single DVC 6-ohm sub

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

most amps are rated to perform at 1/2/4ohm. with a single dvc 6-ohm sub, will it be ok to run an amp at 3ohm still?

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[Bumpin-dah8o8 10+ year member]

Yeah, well from wut I know it will give you power anywhere between those loads say 1-4ohms. I guess they just say @ 1/2/4 because theyre even numbers just as a benchmark and 1 just for the lowest stable ohm achievable.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

if the sub is single 6 ohm, to get a rough estimation on what the amp does at 6 ohm, multiply the 4 ohm rating by 1.5

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

if the sub is single 6 ohm, to get a rough estimation on what the amp does at 6 ohm, multiply the 4 ohm rating by 1.5

x2

 

[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

if the sub is single 6 ohm, to get a rough estimation on what the amp does at 6 ohm, multiply the 4 ohm rating by 1.5

x2

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif its gonna do less power at 6 ohms than 4 not more lol.

4 ohm power*.75 would give a much better estimate //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.

If an amp can take a 1 ohm load, it can easily take a 3 ohm load. Its when your amp see a lower load that it is rated for(1 ohm stable amp running @ .25 ohms, random example)...thats when ya need to be careful/worried.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

whoops...haha. i was thinking of 3 ohm. thx bimma.

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

Word, yes less power. What kind of sub is it?

 

[fosgate140 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif its gonna do less power at 6 ohms than 4 not more lol.4 ohm power*.75 would give a much better estimate //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.

If an amp can take a 1 ohm load, it can easily take a 3 ohm load. Its when your amp see a lower load that it is rated for(1 ohm stable amp running @ .25 ohms, random example)...thats when ya need to be careful/worried.

couldnt of said it better myself bimma:handclap:

 

[SHOtime 10+ year member]

What about an amp that is rated for 4 ohms mono? Will running that at 3 ohms be too dangerous, or is it a negligible difference. I'm talking about a JL 12w3v2 d6.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Chances are that the amp will never "see" 3 ohms from the sub. The impedance of the speaker varies with frequency and rarely gets as low as the nominal value. It might be fine. It could kill the amp, you really don't know until you try.

As far as a wag on power multiply the 4 ohm power by 4 and divide by 3.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Pretty much what Helotaxi said.

Just to be on the safe side, it's best to find an amplifier that is stable down to 2ohms. As long as the amplifier is stable down to 2ohms, it will be stable to anything above 2ohms. It's just that a 3ohm load is sort of an oddball impedance, so manufacturer's just don't give you the rated power at the impedance.

To find power output at that impedance, you'd do as helotaxi said. Mulitply the 4ohm rated power by 4 and then divide by 3. Or you could square the output voltage and divide that by 3...but that's a little more work (both arrive at the same answer). This value will actually be less than if you simply split the difference between the 4ohm rated power and 2ohm rated power. But then again...this method also abides by Ohms Law //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[SHOtime 10+ year member]

Thanks for the advice. After some consideration, I decided to go new and get an Eclipse XA1000 with a warranty. Should be plenty powerful even at 3 ohms, though I'm not sure I'm getting an accurate number from these calculations. I get almost the same number as the rated 2 ohm power. Can this be right?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Yes that could be right. The calculation gives you power output under ideal conditions. Most amps don't follow Ohm's law directly because losses inside the amp limit the voltage output at higher current levels. Result is that the power doesn't double when the load is halved. Some amps do better than others is this respect. To answer the real question that I'm sure you have, the power output will be somewhere between the 2 and 4 ohm power and closer to the 4 ohm power than the 2 ohm.

 

[SHOtime 10+ year member]

Well that's a relief, because I'd hate to blow this sub up and have to spend for another one. Thanks again!