To bridge or not to bridge my Orion HCCA 225 G4 with my IDQ12?

[bdonkersgoed 10+ year member]

Hey Guys,

I just added a Image Dyanmics IDQ12 (dual 2-ohms) to my system, which is to be powered by an Aorion HCCA 225 G4 amplifier. The person who made the custom box wired the sub in parallel, so it should theoretically be a 1-ohm load.

I am currently on a business trip for two month, but before I left, I got my stereo shop to hook up the Orion amp and just leave the speaker wires for me to connect to the sub once I bought it. I am not quite certain how the amp is hooked up, but it isn't giving a lot of power to the sub, and when I turn up the volume to modestly loud, the sub has distortion. Somethings not right.

I am thinking that perhaps the amp is in stereo, which means that the 40W RMS sub is only getting 2 * 100W @ 1-ohm. Should I be bridging? Would this mean that the amp would put out 1 * 400W @ 1-ohm? If I do bridge, does this mean I am running the sub in mono? Would I only use one RCA in this case?

Thanks!

Bryan

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[bdonkersgoed 10+ year member]

By the way, here are the specs on the amp:

Power ratings at 12V and 0.1% THD

2 x 25 @ 4 Ohm

2 x 50 @ 2 Ohm

2 x 100 @ 1 Ohm

2 x 200 @ .5 Ohm

1 x 100 @ 4 Ohm bridge

1 x 200 @ 2 Ohm bridge

1 x 400 @ 1 Ohm bridge

Features:

• 2 Channel High-Current Amplifier

• Bridgeable

• 500W Continuous Power

• 1-Ohm Stable

• Variable Low-pass 45Hz to 5kHz

• Variable high-pass with INTELLi Q 10Hz to 10kHz

• 10dB of boost with INTELLi Q

• 12" x 10.25" x 2.25"

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If you don't brdge the amp, and just connect the box as it is currently wired you would only be able to wire it to one channel @ 1 ohm. That would give you 100W and would only use one channel of the amp. Bridge the amp and get full use of the power it can provide. I have 3 of the gen3 225s and they shine at low impedance. That is what they were made for.

Bridge it. Final answer.

You can connect both RCAs to the amp. The amp will sum it internally.

 

[bdonkersgoed 10+ year member]

If you don't brdge the amp, and just connect the box as it is currently wired you would only be able to wire it to one channel @ 1 ohm. That would give you 100W and would only use one channel of the amp. Bridge the amp and get full use of the power it can provide. I have 3 of the gen3 225s and they shine at low impedance. That is what they were made for.
Bridge it. Final answer.

You can connect both RCAs to the amp. The amp will sum it internally.

Thanks man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I knew that something was wrong with my amp setup, so I took it to Mobile Concept in Glenview, IL and they did a couple of minor adjustments and had it sounding awesome in a few seconds //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif It is now bridged like you said, and sounds great //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Now I am going to get them to fix up the hacked install that I had done on my components and amps. They sound really impressive and I am confident that they will get the job done right for once and for all. I saw some of their work and it looks pretty nice!

--Bryan--