two amps at 4 ohm or one amp at 1 ohm

Hello everyone;    I have a installation question; I have two power mono amplifiers stable to 1 ohm loads each, the also have the option two link them together and produce more power but they are stable only at 2 ohm minimum, also I have a dual voice coil subwoofer (2 x 2 ohm). my questions are: 1) Is is better to connect the DVC (paralell 1 ohm load) to one amplifier, or use the DVC (series 4 ohm load) to the two amplifiers, I do not know the rating of the two amps together at 4 ohms, I just know the rating at 2 ohm load, and it exceeds the capacity of the woofer. If the relation of the ohms to the watts is 1:2 or 2:1, then both amps at 4 ohms should have the same output power of only one amp at 1 ohm. If this is the case, the subwoofer would feel the same power regardless of set up. That bings the secon question; 2) Would the two amp set up (4 ohm) work less (cooler) than the single amp at (1 ohm) ? What about the charging system (alt, battery, cap, etc) which would be less demanding ? It sounds like the two amp set up is the way to go, I just do not know why and how ? I hope you guys have the/a answer for this, and I really appreciate if you share it with me. Thanks for taking time to read and even more for writting back. Have a great week. Roberto West Palm Beach, FL

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Roberto
West Palm Beach, FL

Welcome, Roberto. Here's what I would do: If your woofer can handle the power of two amplifiers, the easiest solution to your problem is wire one mono amplifier to each voice-coil. Forget about strapping, and all that stuff.

Tell us the amplifier and woofer models you are using and the enclosure you have in mind. The enclosure will have a TREMENDOUS effect on the woofer's electrical (AND mechanical, too - even moreso than electrical, really) power handing capabilities. A little bit more information will help us all determine whether you are looking at a safe woofer/amplifier combination.


:::::EDIT:::::
I apparently didn't read your post completely. Sorry about that. If your woofer will be overpowered by the amplifiers at 2 ohms per voice coil, then it will still be overpowered at 4 ohms strapped, as the strapped configuration will make roughly the same amount of power into 4 ohms, as two amplifers into 2 ohms each.

That being said, there are benfits to running two ohms, in this case. Your amplifiers will run more efficiently, run cooler, run with lower distortion, is wired one amp per voice coil at 2 ohms, than it would with one amplifer wired at one ohm. I never EVER recommend a one ohm load, even if the amplifer can "handle" it. Your amplifiers control over the woofer cone (called damping) will be twice as high running two ohms, as well. Your headroom will also be significanly higher. Higher impedance is always a good thing in my book. You will need to pay careful attention to your gain control, if you decide to do it this way, but it can be done. In regards to my original portion of this post, I will HIGHLY recommend a sealed enclosure for this woofer, in such an "overpowered" situation.

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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."