Impedance Issue

[chimma721]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forums. My friend currently owns (2) JL 12W1's (4 ohm) and a Phoenix Gold Octane amp, both of which he wants to install in his Jeep. The problem is, the subs can handle 150w RMS each, yet the amp only puts out 75w continous per channel at 4 ohms. Obviously this is not the right amp for the job. What he wants to know is whether or not there's a way to bridge the subs together (both are SVC) and result in a 4 ohm load. The amp he has is the 4.0:2, and it is only stable at impedances of 4 ohms and above for bridged channels, or 2 ohms stereo. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! TIA

Click to read more...

 

[chimma721]

Thanks for the welcome,

I have never ran W1's this underpowered before, do you still think that they would be effective or would they be somewhat distorted? JL's minimum continuous wattage is somewhere in the area of 50 Watts.

Another thing i was thinking is that maybe there is a way to somehow trick the amp. What I mean by this is to bridge the subwoofers so you have a 2 ohm impedance, but then ran 12 Gauge into both channels. The problem with this is I am not sure if it would be any different than just running them into seperate channels or not. It sounds crazy but who knows. Thanks

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

They'll be fine. They just won't be as loud. The two would be abit louder than the one off 140W. You don't need to run rated power to a sub. Period. Running less won't hurt it and it will usually sound better, just not as loud.