strapping amplifiers
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=80005
Printed Date: April 28, 2024 at 5:51 PM
Topic: strapping amplifiers
Posted By: 05z71crew
Subject: strapping amplifiers
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 6:15 PM
I have 2 12" powerbase subs and an American Bass SQ-540 amp. I want to add another SQ-540 to my setup. Can anyone tell me the pros, cons, impedance ratings and show a couple wiring diagrams so I make sure I do it right? Any help is greatly appreciated!
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lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Replies:
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 7:11 PM
You can't strap those amps. If you buy another amp, you will run one woofer to each amp. Done and done.
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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."
Posted By: 05z71crew
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 7:32 PM
Why not? It has a set of pre-amp outs...
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lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Posted By: killer sonata
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 8:07 PM
connecting amps together by the rca output of one to the input of another is not strapping. strapping is when the amplified power of 2 or more amps is combined to form 1 super amp.
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"People with mullets live 40% longer" - Ricky Bobby
Posted By: 05z71crew
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 8:51 PM
The amp has rca otputs so I can run the signal to both amps. I am going to run power, ground and remote to both amps, I was just wondering if strapping them changes the impedance rating tun run the subs. The amps are 2-ohm mono stable. Would strapping them necessitate a 4- ohm load or would a 2- ohm work just fine?
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lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Posted By: killer sonata
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 9:00 PM
https://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products/manualsQuickInstall/amps/TA92001InstallWiring.pdf refer to this pdf for an example of strapping. as you can see by the pic, strapping is when you use the positive terminal on one amp to the speaker and the negative terminal of the other amp to the same speaker. Its pretty much the same concet as bridging a 2 channel amp except with 2 mono amps. This cannot be done with the amps you mentioned. simply using the output of one amp to connect to the input of another with RCAs has nothing to do with strapping and is perfectly fine to do. Hope this helped. ------------- "People with mullets live 40% longer" - Ricky Bobby
Posted By: 05z71crew
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 9:06 PM
Sorry, but I am still not understanding why I can't strap them. If I take the positive of one amp and the negative of the other, why won't it work? This is easily the most info I have gotten. Thank you all very much! ------------- lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 9:14 PM
Well if you think that you CAN than go for it and see how long the setup lasts...Why can't you just realize that your amps cannot be strapped together.
If you want a couple amps that can be than get some strappable amps.
Posted By: furflier
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 9:28 PM
Like stated in the post above the amps you have are not capable of being strapped. Only certain amps can be strapped. You can run one amp to each sub though.
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Posted By: 05z71crew
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 9:28 PM
Thanks aznboi3644, that helped alot. :-) IF it won't work, explain to me why please... Is there a difference between strapping and daisy chaining? ------------- lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Posted By: Ravendarat
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 10:02 PM
The amps you have were never designed to be used in a straped configuration. One reason, although not the only reason, is that there is no comunication cable hook up. In your case if you change the gain on one amp, the other will not automaticlly adjust to match. When amps are strapable the controls on one amp are used and will control both amps. In the end what it comes down to is its like trying to make a Chevy fly, its just not designed to do it. You can push it off a cliff and it will apear to fly, but only for a dew seconds before it goes up in smoke. Also before you ask or just in case you were wondering, just trying to set the controls on both amps the same will not acomplish the same effect because the amps still arent actually comunicating with each other to act as one. ------------- double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer
Posted By: 05z71crew
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 10:11 PM
I see. So if the manual says they can be daisy chained, what does that refer to?
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lil nicky
06 Elantra (No more z71)
2 12" powerbass subs; 6x9's and 5 1/4's
Kenwood KAC-9152D
American bass SQ540
Posted By: Ravendarat
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 10:15 PM
Daisy chaining simply refers to running one set of RCA's from your deck to the first amp, then running a second set from amp one to amp two. The reason you would want to do this is two fold. The first is that it means running one less set of RCA's the length of the vehicle. The second is if you have two amps used for subs, your only gonna have one set of sub preouts on a deck so instead of using a pair of spliters, you can simply run a set of rca's from amp one to amp two and keep the whole job cleaner.
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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: July 06, 2006 at 10:16 PM
That means it has an RCA input, that "daisy chains" to an RCA output. A LOW LEVEL output, NOT a speaker level output. Whatever the input signal is, that is what the output will be. It is the SAME as, (but cleaner than) RCA "Y" cables.
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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."
Posted By: Melted Fabric
Date Posted: July 07, 2006 at 11:15 AM
You learn something new everyday. I just did.
Do manufacturers usually detail in their product description if an amp can be strapped?
Is it something they would "highlight"?
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.
Posted By: Ravendarat
Date Posted: July 07, 2006 at 8:20 PM
Ya they would make it a fairly big selling point.
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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer
Posted By: Velocity Motors
Date Posted: July 08, 2006 at 4:52 PM
Strapping is not used by too many audio manufacturer's, only one that I can think o is MTX, I'm sure there are more, but I'm not aware of them.
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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA
Posted By: qnretail
Date Posted: July 08, 2006 at 7:56 PM
Rockford Fosgate makes a few that can be strapped. Or at least they used to. So does DD (Digital Design). Those are the only others I know about. I'm sure there more.
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2 x DD9515f's, Digital Designs Z1 amplifier
Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: July 08, 2006 at 8:36 PM
Making strappable amplifiers would just raise the costs and the amount of people that would buy them wouldn't be enough for the companies to be happy with the low profits...so it wouldn't really be a highlight cuz it isn't that popular...supply and demand.
Posted By: wirewise
Date Posted: July 08, 2006 at 9:31 PM
aznboi3644 wrote:
Making strappable amplifiers would just raise the costs and the amount of people that would buy them wouldn't be enough for the companies to be happy with the low profits...so it wouldn't really be a highlight cuz it isn't that popular...supply and demand.
Your statement is nothing more than speculation and simply not true. Besides Rockford Fosgate, DD, and MTX which have already been mentioned, Clarion, HiFonics, Visonic, MA Audio, and plenty others offer strappable amplifiers. Strappable amplifiers may be used alone or with another identical amplifier to drive even a single voice coil subwoofer. From both a sales standpoint and as a consumer, this is a great feature that adds to system expandability.
~wirewise~
Posted By: Silvrefox
Date Posted: July 08, 2006 at 11:25 PM
Kicker amps are also strappable (is that a word?), but I'm not familiar with how to do it....
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