Wiring effect on amps -- 1 ohm vs 4 ohms?

[Roland 10+ year member]

Im just trying to understand amplifier and speaker realtion ship a little better.

The amp has more power than what needed for the speaker.

The amp is 1 ohm stable, i can wire it ether way 1 or 4 ohms and still achieve max watt rating of the speaker.

Is there a benefit for the amp, (or the sub) in wiring the sub for 1 ohm or 4 ohms?

Here's the example;

(Precision Power PDX-10K)

Amp output

4 ohms: 3,700 watts x 1 chan.

2 ohms: 6,100 watts x 1 chan.

1 ohm: 6,100 watts x 1 chan.

(Image Dynamics 12" Dual 2 ohm ID MAX V.3)

Speaker Power Handling:

Peak: 1800 watts

RMS: 1000 watts

Recommended Power Range: 200-1000 watts

Click to read more...

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

More efficient the higher ohm rating you go.

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

More efficient the higher ohm rating you go.

So 4 ohms would use less amps from the charging/battery system to produce the same sound?

 

[Sonic. 10+ year member]

Higher the ohm load, more efficent the amp.

Higher the ohm load, less strain on your electrical system. I=V/R , assuming the voltage is constant, higher the resistance lower the current.

For the sub it self, it does not matter, but what will matter is how it effect the rest of the system, hence, if your amp have the capacity to give the sub adequate power at the higher ohm load, overall it would be better.

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

Cool, sorry i may be a little slow at this and thanks for your patients.

So if i understand this right.

100 db of tone X, from our speaker =/needs 100 watts at the speaker. (regardless of ohms...)?

So,

At 1 ohms the amp would use 200 watts from the electrical system to deliver 100 watts to the speaker. = 50% efficient

At 4 ohms the amp would use 150 watts from the electrical system to deliver 100 watts to the speaker. = 75% efficient.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You might want to read the specs on that amp again. Also you are trying to run that power and don't even know the basics? Good luck

 

[southernboom88 10+ year member]

how many of those subs are you tring to hook up to the amp??? lots of power and money if you are not going to use all that wattage.. btw, glad to see some more ATL rep on here!

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

LOL,

DCTC, It is a hypothetical question. I'm trying to understand the theory better. Get some clarity on the subject.

A lot of folks say that more resistance (higher ohm number) is more efficient. Efficiency has a lot of different meanings, I was trying to clarify what others mean by when they say that?

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

You're more efficient and have a better chance of prolonging the life of the amp and your electrical system running at 4 ohms vs 1. People like 1 ohms because it means you can get more power for less dollar nine times out of ten.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Higher efficiency means the amplifier produces less heat. Heat from your amplifier is wasted power.

For your example, if you really have the charging system upgrades to handle that amplifier you definitely want to wire the sub for 4 Ohms. As it stands that is way too much amp for that sub.

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

Wow, thanks Neo and Easy Way, that is what I was tring to find out. If one way or the other was better to minimize load on a alternator...

And as far as speakers are concerned 1 watt to db ratio is 1 watt no matter how its wired.

I probably should have found a better example. Thanks again