Quick Couple Questions

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

OK...I recently purchased two Kicker Solo Baric 12'' L7's with dual 4 ohm voice coils...one of my questions is this...The amp that I am looking at is a Hifonics Zues Zxi 1006 2 channel amplifier...it will be running at 500 watts RMS to each speaker if I run them at 2 ohms...which I was planning on doing...however...I was doing this only to break them in...I was planning on a couple months down the road purchasing another amp so that I could bridge and max each amp to each speaker...it says it will then be running 1000 watts rms to each speaker at 4 ohms...and it says Min. Impedance for bridging and maxing is at 4 ohms...does this mean that if I bridge and max my amp that I can not run it at 2 ohms and would HAVE to run it at 4? it does not give a spec for the RMS rating for running at 2 ohms for being bridged and maxed...and when it said the Min. Imp. is 4 ohms for being bridged that got me thinking... My second question is this...Ok..I have two subwoofers obviously and was curious that if I went the direction of a class D mono channel amp how would this work when I would need two channels? I know you can OBVIOUSLY do it because I have numerous friends that have done it...but my question is...what does the power rating become? For example...if I went the direction of getting a Mono channel amp that was 1600 watts RMS at 2 ohms...what would the general power rating be if I hooked up 2 speakers to it?...any and all help would be greatly appreciated....thanks in advance....

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[mikeyboc 10+ year member]

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/wiringwizard.asp

This will show you how to wire the subs to load you want.

 

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

naw dude...that isn't my question at ALL...thanks for the reply...I know how to wire them to the Load I want...my questions were about the Amps...

 

[hoodkid 10+ year member]

First i would ditch the 2-channel amp idea and go with a class d amp.

When wired with 2 dvc4ohm subs you will eaither get a 1 ohm load or a 4 ohm load, you would want to wire it to a 1ohm load to get the most pwoer out of an Class d amp, and i would get a amp thats atleast 2000 watts +

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Welcome to the forum //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wave.gif.002382ce7d7c19757ab945cc69819de1.gif Let's take this step by step and see if we can make some headway, shall we?

OK...I recently purchased two Kicker Solo Baric 12'' L7's with dual 4 ohm voice coils...one of my questions is this...The amp that I am looking at is a Hifonics Zues Zxi 1006 2 channel amplifier...it will be running at 500 watts RMS to each speaker if I run them at 2 ohms...which I was planning on doing...however...I was doing this only to break them in

Contrary to the popular belief of it being a necessity you do not need to "break in" subwoofers prior to whatever else you plan to do with them. Urban legend and a continually disproven one at that. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

I was planning on a couple months down the road purchasing another amp so that I could bridge and max each amp to each speaker...it says it will then be running 1000 watts rms to each speaker at 4 ohms

It will only be sending 1000 watts to each speaker if the amp's output is 2000 watts.

and it says Min. Impedance for bridging and maxing is at 4 ohms...does this mean that if I bridge and max my amp that I can not run it at 2 ohms and would HAVE to run it at 4?

Most (not all but most) amps are not stable at impedence loads lower than 4 Ohms when in bridged mode. If your particular amp states that the lowest impendence it will run at safely when bridged is 4 Ohms then presenting it with a load lower than that can send the amp into protection (best case scenario) or possibly damage something internally in the amp (worst case scenario)

it does not give a spec for the RMS rating for running at 2 ohms for being bridged and maxed...and when it said the Min. Imp. is 4 ohms for being bridged that got me thinking

I'm not understanding what you are meaning exactly by "maxed" ~ can you elaborate on that, please?

My second question is this...Ok..I have two subwoofers obviously and was curious that if I went the direction of a class D mono channel amp how would this work when I would need two channels?

Easy answer. You do not need two channels to run more than one subwoofer. So long as the amp in question outputs appropriate power for the drivers you are wanting to power with it and can accept the resistance load you are going to attach to it then it will be fine. Not only do people run 2 subs off of a single channel amplifier there are people that run 3, 4, sometimes 6 or more off of a single amp. It all depends on the setup in question.

I know you can OBVIOUSLY do it because I have numerous friends that have done it...but my question is...what does the power rating become? For example...if I went the direction of getting a Mono channel amp that was 1600 watts RMS at 2 ohms...what would the general power rating be if I hooked up 2 speakers to it?...any and all help would be greatly appreciated....thanks in advance....

It would be entirely dependant on the impedence presented to the amp. If the amp does 1600w at 2 Ohms then it likely does 800~1000w or so at 4 Ohms. So - if you show it a 4 Ohm load then it will do the 800~1000 watts. If you show it a 2 Ohm load then it will give you the 1600 watts output.
Have a look here and you can see multiple wiring methods for single or multiple subwoofers. It is not a be all end all guide but it's a handy quick reference.

 

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

It would be entirely dependant on the impedence presented to the amp. If the amp does 1600w at 2 Ohms then it likely does 800~1000w or so at 4 Ohms. So - if you show it a 4 Ohm load then it will do the 800~1000 watts. If you show it a 2 Ohm load then it will give you the 1600 watts output.

when you say this does this mean 1600 watts total at 2 ohms or to EACH speaker...thanks for answering me in such detail I am starting to understand better...but what still confuses me is that simple question...if I hook a Class D amp up that is 1600 watts at 2 ohm and wire my speakers up 2 ohm my guess would be since they are both wired to the same channel they would split the power and give 800 watts to EACH speaker...am I right? and would you get a class D amp instead of the 2 channel like Hood Kid said?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

when you say this does this mean 1600 watts total at 2 ohms or to EACH speaker...thanks for answering me in such detail I am starting to understand better...but what still confuses me is that simple question...if I hook a Class D amp up that is 1600 watts at 2 ohm and wire my speakers up 2 ohm my guess would be since they are both wired to the same channel they would split the power and give 800 watts to EACH speaker...am I right?

Yes ~ if the amp in question outputs 1600 watts when shown a 2 Ohm load and you wire two subs subs to a final nominal load of 2 Ohms (which can be accomplished with a pair of single 4 Ohm voice coil drivers, a pair of dual 2 Ohm drivers, etc) each sub will get half of that 1600 watt output or 800 per subwoofer.

and would you get a class D amp instead of the 2 channel like Hood Kid said?

More often than not when we're talking about comparable output wattage a Class D amp will be less expensive than one that is a Class A/B unit. That's the first advantage. Secondly a Class D unit due to the amp topology, is more efficient (in other words draws less amperage to create the same amount of power) than a comparable output Class A/B amp. The drawback to that is increased distortion levels but in the sub-bass frequency range that added distortion will be virtually inaudible. So - since the distortion factor isn't particularly relevant and you still have the benefit of lower current draw to create the needed power most (not all but most) audio enthusiasts prefer going with a Class D unit for subs.

 

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

Ok lmao...sorry for annoying you...this is my LAST question...thanks for all the help thus far....the link Mikey gave me above to the wiring wizard...I went to it...and I have 2 Subwoofers that are both dual 4 Ohm Voice Coils...and it says my options are wiring them 1 ohm or 4 ohm...I was planning on goin' 1 ohm if I get the Class D amp...but this means that I can't go 2 ohms right? so when selecting my amp if I go with the Class D I should focus on the Power rating at 1 and 4 ohm?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Ok lmao...sorry for annoying you...this is my LAST question...thanks for all the help thus far....the link Mikey gave me above to the wiring wizard...I went to it...and I have 2 Subwoofers that are both dual 4 Ohm Voice Coils...and it says my options are wiring them 1 ohm or 4 ohm...I was planning on goin' 1 ohm if I get the Class D amp...but this means that I can't go 2 ohms right? so when selecting my amp if I go with the Class D I should focus on the Power rating at 1 and 4 ohm?

You're not annoying me, fella. You're asking questions and getting them answered. That's ostensibly the entire purpose to this forum. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

And yes - if you have a pair of Dual 4 Ohm subs they cannot be wired to a 2 Ohm load by themselves. They can be wired to a 1 Ohm, 4 Ohm, or a 16 Ohm final load (which is not depicted in that guide as there's slim to no chance that anyone would want to go that route).

 

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

cool...now I can go laugh at this dude at work...all homeboy cares about is Watts...period...he thinks that just because his SPL 12'' woofers are 2200 watts a piece that his shit is just the best...and he has them hooked up to a 2 Channel Power Acoustik Ts1920 amp...running 440 watts rms to each speaker in a sealed box...he is the dude whole told me to go the 2 channel route because if he "bridges" his amp he can get more power then a Class D amp and his amp was cheaper...this is just what dude told me...but when I pick out my amp my two Kicker Solo Baric L7's are only 1500 watts peak Each...and drop them in a ported box in the back of my Jeep...should blow his doors off.....thanks for all the help...

 

[Fosgate_sux 10+ year member]

If you haven't picked an amp yet may I suggest the orion hcca line, these amps were made to run at ridiculously low impedence and not skip a beat. To be honest I'm not sure if they still make these amps but you can find them if you look. I see them all the time on ebay. If you were to run a hcca 2100 you will be very //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif pleased. Bridge it to see 1 ohm mono.

 

[BigDrez 10+ year member]

is it two channel or mono channel?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

is it two channel or mono channel?

The HCCA 2100 is a big monster 2 channel. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif