More of electronic basics - Arc amp Ohm question

[talltigeguy]

Can I run it bridged and wire it to get 4 Ohms? If I run it in series, I get 8 Ohms and parallel I get 2 Ohms. Is there a way to have the amp only see 4 Ohms? Then I could bridge it and get the full 550 watts.

I assume that I will blow the amp if I do it bridged and in 2 Ohms?


That reminds me of when I was sitting at the dealership and I decided that I wanted to see what the tower speakers sounded like. I turned on the batteries and then the stereo...There was some popping and then smoking from the tower speakers, no sound. I was worried that there was a 'you break it, you buy it policy' but obviously they had wired something up wrong.

[chpthril]

Can I run it bridged and wire it to get 4 Ohms? If I run it in series, I get 8 Ohms and parallel I get 2 Ohms. Is there a way to have the amp only see 4 Ohms? Then I could bridge it and get the full 550 watts.

I assume that I will blow the amp if I do it bridged and in 2 Ohms?


That reminds me of when I was sitting at the dealership and I decided that I wanted to see what the tower speakers sounded like. I turned on the batteries and then the stereo...There was some popping and then smoking from the tower speakers, no sound. I was worried that there was a 'you break it, you buy it policy' but obviously they had wired something up wrong.

2 4ohm DVC subs wired parallel, and then seriesed would = 4ohm. Problem is they will split the amps output

That is a question for the manufacture whether or not the amp will handle a 2ohm load in bridge mode

[philwsailz]

Can I run it bridged and wire it to get 4 Ohms? If I run it in series, I get 8 Ohms and parallel I get 2 Ohms. Is there a way to have the amp only see 4 Ohms? Then I could bridge it and get the full 550 watts.

I assume that I will blow the amp if I do it bridged and in 2 Ohms?


That reminds me of when I was sitting at the dealership and I decided that I wanted to see what the tower speakers sounded like. I turned on the batteries and then the stereo...There was some popping and then smoking from the tower speakers, no sound. I was worried that there was a 'you break it, you buy it policy' but obviously they had wired something up wrong.

stereo amp, with dual 4 ohm woofer coils. Pretty common situation...

You probably cannot parallel the woofer, as that will result in a 2-ohm load. that creates a situation where each half of the amp sees a one-ohm load. Most amps do not like that. As Mike says, that question is best asked of the amp manufacturer.

You can wire in series to a bridged amp section, but that results in each half of the amp "seeing" a 4-ohm load. Exactly the same as if you just run the amp in stereo and wire each channel to a coil.

I think that is what is being asked here. Is my asumption correct?

[philwsailz]

The Kicker Marine model MX700.5 is an amp that is specifically designed for the application I think is being asked about.

It is a five-channel amp. 4 full range channels for the coax "in-boat" speakers, and a digital mono sub amp.

It delivers 70 watts x 4 at 4 ohms per channel, and will deliver 90 watts x 4 into a 2 ohm load per channel.

The subwoofer section will deliver 420 watts into a two ohm load; specifically what you are looking for with the dual 4-ohm voice coil woofer you are talking about.

The wierd thing about the Kicker amp is that when you put the regular channels to 2 Ohms, it only goes from 70 to 85 Watts, so I worry that it will not leave me as happy with the interior speakers.

Actually a cool thing. Mathematically amps double their power when the impedance is halved. Conversely, amps halve their power when their impedance is doubled. The slight difference in the Kicker power output is good, as you can still get a lot of power out of the amp channels at a 4-ohm load which is easier to run, and keeps the amp cooler. Instead of dropping from 90 to 45 watts going from 2-ohms to 4-ohms, you only drop to 70 watts when running a 4 ohm load per channel.

[wetsounds1]

The sub portion of the Arc 6 ch is only 4 ohm stable when bridged. So if you parallel that woofer, it will be 2 ohms. So you cannot bridge that woofer with that amp.

You could either add another woofer, and series them, thus making a 4 ohm load.

Or you can just use one of the chs. As that amp is 2 ohm stereo stable. But you would be getting less power. But might be ok. So run it as a 2 ohm woofer of ch 5 or ch 6.

You can wire each coil. One to ch 5 and one to ch 6. But you must make sure your gains are exact. As you could have one coil getting more power than the other.

Tim
Wet Sounds