohm load to the amp. A 4 ohm DVC sub wired in parallel would present a 2 ohm nominal impedance to the amplifier.

Now you have to look at what the amp can make and what it can handle. Amplifiers like higher impedances better. It is easier on the amp. And higher impedance drivers are often more efficient. However, you can get much more power from an amp at a lower impedance. Just make sure you look at the specs to see what the minimum impedance load is. If it doesn't have a rating at a certain impedance load, then that means that it probably isn't safe to run it at that level.

Then there is bridging. If your amp has 2 channels, they can often be bridged to power one source (a single SVC sub, a single DVC sub, or even 2 SVC or 2 DVC subs wired together). This is where you have to be careful. If a single channel on a 2-channel amp is only safe down to 2 ohms, then it is called 2 ohm stereo stable. This means that it can handle a minimum of 2 ohms on each channel. Now if you bridge it, the minimum load you can apply would be 4 ohms, because each channel "sees" only half of the impedance load. It's more complicated than that, but that is simple enough for understanding. 2 ohm stereo stable is the same thing as 4 ohm mono stable. Remember that. Thus, 1 ohm stereo stable is the same thing as 2 ohm mono stable.

I can't think of anything else right now...but I'm sure there's something. Just ask.