Question about Ohms

[brooklynjoy2008 10+ year member]

If I take a 3000 watt amp that does rated @1 ohm 14.4. Set it correctly to 1500 rms @1 ohm. Then set it correctly to 1500 @ .5 ohm. Would there be a difference? Like if I took a saz1500 and set it to 1000@ .25 would there be a difference from 1 ohm? And this is in a situation where your electrical can handle 1000-1500. Or do you take losses from your equipment by running them at a lower impedance, but not trying to take more from the amp? This is a hypothetical question to better understand this hobby.

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Gain will need to be adjusted when you change the load. Keep in mind impedance is dynamic and your 1 ohm nominal load may or may not ever even show 1 ohm load to the amp when it's playing music, and if it does it will only be at 1 frequency.

 

[brooklynjoy2008 10+ year member]

Gain will need to be adjusted when you change the load. Keep in mind impedance is dynamic and your 1 ohm nominal load may or may not ever even show 1 ohm load to the amp when it's playing music, and if it does it will only be at 1 frequency.

I know I have to reset it. My question is, is there a difference? Would 1000 watts @1 ohm be different than 1000 Watts @ .0625?

 

[brooklynjoy2008 10+ year member]

What I mean is. As far as the amp is concerned, would that matter given that the amp can handle 1000 rms. For example, an amp that can do 1000@ 4 ohms, then set it to 1000 @ 1 ohm. Would the amp be less efficient, and working harder?

 

[Chriszle 10+ year member]

it is harder on your amp to run it at lower impedance. The amp gets hotter.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

What I mean is. As far as the amp is concerned, would that matter given that the amp can handle 1000 rms. For example, an amp that can do 1000@ 4 ohms, then set it to 1000 @ 1 ohm. Would the amp be less efficient, and working harder?

Yes, running lower impedance is much more stressful on the amp and loses efficiency. If you half the impedance, your MOSFETs are doing 4X as much work.