Hi guys, I have a small problem regarding my system (or soon to be)...I recently purchased a kaption spl1200 dual 2 ohm....now i know i should have gotten a dual 4 ohm so i can get an amp thats 2 ohm stable but thats kinda out of the question at the moment...now my options are to get an amp that is 1 ohm stable and will run around 600rms to suit the sub or i can get an amp that can run 600rms at 4 ohms and wire the sub in series right?....my question is, first of all can I do this?.....will there be any compromise in sound quality and spl??....whats the difference between running an amp at 1 ohm and at 4 ohms??? what are the advantages and disadvantages?....thanks for the input!

When running an amp at different ohm-ratings your basically dealing with the resistance for current to pass through the amp..

For example in your case running the amp at 1-ohm your amp would pull more power from the battery then at 4-ohms but also produce more heat at the same time...

I'm actually thinking of buying the same sub (also dual 2-ohm), i would say hook it up to a 2-channel amplifier [each voice coil to a separate channel] where your amp sees two separate 2-ohm loads, somewhere in the range of 200-300 watts RMS x 2 @ 2-ohms..

Good Luck

both say 600 wrms@ 1 ohm.
Phoenix Gold X600.1 - Phoenix Gold Xenon 600 Watt Mono Amplifier
or
Hifonics BXi 606 - Hifonics 1 Ch 600 Watt Brutus Amplifier


It will probably cost more for 600w @ 4 ohm
Phoenix Gold Ti600.2 - Phoenix Gold Titanium 2 Ch 600 Watt Amplifier
or
Hifonics ZXi 6006 - Hifonics 2 Ch 600 Watt Zeus Amplifier

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PG MX2
Soundgate LanStar1
PAC SWI-ALP

all else equal you will loose less power in your wiring.... losses in the load stabalizing resistors may be an issue but in most cases it should be more/less relative between 1ohm and 4ohm stable amps...


all in all there isn't much difference as far as car audio applications go....

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SIC Audio

There is no real advantage to running an amp at 1 ohm, there are advantages to running at higher impedances though. At a higher impedance, you are going to produce less heat, and draw less amperage from your charging system, as a 4 ohm load is goig to draw more volts, but less amps than a 1 ohm load drawing more amps, but less volts. So basically, a lower draw on the charging system overall.

if you are running a stock electrical system, as in stock alt, and battery, then it would be more beneficial to run at 4 ohm, opposed to 1; especially if you upgrade in the future, and add more amps.

regards, Mark

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so what do you guys think about the JL 500/1?

can that amp run 500wrms at 1.5 to 4 ohms?

that's what it's rated for.

Mark

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I didnt know an amplifier could decide how many "volts" it gets from the 12 volt charging system haha.

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Please SQ'se my SPL'ing

ok, do some reading then...

Mark

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So would you guys recommed the JL 500/1 for this type of sub?....i can have the freedom of running the amp at 1 or 4 ohms so i'll have the best of both worlds