2 different amps on 2 subs, input?

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sonofthor

Member - Posts: 12

Joined: September 27, 2007

Location: Ontario, Canada

Posted: October 02, 2007 at 3:36 PM / IP Logged

OK, I'm conducting a thought experiment and was wonering what you all think about this crazy setup -

2 4ohm subs in a 2-chamber box, ported. meaning, there is a wall between the two subs and a port for each sub. Subs are rated around 175Wrms each, they are JL Audio. Now, I have two amps, they both put out around 125Wrms per chan at 2 Ohms (they're 2 chan amps), or around 300ish (one says 340 but I think that's an exageration) at 4 ohms Brigdged. Now, the idea here is to run one amp per sub, each bridged and pushing the 4 ohm load. So that's roughly 300Wrms each into each sub. Obviously, I'd be conservative with the gain settings on the amps, and would not be using bass boost or anything stupid like that.

Other than the obvious stuff (I.E. avoid clipping at all costs and tune the amps to make sure you can't clip the signal before the headunit starts to clip anyhow), are there any other major problems you guys could see from this set up?

I might mention, the amps are from two different brands, and one of them has more tuning options than the other. I do feel confident that I would be able to tune the one to match the other pretty closely though, and power wise, they are pretty much the same.

haemphyst

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Joined: January 19, 2003

Location: Michigan, Bouvet Island

Posted: October 02, 2007 at 4:17 PM / IP Logged

I would run one voice coil from one woofer in series with one voice coil from the OTHER woofer, then bridge that pair to one amplifier.

Repeat for remaining two voice coils and amplifier.

No harm will come of this setup, OR of yours, but with my suggestion, you will get exactly the same output from both woofers, ALL THE TIME, not "pretty close" like with yours, and it won't matter how the amplifiers are setup, either gain, EQ, bass-boost (which you said you wouldn't use - but still...)... It will be amplifier settings COMPLETELY independent.

::::EDIT::::

I re-read your post. I thought you said DVC woofers. You didn't...

With two SVC woofers, I wouldn't do what you are suggesting, but that's just me. The results will be far too unpredictable. If you DON'T have the woofers already, don't buy the SVC versions. Purchase the DVC versions, and connect as suggested above.

If you already have the SVC woofers, then I'd just use one amplifier, and run it in stereo mode to both of the woofers (or wire the woofers in series, for 4 ohms, then bridge either of your amplifiers to them). You will lose less than 1dB between the 175W (where you would want to set your bridged amplifiers' output to never exceed) and the 125W that either of the amplifiers are capable of producing in stereo mode.

One last note: If the amplifier can make 125W into 2 ohms, as your post says, then it cannot make more than 250W bridged into 4 ohms. So, I'd say BOTH of your amps are yanking a chain or two, with their inflated power rating of 300W, bridged into 4 ohms.

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."

sonofthor

Member - Posts: 12

Joined: September 27, 2007

Location: Ontario, Canada

Posted: October 02, 2007 at 4:59 PM / IP Logged

OK, thanks for your response. I never thought of configuring DVC subs in the manner you were suggesting above, cool idea! I didn't know you could do that. As for the SVC subs, which are the ones I was talking about, how would your opinion change, if at all, assuming that both subs were the same make/model?

haemphyst

Platinum - Posts: 5,054

Joined: January 19, 2003

Location: Michigan, Bouvet Island

Posted: October 02, 2007 at 5:37 PM / IP Logged

Wire them in series, bridge them on one amplifier or the other. Don't use two different amplifiers.

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."

sonofthor

Member - Posts: 12

Joined: September 27, 2007

Location: Ontario, Canada

Posted: October 03, 2007 at 8:36 AM / IP Logged

OK so I didn't end up getting the SVC JL audio subs yet, I was just theorizing. I have no subs yet. I also have a couple of DVC 250Wrms subs lined up, they're 2ohms per voicecoil so they would work perfectly with the original setup you were talking about, with one VC from each sub wired in series to a bridged connection on one amp, and then the same thing for the other VCs and the other amp.

Oh yeah and the amp was actually 125@4ohms not at 2 ohms. its 170@2ohms. The other one has similar specs I just haven't dug up the manual yet, but I remember it was pretty close to this one.

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2 different amps on 2 subs, input?

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