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is it good to bring an amp to 1ohm?


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chris305 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 3:50 AM / IP Logged  
 i got a directed class d amp  2400max/1200 1ohm  800 2ohms 400 4ohms. its stable for 1ohm. i wanna play my 4 compvr kickers there 400/800max each sub. wil it be safe to run it at 1ohm it will only be 300watts to each sub which is good i guess.
supradude 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 6:33 AM / IP Logged  
I run my Hifonics Brutus amp at 1 ohm all the time and it does great. Most of the better brands that are 1 ohm mono are designed to operate that way with no problem.
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TruckSystem 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 8:01 AM / IP Logged  
My monoblock is set up to run at 1 ohm and it gets at least 2 hours of use a day for the last year or so now, works fine.
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haemphyst 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 8:50 AM / IP Logged  
"Good?" Well, there's at least a couple of schools of thought, but IMHO, no, it is NOT good.
While it is possible for the amplifier to TAKE a one ohm load, why would you want to put that kind of load on an amp? Power? Buy a bigger amplifier. Simple as that.
When you load an amplifier like that, whether it CAN take it or not, that amp is WORKING to produce power into it. This causes unneeded stress on components, in the form of heat. The distortion goes up, heat production goes up, efficiency goes down, damping goes down. This amp is doing everything wrong, and nothing right when loaded like that. I understand there are amps MEANT to run at one ohm, but the same things STILL apply... Physics, man.
Power is SO cheap today, compared to what it USED to cost, why wouldn't somebody pay a few extra bucks to buy an amp rated at 1200W into 4 ohms, or at worst two ohms. There should be no need to HAVE to load an amp into those ranges to get power out of it... High voltage amps are out there, and are probably a little bit cheaper per watt then their high current counterparts.
It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."
speedwayaudio1 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 2:35 PM / IP Logged  
Haemphyst is right. You can do it ,but it's not "good". Distortion is the bigest reason for me. I love it loud, but if it sounds like crap loud then there's no point to me. If spl is all you care about then you will be fine. I would get a bigger amp just like Haemphyst said.
Big Dave
godblessdremil 
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Posted: August 18, 2005 at 7:27 PM / IP Logged  
If the amp is one ohm stable it can take it but good for it no.
supradude 
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Posted: August 19, 2005 at 9:48 AM / IP Logged  
Sorry to be hardheaded about this but my Brutus hits hard without distortion and doesn't heat up. For what it cost, I'll take my chances on the life of it. The tech at Maxxsonics told me it would work fine at 1 ohm and so far it has. Some amps may claim they are 1 ohm stable when they really aren't. When mine dies I'll get another one. I'm not saying what was posted is wrong, but some brands are better than others.
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TruckSystem 
Copper - Posts: 185
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Posted: August 19, 2005 at 9:52 AM / IP Logged  
I have to agree with Supradude here, my Diamond amp hardly gets warm either unless I really push it, and it sounds quite clean to me with no distortion at all. If it does happen to die on me it has a lifetime warrenty anyway.
I agree your not wrong either, but for what it would have cost me to get the next step up this saved me quite a bit to get this amp and run it at 1 ohm.
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DYohn 
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Posted: August 19, 2005 at 11:36 AM / IP Logged  

Amps - any amp - operating nto a 1-ohm load is doing so with at least 10% distortion.  With subwoofers, that amount of distortion is often negligable since many times the speaker itself produces more distortion than that, especially at high volume levels.  If you want it loud and the amp can hanlde it, go for it.  But if you are interested in good SQ you will never operate at lower than 4-ohms, and you will probably operate at 8 ohms.  But then again if you are interested in SQ you wouldn't be worried about power numbers and high SPL at all.

Big power numbers are simply a marketing gimick anyway.  Consumers have bought into the lie that bigger power and louder system = better, and the myth that pushing subwoofers with low impedence to make more power and somehow that will be "better" has become part of the car audio accepted wisdom.  It is very unfortunate.

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TruckSystem 
Copper - Posts: 185
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Joined: March 18, 2005
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Posted: August 19, 2005 at 1:38 PM / IP Logged  
I have considered switching my wiring around to try them out at 4 ohms, but will the 150w per they would get at that be enough? While I am definately interested in good SQ, I still want it to be capable of getting semi loud when I want. I can't afford to buy a larger amp to power them at this time with say 300w at 4 ohms. They get 300w at the current 1 ohm setting and the subs are rated at I believe 250w RMS. If I were to make the change the pair would be getting 300w at 4 ohm with my fronts getting 400w at 4 ohm, would that throw the balance way off? Also I could toy with the possibility of going down to one sub at 4 ohms with 300w to that sub, but I would think that would cut volume alot more then just going to 4 ohm on both. Any input would be appretiated.
2003 Chevrolet Silverado Standard Cab ~ Alpine CDA-9851
Diamond Audio D3600.1 ~ 2x Diamond Audio TM310D4
Diamond Audio D3400.4 ~ Diamond Audio Hex S600s
AstroStart RS5204 Remote Start/Alarm
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