Will a 4 ohm subwoofer run at 2 ohms safely?

Question

Hi everyone. I have two 12" 4 ohm subwoofers and an amplifier that runs at 2 or 4 ohms, delivering more power at 2 ohms. I was just wondering if I run the subs at 2 ohm to get the extra power, will their be any problems or complications with that? Thanks.

Hi again. The amp is a 4 channel. It is 100w x 4 @ 4 ohms and 160w x 4 @ 2 ohm as stated in the specifications. I was planning to bridge 2 channels together for each sub. If I do that at 2 ohms do you think it will work?

Thanks for all the help. It's a Duval 1200w amp (why they say it's 1200w when it puts out 100w per channel I don't know). I bought it off eBay and here is the URL: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=009&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=190129828706&rd=1&rd=1

It says in the specs in the item description it puts out 160w per channel at 2 ohms. I'm just wondering how I can get the most power out of the amp for each sub.

Answer 1

The subs are 4 ohms; there's no changing that. If you have a mono amplifier that's stable at 2 ohms, you can wire the two subs in parallel for a 2-ohm total load. That is exactly what mono amps are designed for. However, if your amp is a 2-channel, then your best option is just to wire a 4-ohm sub to each channel. Most 2-channel amps can't safely run a 2-ohm load in bridged mode.

Just remember that the impedance rating of a sub isn't something that can be changed to suit the amp.

Answer 2

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RE:
Will a 4 ohm subwoofer run at 2 ohms safely?
Hi everyone. I have two 12" 4 ohm subwoofers and an amplifier that runs at 2 or 4 ohms, delivering more power at 2 ohms. I was just wondering if I run the subs at 2 ohm to get the extra power, will their be any problems or complications with that? Thanks.

Answer 3

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The impedance can effect sound quality, as impedance is directly related to the inductance. The inductance effect the transient response of a speaker. Ever heard the 'ol wives' tale that smaller speakers have more punch? It isn't the size that effects how fast a speaker can transition for note to note, but rather how much inductance the speaker has. The lower the inductance, the quicker a speaker can recover from moving in one direction, stop, and change direction. The higher the load, the lower the inductance is for any given motor. As I have said in another answer a while back, different motor typologies lend themselves to effectively lower inductance to where the impedance becomes a moot issue. AFAIK, the Type R doesn't share any of these "trick" to lower the inductance. The most common of these extras is using copper in the pole piece as a Faraday ring. If none of these tools are being employed, than impedance becomes a larger issue when it comes to the transient response of the speaker. My suggestion is to buy the dual 2 ohm sub. Run it in series as a 4 ohm sub, and you will be powering it with 600 watts; which should be plenty to run a 500w rms sub safely. If you decide you need more bass down the road, buy another dual 2 ohm, and run the set of subs in parallel to get 1000w. This will power each sub at 500w, which is Alpine's recommendation; and unless you are running the sub in a smaller than optimal sealed enclosure or a ported enclosure with a subsonic filter set right below tuning, should give you plenty of wattage to move the sub at full excursion and not cause you any issues with overpowering the sub. 110STRYKER said: "In other words, the lower the Ohms, the less Resistance, the more power flows to the speakers, cleanly and safely." Check the specs of any amplifier, and you will see that as the load increases, the THD (total harmonic distortion) increases also. In other words, the lower the ohms, the more noise you will get.

Answer 4

Is that amp even brideable?

If there are any other specs, please post.

Find out what the amp is when two of the four channels are bridged @ 4 ohm.

It should be something like 200 watts RMS X 2 @ 4 ohm. If this is the case, you would wire each sub to each bridged channel (two of them).

Answer 5

if you want to make it a 2 ohm load, bridging your amp wont make that, if you bridge it it will still be a 4 ohm load per bridged channel.. if you wanted to make a 2 ohm load you would have to wire your subs in parallel off one set of the bridged channels... wiring them in parallel is wiring both + together to the same + and both - together to the same - in the bridged channel. the only other way to do what you want it to do is to either get 2 more 4 ohm subs or get a 2 ohm resistor and wire that in parallel with each speaker.. but i wouldn't recommend that..

Answer 6

Since you have a 4channel amp, simply wire one sub to each bridged output. This will yield full power from the amp.

For most power, 4channel amps can be ran at either 2ohms x 4, or 4ohms x 2. Both will get full power from the amp.
Stereo (2channel) amps can either be ran at 2ohm stereo (x 2) or 4ohm bridged. Each will get full power from the amp.
Most mono (1channel) amps can be loaded down to 2ohms for full power. Some can even go down to 1/4ohm, but not all.

Good Luck!

Answer 7

the question is not can your subs take it. the question is can your amp safely support a 2 ohm load?

Answer 8

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