Ohm load and sound quality/life of sub

[DarkKnightSM]

So again I hear ohm load of a speaker effects sound quality, I get that. On top of that, now a guy is saying a low ohm setup, such as a dual voice 2 wired down to 1 ohm is bad for a sub. Increases likelihood of a burnt voice coil. This make sure No sense if you have a 1 ohm stable amp. Some from what I have read argue that it increases thd or total harmonic distortion. So if i have a more then enough power, say a sub rated at 2000 watt rms, wired to 1 ohm, then an amp rated at 2000 watts rms, i should have zero issues of longevity of the sub or amp, correct?

I know distortion increases heat, which degrades life of unit. But is it really gonna matter at 1 ohm?

Also am having little luck finding evidence online of this guys claims, you guys wanna chime in?

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[los33]

So again I hear ohm load of a speaker effects sound quality, I get that. On top of that, now a guy is saying a low ohm setup, such as a dual voice 2 wired down to 1 ohm is bad for a sub. Increases likelihood of a burnt voice coil. This make sure No sense if you have a 1 ohm stable amp. Some from what I have read argue that it increases thd or total harmonic distortion. So if i have a more then enough power, say a sub rated at 2000 watt rms, wired to 1 ohm, then an amp rated at 2000 watts rms, i should have zero issues of longevity of the sub or amp, correct?
I know distortion increases heat, which degrades life of unit. But is it really gonna matter at 1 ohm?

Also am having little luck finding evidence online of this guys claims, you guys wanna chime in?

The end to this conversation dies down to clipping.
At a higher ohm load the amp is much more efficient reducing clipping to a much more controllable environment.

Sound quality is more on the box and speaker not the ohm load.

All in all keeping the amp away from clipping and tuning correctly will keep away from burning subs and producing better sound quality.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

So again I hear ohm load of a speaker effects sound quality, I get that. On top of that, now a guy is saying a low ohm setup, such as a dual voice 2 wired down to 1 ohm is bad for a sub. Increases likelihood of a burnt voice coil. This make sure No sense if you have a 1 ohm stable amp. Some from what I have read argue that it increases thd or total harmonic distortion. So if i have a more then enough power, say a sub rated at 2000 watt rms, wired to 1 ohm, then an amp rated at 2000 watts rms, i should have zero issues of longevity of the sub or amp, correct?
I know distortion increases heat, which degrades life of unit. But is it really gonna matter at 1 ohm?

Also am having little luck finding evidence online of this guys claims, you guys wanna chime in?

Who the hell you been talking to must've been eating tide pods...

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Who the hell you been talking to must've been eating tide pods...

Son of a bitch.... Beat me to it...

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Son of a bitch.... Beat me to it...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/suave.gif.858fc102f7646e678ee8af7e1fbc41d1.gif

 

[tymoto21 10+ year member]

you guys don't eat tide pods???

Op it's a subwoofer the frequencies are so low and the inductance of the coil so high it is more difficult to hear distortion compared to speakers.

Run at 1 ohm it is fine

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Some craigslist guy trying to sell a re xxx dual 4 wired. Down to 2. I. Told him I was really hoping for a dual 2, to wire to 1 ohm. Then he brought up the above concern. Touting he had been doing this 17 years. He’s just trying to sell his sub, I get it. But **** people **** me off

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Some craigslist guy trying to sell a re xxx dual 4 wired. Down to 2. I. Told him I was really hoping for a dual 2, to wire to 1 ohm. Then he brought up the above concern. Touting he had been doing this 17 years. He’s just trying to sell his sub, I get it. But **** people **** me off

You cant really trust craigslist shady mofos.

Its easier to not have enough power at 2 ohms and run your sub into clipping because you were expecting much more output than it is fully powering and satisfying yourself at 1 ohm and not even come close to clipping.

 

[DarkKnightSM]

That^ and to get an amp to match an rms rating at 2 ohms vs 1 seems to be close twice as expensive

 

[los33]

That^ and to get an amp to match an rms rating at 2 ohms vs 1 seems to be close twice as expensive

Depends if were talking brazillian or korean/chinese.
Your statement is true on korean type.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[bigblank69 10+ year member]

Not going to lie... I have been thinking about this lately. I really don't think it makes much of a difference with subwoofers, but did see a conversation where a couple Electrical engineers in the amplifier business who were talking about how low impedance does have an effect on SQ and longevity of speakers. It got me thinking about it.... For instance, driving a low impedance increases the current the speaker receives and lowers the voltage, the higher current the thicker wire needed for transfer.

I.E

For example (BTW I'm not calculating box rise into this equation so don't start throwing that in here... I am simply using an easy math equation)

For a DVC 2 subwoofer to receive 1024W (For the math I'm using VA)

4 ohms the VC would receive 64V and 16 amps

1 ohm the VC would see 32V and 32 amps

We know the thickness of cabling is dependent on the Amperage being sent down the line.

Is it possible that their would be less strain on a Voice Coil run at 4 ohms than 1 ohm.... Even with the wattage being the same?

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Ohh you have an interesting observation there! That explains why the leads are always smaller then the actual 1/0 wire you run to the amp. So if the amperage increases with lower impedance, wouldn’t you be able to increase lead size to accommodate higher amperage? Thus reduce voice coil temp?

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

Of course there is less strain but all you would find is that the subwoofer is designed to take the power, not supplying it at 4ohm vs 1ohm will effect quality.

QUALITY of sound IS EFFECTED but not in the direct sense of how the manufacture had to engineer the subwoofer to rate it at X RMS.

The context is about amplifier load configurations effecting sound quality.

This is actually pretty easy to explain.

There are only 2 variables here worth noting comparing 4ohm load to 1ohm load.

Damping Factor

Dynamic Headroom

Let's go ahead and throw Damping Factor out since some will debate if it's even audible difference for subwoofers.

But you cannot argue a change in dynamics.

Isn't it interesting those who "Dyno" amplifiers generally do not, if EVER, show the dynamic rating of a 1ohm stable at 2ohm? or 4ohm?

The people using these machines do not understand what they are doing.

Purchase an amplifier that's 1ohm stable, wire it to 0.7-1ohm as intended.

Impedance rise will be floating from Rest upwards to about 4ohm on average.

The dynamic test on the Dyno is NOT to focus on the wattage value but at what % of increase the value is over the cert/uncert value.

So, if i had a 10000w amp at 1ohm.

It reads 10000w 1ohm certified, 10500 uncertified and 12,500w dynamic.

That means a user wiring well below 1ohm, rising to around 1ohm, there is STILL some dynamics in that amplifier which will sound good on music still wired that low..

But what if the 2ohm rating did this-

5000w 2ohm certified, 5250w uncertified and 7,000w dynamic.

That means there is a LARGER dynamic at 2ohm than at 1ohm meaning the dynamic response of the amplifier on music will sound "better" at this higher impedance than at 1ohm.

And just an FYI for those wondering-

If you've ever noticed on brazilian amplifiers how the dynamic numbers are almost the same as the uncertified numbers at 1ohm..

This is because these amplifiers are not intended to be ran in a MUSICAL environment where the impedance rise is hovering around 1ohm.

This will likely pop something as you need to wire well below 1ohm to do so.

So, since it's known you can damage the amplifier wired that low, then there is no sense focusing on dynamic headroom at a true 1ohm impedance.

Let's see what the dynamic headroom is on these amps at 2ohm and 4ohm on 1ohm stable amps, where your TRUE impedance curve would be when playing music.

That's the area that truly matters.

 

[bigblank69 10+ year member]

Ohh you have an interesting observation there! That explains why the leads are always smaller then the actual 1/0 wire you run to the amp. So if the amperage increases with lower impedance, wouldn’t you be able to increase lead size to accommodate higher amperage? Thus reduce voice coil temp?

Well the wiring to the amplifier wouldn't really be affected as that is always in the 12V-14V range and the current pull in wouldn't necessarily be different regardless of the ohm load of the output (Again this not in practical terms of a 1 ohm stable amplifiers output @ 1ohm and 4 ohms, unless the output is regulated and the output wattage was the same @ 1 ohms - 4ohms). I'm thinking more of the requirements of the Speaker itself. The gauge of wire required on a 4 ohm load would be different from a 1 ohm even if the output wattage was the same.... So yes that could also be true for the leads on the speaker and the voice coil itself..

Not saying the speaker manufacturers don't already account for this....

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Who the hell you been talking to must've been eating tide pods...

There seems to be a trend of tide pod eaters. They even have a Twix bar made for em