How do I test the Ohm from my amp?

How can I tell what OHM speakers a factory amp is supposed to drive?  Can I take an OMH meter and stick it on the speaker wires coming from the amp?  I no longer have the factory speakers to test.

This factory amp is mounted close by in my Jeep and I've reached down and felt it when it was playing... the outside (finned design for cooling I'm guessing) gets warm to the touch.

I'm hoping that I'm not messing things up by running the wrong ohm speakers (that's why its getting warm).

Any help would be appreciated - thank you in advance.

David

Hi,

It's an 05' bose amp out of a silverado and I know that another bose setup I did had the front mid-woofer speakers rated at 2ohm's plus then the seperate tweeters...  I'm not sure if that dropped the 2ohms down to 1ohm or it stayed at 2ohms...

That amp/speaker combination was; 4ohm speakers for the rear and 2ohm mid-woofer speakers up front with seperate tweeters.

This is the same amp (except it's newer) - If I'm running 4ohm speakers on it, could that be why the amp is getting warm to the touch?

Thanks!

David

Regardless of what impedence your the load is or the capabilities of your amp. If it's running...it will get warm. The byproduct of outputting energy is heat. If you were running the amp at an impedence lower that the amp could handle, it would probably shut down. If you've been cranking the power up and have had no problems, more than likely you are running okay. I agree with DYohn though, running at 4 ohms would keep you safe regardless.

Thanks - I appreciate the help.

David