Resistors?

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

I was wondering something: Is it possible to use resistors to achieve a final desired load on an amp?

Like for example, you have a dual 1 ohm voice coil subwoofer but want to wire it to 1 ohm final load. Could you wire it to .5 ohm and stick a .5 resistor in there for a final load of 1ohm on the amp?

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[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Good luck finding a resistor to handle that kind of current without shorting.

It would be much easier and cheaper to find a compatible sub.

 

[pensacol 10+ year member]

Sure you can. But you would need one of these..

And about half of your trunk space.

 

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

HA! guess that answers my question.

It was just a thought. I'm not stuck with a sub lmao.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

You'd also be wasting a ton of amplifier power. In your example you'd be much better off running the sub at 2 ohms. The resistor would simply waste half the 1 ohm power as heat and the power getting to the sub would probably end up less than if you just wired to 2 ohms. Not to mention that the amp would be running much more efficiently.