Dual Setup

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LeanNCut

Member - Posts: 29

Joined: October 19, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 12:07 PM / IP Logged

Hi,

More newby questions.

To drive 2subs in a single box, should I use 1 monoblock amp or 1 2-channel amp. Which would yield more power? (All else being equal)

Thanks.

Rushman

Silver - Posts: 380

Joined: September 28, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 12:22 PM / IP Logged

Usually a monoblock amp is most efficient for driving a pair of subs but this is not always true. There are a few things to concider like on a 2 channel amp , How many watts? Ohms of resistance available? Distortion? Built in cross over? ect. ect. Monoblock amps are usually better for bass just because they are designed for that one purpose.(usually)If it were my system in my car , I would (and have) choose a monoblock amp for bass. Do your homework and research for the amp most suitable for your subs and sound goals.

99 F-one fitty

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boxmaker85

Silver - Posts: 433

Joined: September 19, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 12:31 PM / IP Logged

It all depends on the amp. If it pushes you're needed then yeah go with the mono. Two channels are ok, but a mono is better equiped for playing a subwoofer. You can normally get more power out of a two channel amp (bridged) then a mono (if you spend the same amount of money on two amps, one mono one 2 channel). Narrow your options down and give us some ideas of what you're looking at.

LeanNCut

Member - Posts: 29

Joined: October 19, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 12:44 PM / IP Logged

Thanks Rush and Box. Actually you've partially answered this question before.

Each of the RF subs are 600W RMS, 2Ohm. The 2-channel RF amp has max power 1500W and the monoblock has 2000W max. The price difference between the two amps is not really significant. I'm leaning more on the monoblock because of space constraint w/ the mono being 2feet wide instead of almost 3 for the 2-channel.

What does bridged mean? Connecting 2-amps in series?

Rushman

Silver - Posts: 380

Joined: September 28, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 12:58 PM / IP Logged

The term bridging simply means combining two channels into one at the amp. For example if you have a left and right channel RCAs from the radio and run them to an amp , then you take the left and right speaker outputs and combine (or bridge) them into one stronger channel. This is most common when wiring subs but is occasionaly used on upper mids and highs but mostly on bass subs.

99 F-one fitty

Pioneer Premier H/U

Alpine EQ

Kicker 1200 amp

4 Kicker comp 10s

6 kicker SS65.2 components

stevdart

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Posted: November 09, 2004 at 5:45 PM / IP Logged

One thing to take into consideration is power draw from the vehicle, and it has to do with the different types of amplifiers' efficiency. Efficiency of an amp is the difference of converting power from the vehicle to watts as opposed to heat. A monoblock class D amp is more efficient than a stereo class A/B (of course, there is a trade-off). The higher efficiency means that there is more harmonic distortion in the amp, but less draw from the vehicle power source (alternator). With sub frequencies, this trade-off is acceptable....whereas in mid and high freqs it is not.

So for the same money, you would get more power to run subs with the class D mono amp, and use less system resources. When you add up the power requirements of a complete system, sometimes mixing amps like this could save you from having to upgrade the alternator.

Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

/r7

Silver - Posts: 340

Joined: July 30, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: November 09, 2004 at 5:57 PM / IP Logged

btw, when you mentioned your watts for everything, you said your subs are 600rms, and the amps you were interested in were referred to in MAX, did you actually mean RMS? or are they actually 1500watts max and 2000watts max, because that info is practically useless when trying to match subs to amps.

LeanNCut

Member - Posts: 29

Joined: October 19, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: November 10, 2004 at 7:01 AM / IP Logged

Thanks Stevdart. I would have never thought of that side of the equation. I'll definitely have to take those points into consideration.

R7, you're right. I meant max as in "total" RMS power, not max as in max Watts.

LeanNCut

Member - Posts: 29

Joined: October 19, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: November 11, 2004 at 1:00 AM / IP Logged

Looking at wiring diagrams from Crutchfield, wiring 2Ohm DVC subs could yield 0.5Ohm load.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-xHEt0z5HdNA/learningcenter/car/subwoofers_wiring.html?subs=2&impedance=DVC2x2

Will a 1Ohm stable amp be able to handle this configuration?

s7726

Copper - Posts: 58

Joined: February 03, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: November 11, 2004 at 1:13 AM / IP Logged

I think you just answered your own question, if the amp is 1Ohm stable, it's not going to handle 0.5Ohms; OK it might for a little bit but not for too long probably and you will probably void anything resembling a waranty by running it like that.

Gavin

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