I got my audiobahns today and noticed something. The peak is 1,100 watts each which I don't know if that is actually good, but the RMS is 550 watts. They run 4 ohms, is that better then 1 ohm or what?
The rms is what matters its the true wattage. The lower the ohm the harder the subs will hit, most subs are 8 and 4 ohm. Some subs come in 2 and can be bridged to 1 ohm which gives the best power. But I say that you got a pretty good setup, go with a amp thats at least 1000 watts and it should be good
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2003 Mustang (YN Silver) Too many mods to list latest and greatest mod: Just picked up a 03' Cobra motor!! Wanted: Tranny and Wiring from 03/04 Cobra..
Yeah, I was going to get a 1,000 watt 2 channel amp, are only like $84. I want to keep them under their RMS so I can like blast them as hard as the amp will go but not blow them. Mine might even be bale to go 2 ohms, I think it's 2, 4 and 8. I guess its a single 4 ohm coil but can do 2 ohm and 8 ohm operation and 4 ohm sterio? Duno, I have the audiobahn AW121T Flame sub woofer, 12". If you wanna check it out and tell me what you think or if I could get 2 ohms I would be more then greatful. I just want them to kick good, like to the point where people can hear them before I pull up next to them, say maybe 50 ft away atleast.
You'll get the best sound if you run a seperate amp to each sub, so you'll have 2 amps each powering its own sub, that will give it the best kick. But yeah those are pretty good subs. To get the most power out of them run 2 500 watt rms MONO amps not 2 channel then those things will thump and I dont think they can go 2 ohm but 4 is good so i'd just stick with that....
< Message edited by Jimmz -- 6/3/2005 1:37:14 AM >
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2003 Mustang (YN Silver) Too many mods to list latest and greatest mod: Just picked up a 03' Cobra motor!! Wanted: Tranny and Wiring from 03/04 Cobra..
The rms is what matters its the true wattage. The lower the ohm the harder the subs will hit, most subs are 8 and 4 ohm. Some subs come in 2 and can be bridged to 1 ohm which gives the best power. But I say that you got a pretty good setup, go with a amp thats at least 1000 watts and it should be good
RMS is the true wattage or continous wattage but you are missing one thing about OHMS. An OHM is a measurement of resistance. In this case, the amount of resistance the amp experiences as it pushes its power to the speaker. While Lower OHM subs will give amps the ability to Push more power, there is a cost in terms of sound quality and the posibility of frying your amp. Kind of like getting an exhaust system that has too low a backpressure for your car. You can actually hurt the performance of your car that way.
4OHM subwoofers give excellent tight response and will give you better defined bass. 2 or 1ohm setups, though they allow higher power output with the same equipment, will have very muddy bass. If all you care about is boomy bass with no definition and the amp can handle it, then 2ohm is good. Otherwise for distinct bass you need a 4ohm hookup. Keep in mind at 2 or 1 ohm, your amp will be roasting, be sure to give it plenty of air!
Another good rule of thumb is you want approximatly twice the amount of power for subs as what your sattelites are pushing. In other words, if your component speakers or door and dash speakers are pushing 500 watts total, then 1000 is what you want for your subs.
xxX Hefty Xxx As far as your question for bridging: It's perfectly fine to use a 2 channel amp bridged to one channel to run a sub. Just make sure it can handle what the total OHM load is going to be. The reason a MONO amp was recommended is that there is some inherent noise (crosstalk) caused when you bridge a 2 channel amp. You will basically be connecting a '+' from one channel and the '-' of the other channel to your sub.
Last thing, You always want to get an amp that has a higher RMS than your speakers can handle. The reason is, if you push your amp to it's limits, you will cause it to start clipping as it will overheat and possibly damage itself or the speaker. Clipping is when the amp starts cutting out either the power or frequency response because you've pushed it too hard. It's like hitting a rev limiter on your car. Not a good idea to run it like that all the time. And trust me, it doesn't take much to be heard 50ft away. Take your time and build a good system that will last not one that will have a melt down.
Add: A single 10 inch installed within an enclosure designed specifically for it and a less powerful highend amp will sound better and get louder than a couple of 12's thrown in a box using a cheap 'powerful' amp.
< Message edited by Derf00 -- 6/3/2005 6:25:37 PM >
Posts: 48
Joined: 3/14/2005 From: eric Status: offline
Very well put, Derf00: too many people don't understand clipping and think they blow speakers by overpowering them when actually they are damaged by underpowering them. A decent speaker will handle well above its rated input as long as it's clean, undistorted power. And a good amp will put out far above its rated output in continuous RMS/channel well below clipping level. In simple terms, it's quality vs. quantity that's important. I have a bridged 2 x 30wpc McIntosh amp powering my single 10" sub in a sealed box, and I'd put the quality up against almost any 1000w amp/sub combo out there! Good call.
Posts: 48
Joined: 3/14/2005 From: eric Status: offline
"Bridging" is combining two channels of a stereo amp, or all four of a four-channel amp, effectively adding the power of each channel together. So a stereo amp rated at 50 wpc, bridged, would be 100 watts for one channel.
I was told my speakers can handle 600 watts RMS with clear defination and wont blow. Why does an amp for one sub make it hit harder then one amp for two subs? Should I get a 600 or 800 watt rms amp then?
I notice absolutely no difference in SQ with 1-4 ohm, and I think it's a load of ****.
Audiobahn subs (all do, but audiobahn are notorious) need to be broken in first as-well, so don't put it at the 550 watts RMS first thing, you do that-you will blow it.
Start it out at about 425 rms, give it a good 8 hours listening time, push it up.. etc. If properly done, you can exceed the RMS rating on the sub. Though Audiobahn is known for over rating their subs at the same time. I had a Kicker Solo-Baric 12" L7 running at 1000 watts RMS off a pg amp.
distortion blows subs, not striaght power. for example, I wanted to test that theory ;x so after pushing 1000 watts rms from the pg amp, i put it on my dsp1600 xplod amp (900 watts @ 2ohm) and ran that bitch with high bass boost and after 5 minutes of ludacris I managed to seize the sub in place, melt the voice coils... smoking out the slot woo woo. I had over the counter exchange so I didn't care. LOL
< Message edited by miglet -- 6/6/2005 2:39:47 AM >
Posts: 259
Joined: 4/23/2005 From: Yonkers, NY Westchester County Status: offline
i was running 1 amp to each sub in my cavy...i had 2 alpine mrd m301 mono amps powering 2 10"alpine type r subs....effin sweet...nice a crisp bass...not all distoted sounding and such
The amount of misinformation here is simply amazing. "there is a cost in terms of sound quality and the posibility of frying your amp." BS "4OHM subwoofers give excellent tight response and will give you better defined bass. 2 or 1ohm setups, though they allow higher power output with the same equipment, will have very muddy bass. If all you care about is boomy bass with no definition and the amp can handle it, then 2ohm is good." NOOB "You'll get the best sound if you run a seperate amp to each sub," Your an idiot. "The lower the ohm the harder the subs will hit," Absolutely clueless.
Go to caraudio.com for real help, nobody around here has a clue.
^ x2 please disreguard ALL information previously posted in this thread as nearly all of it is incorrect. I am also a member of caraudio.com - come there and we will answer your questions if you dont want to sign up there then at least listen to this
Ohms have absolutely no bearing on sound quality - no difference between 1, 2, 4, 8 ohm in quality - it's just not possible. they are at a set configuration of resistance that the manufacturer decides, a subwoofer can NOT change ohms a dual voice coil subwoofer has 2 coils, each with the same ohm load. This allows you more flexibility - you can run them either paralell (positive wires run together to amp's positive & negative wires run together to the amp's negative) or in series Positive from one coil connected to negative on the other coil, then the remaining positive and negative are run to the amp thus making the amp see one speaker. ----The above series and paralell definitions can be applied to either a dual voice coil subwoofer, or multiple single-coil woofers.
you should match a subwoofer's rms wattage to an amplifier's rms wattage make SURE your amp is rated at the correct ohm load for your woofers: if you have a woofer with a single 4 ohm coil, get an amplifier that puts out it's power at 4 ohms if you have a 2 ohm woofer, make sure your amp is 2 ohm stable - if it is not it will likely shut the amplifier down into protection mode. If the amplifier is cheap, theres a good possibility you'll break it.
I agree with the 2 above, for the most part. There was so much misinformation in this thread, that you wouldn't know what was right unless you actually know about car audio and install, or are MECP certified at least. Ohms can effect the sound quality, but it depends on the sub and the amp. Most amps play with higher THD (total harmonic distortion) at a lower ohm load, but will give more power. Now, the THD% on most higher quality amps are not audible, so in a lot of cases, you won't hear a difference in SQ from 1-8 ohms. Yes, you can run one amp to each of your subs, but if you have 2 single voice coil 4 ohm subs, you should not run a mono amp to each of your subs. Most mono amps are designed to run at their highest RMS at 2 ohms. Since you can't bridge a mono amp, you'll be playing at 4 ohms with each of your subs. If you can one larger mono amp with your 2 subs in parallel, you would end up at a 2 ohm load. So, as a for instance, a Fosgate bd1000 amp is designed to run at 500watts RMS at 4 ohms, and 1000 watts RMS at 2ohms, at 14.4 volts. So, if you ran one sub to each mono amp at 4 ohms, you'll get 500 watts RMS each. If you ran the same amp with both subs in parallel, at a 2 ohm load, you'll get 1000watts RMS total, being 500 watts RMS each. You come out to the same result, but the amp is working harder and is less efficient and will more likely get warm and sometimes shut off. With the sake of saving money, get one larger, good quality mono amp. Don't go cheap with an $84 amp that claims 1000 watts. That's a peak power rating that happened one time in a test lab in BFE when lightning struck and will never hit that peak again. That amp's RMS is probably less that half of that, and efficiencey % at like 50%, which is horrible. You have good subs, don't run sh*tty power.
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^ x2 please disreguard ALL information previously posted in this thread as nearly all of it is incorrect. I am also a member of caraudio.com - come there and we will answer your questions if you dont want to sign up there then at least listen to this
Ohms have absolutely no bearing on sound quality - no difference between 1, 2, 4, 8 ohm in quality - it's just not possible. they are at a set configuration of resistance that the manufacturer decides, a subwoofer can NOT change ohms a dual voice coil subwoofer has 2 coils, each with the same ohm load. This allows you more flexibility - you can run them either paralell (positive wires run together to amp's positive & negative wires run together to the amp's negative) or in series Positive from one coil connected to negative on the other coil, then the remaining positive and negative are run to the amp thus making the amp see one speaker. ----The above series and paralell definitions can be applied to either a dual voice coil subwoofer, or multiple single-coil woofers.
you should match a subwoofer's rms wattage to an amplifier's rms wattage make SURE your amp is rated at the correct ohm load for your woofers: if you have a woofer with a single 4 ohm coil, get an amplifier that puts out it's power at 4 ohms if you have a 2 ohm woofer, make sure your amp is 2 ohm stable - if it is not it will likely shut the amplifier down into protection mode. If the amplifier is cheap, theres a good possibility you'll break it.
Um, you need a basic electronics course. Why do you think they offer single and dual voice coil configurations? You are correct in stating that a Sub cannot change it's OHM rating...BUT how you wire multiple speakers or voice coils (Series vs parallel) will have an impact on what the total OHM rating seen by the amp is.
If you wire two Subs in Parallel meaning that both positives go to the positive on the Amp (same with the negatives) you are LOWERING your OHM rating. If you wire it in Series, Amp + to Speaker 1 + , Speaker 1 - to Speaker 2 +, then Speaker 2 - to amp - you are INCREASING the ohms (resistance) seen by the amp.
A dual voice coil simply allows you to use a single speaker that has (2) 4 ohm voice coils. If you need proof since no one here has provided it, grab a volt-ohm meter and try it out.
As for SQ (sound quality) issues..Uh if you know anything about amps, the lower level of resistance allows the amp to more easily push out higher power thus producing clipping as it overheats. Again try this with any car amp. Run it at 2ohms for 30 minutes cranked up and you will get clipping. Try the same thing at 4ohm, it may still happen but it would take longer.
The above site is for home audio but the same principles apply. Take an electrical engineering 101 class and back up your statements if you are going to mouth off and say no one else here knows squat. If you want to get into the math of it, I've got time.
As for being a member of Caraudio.com...big whoop. That's like a kid here saying 'I'm a member of Mustang Forums, and I say it's OK to run a stock engine on 15psi of boost'. Doesn't mean you know squat either. Yah it'll work, but it will send a piston rod through your oil pan after a few days if not sooner.
< Message edited by Derf00 -- 6/8/2005 4:02:07 PM >
I agree with the 2 above, for the most part. There was so much misinformation in this thread, that you wouldn't know what was right unless you actually know about car audio and install, or are MECP certified at least. Ohms can effect the sound quality, but it depends on the sub and the amp. Most amps play with higher THD (total harmonic distortion) at a lower ohm load, but will give more power. Now, the THD% on most higher quality amps are not audible, so in a lot of cases, you won't hear a difference in SQ from 1-8 ohms. Yes, you can run one amp to each of your subs, but if you have 2 single voice coil 4 ohm subs, you should not run a mono amp to each of your subs. Most mono amps are designed to run at their highest RMS at 2 ohms. Since you can't bridge a mono amp, you'll be playing at 4 ohms with each of your subs. If you can one larger mono amp with your 2 subs in parallel, you would end up at a 2 ohm load. So, as a for instance, a Fosgate bd1000 amp is designed to run at 500watts RMS at 4 ohms, and 1000 watts RMS at 2ohms, at 14.4 volts. So, if you ran one sub to each mono amp at 4 ohms, you'll get 500 watts RMS each. If you ran the same amp with both subs in parallel, at a 2 ohm load, you'll get 1000watts RMS total, being 500 watts RMS each. You come out to the same result, but the amp is working harder and is less efficient and will more likely get warm and sometimes shut off. With the sake of saving money, get one larger, good quality mono amp. Don't go cheap with an $84 amp that claims 1000 watts. That's a peak power rating that happened one time in a test lab in BFE when lightning struck and will never hit that peak again. That amp's RMS is probably less that half of that, and efficiencey % at like 50%, which is horrible. You have good subs, don't run sh*tty power.
Finally someone else with some knowledge (Gotmine04 and sick95gt). One thing I would like to add is you mentioned a 14.4 volt power supply. That's another way to tell a good amp from bad. In my day I've seen some manufacturers use 16-16.6V as a reference for their RMS and Peak, taht's a good way to tell a cheesy amp from a quality one. Rockford and Nagamichi used to use 12-12.2V as their reference power to understate their power for car audio competitions.
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Question on subwoofers - 
Why do you think they offer single and dual voice coil configurations? You are correct in stating that a Sub cannot change it's OHM rating...BUT how you wire multiple speakers or voice coils (Series vs parallel) will have an impact on what the total OHM rating seen by the amp is. 