can you run two 400 watt subs through a 400 watt amp?

Question

I have two 400 watt kicker subs and i have a 400 watt kicker amp and i was wondering if it would work if i run both speakers through the same port

Answer 1

You can run two 400 watt subs from a 400 watt amplifier provided you don't go below the amplifier's minimum impedance rating. However, the power from the amp will be split evenly between the two speakers, so each 400 watt speaker would get 200 watts. This won't harm them, and might sound just fine, but you won't be getting the maximum output from your subs.

You will get people telling you that you risk damaging the subs by connecting them to an amp with less power than they're rated for. This is not true; see the link for more information.

By the way, don't worry about your alternator. For normal music listening, most people don't come close to the maximum output of their amplifier except on peaks. Most stock alternators can handle the normal use of a 400-watt amplifier without any problems.

Answer 2

I don't have a lot of expertise in this area, but I do know that it is better to have MORE power than what you need. It will make your amp work less, provide cleaner power to the subs and you will be happier in the long run. The wattage rating is the MAX output possible, you will not get the best performance from either the amp or the speakers... it sounds like you would do well with a 1200watt amp or maybe piggybacking your 400 with an 800watt unit. I believe that most amps run most efficiently at 2/3 power capacity... this will also leave room for you to add speakers or get larger subs.

Answer 3

question? is that a mono or 2 channel amp, if thats a 2 channel amp with 400 watts per channel then yes u will be all set. if thats a mono, with 1 channel at 400 watts, then u need more power cuz when u wire 2 subs to a mono u half the wattage the amps giving out, so pretty much the subs will get 200 a piece and u want 400.

Answer 4

The power output of a mono amp hooked up to more than one sub distributes the power evenly between the subs. So you have two subs hooked up to an amp that is rated at 1500 watts, each one gets 750 watts. Look at RMS ratings, ignore peak ratings. Also, look at what impedence the amp is rated at. An amp that is rated at 750x1@2-ohms will be about 375x1@4-ohms. The Kicker zx750.1 the example I used there.

Answer 5

It's a secondary concern. The primary one is: a standard alternator can handle up to 90-100 Amps which corresponds to about 1000 Watts. When you have headlights, AC, defroster running, they take all of the available power. Adding 40 Amps more (400 Watt amp) will take the alternator out. Option: aftermarket high output alterator, $200 +.

Answer 6

if you are using the amp in mono 1 channel mode, you must make sure the amp is 2 ohm stable, because you will run the speakers in parallel mode. Some amps are, some aren't. If you are running the amp in 2 channel mode, it is no problem.

Answer 7

If you run them in parallel, you will have halved the impedance and the amp may not take that for long. You can run them in series without any problem, though.