power and ohms???

[azzkikr 10+ year member]

Please clear this up for me

What would be louder???

1200 watts at 4-ohms

1200 watts at 1-ohm

My guess is that one ohm is because of resistance but I am not for sure and want to know the right answer. I just told one of my friends that his system wasn't at its full potential b/c he was running the rms power at 4-ohm when he should have tried for an amp that ran at 1-ohm. His subs by the way are dual 4 ohm with 600 rms each.

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[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

Both will be equally the same.. 1200w is 1200w.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The only difference is the stresses put on the amp...

Damping factor technically changes too, but for the same amp topology, you'd never notice the difference.

 

[albarran9 10+ year member]

yeah it the same thing

 

[MrWizzard 10+ year member]

A 1200 watt amp at 4 ohms will cost more too, since most rate their max rms power more twoards 2ohm or 1ohm... but less resistance the better, technically, since it takes less power to get the desired output, but the amp must be designed for that or "poof" hehe.... home stereo's are mostly all 8 ohm too.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I just told one of my friends that his system wasn't at its full potential b/c he was running the rms power at 4-ohm when he should have tried for an amp that ran at 1-ohm.

If his amp was one ohm stable, that would work...otherwise, you can't do that. You should run the amp at the lowest stable load impedance.

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

What amp is he using that is giving out 1200w at 4 ohms AND 1 ohm?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I know PG Xenon's do that...JL's are stable to 1.5 to 4...

My Tantrum is stable from 2 to 4.

 

[Raffi 10+ year member]

Which is heavier? a ton of cotton or a ton of steel? Its the same!

1200=1200

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Like I've said before, only if it's unclipped and from the same class of amp //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif But that's what's going on here, so a watt really does equal a watt here.

 

[chinny 5,000+ posts]

Both of them will be equally loud, but get he 4ohm since its less current draw from your electrical system.