reduced sq with lower impedance?

So i've been trying to find out if this really makes a difference or not?  How much noticeable difference would you expect with a 1 ohm load vs. 4 ohms with subwoofers.  I was starting to think it would be substantial from some posts on this site until i read this thread (https://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8218) from another site that is usually pretty good.

I am wondering this because right now i have 2 soundsplinter rl-p15's at 1 ohm on a crossfire vr1000d and am curious how much it would affect the sq if I got a different/another amp and ran them at a higher load.

zhalverson wrote:

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How much noticeable difference would you expect with a 1 ohm load vs. 4 ohms with subwoofers. 

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Noticeable difference?  None.  The difference would be detectable in the numbers..  the amplifier would get hotter and the THD would increase a bit.. really any amp would behave this way..  but these are not going to be a listenable, detectable difference with insturments as sloppy as human ears.

I agree completely with that thread you posted.

That sub/amp combo looks *great* ... if I recall crossfire makes some beasty amplifiers and soundsplinter has a good reputation, if a *really stupid* brand name.

custom audio ny wrote:

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you will find that even small variances..such as dealing with the resistance of the speaker wire..do have a measurable effect, at least on paper

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You said it yourself,

do have a measurable effect, at least on paper

The "on paper" was in regards to the resistance in the speaker wire..I have not personally done any sq tests with different ga wire..and I would HIGHLY doubt a "by ear" difference in that case..however..you would expect there to be a substantial difference comparing a 4ohm load with a 1 ohm load. (assuming all equipment is within it's safe rating)

https://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/mdampingfactor.html 

This article states that a 10% difference in damping factor is quite noticable. Since I have not conducted any experiments on my own in this area..judging by what I have read on links here..and my own research..I come to this conclusion...  It depends on where you clicked to get the answer..lol

custom audio ny wrote:

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It depends on where you clicked to get the answer

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Well put.

custom audio ny wrote:

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however..you would expect there to be a substantial difference comparing a 4ohm load with a 1 ohm load

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Just thinking about it here, I betcha this would depend *heavily* on the actual amplifier in question.. 

zhalverson wrote:

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I found this article https://www.diyspeakers.net/Articles/Richard%20Pierce%20DAMPING%20FACTOR.pdf 

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Good link I look forward to digesting that.

Richard Clark had quite the thread about damping factor on his forum several years back, and his conclusions were that any damping factor over 20 is inaudible.  I once asked Dan Wiggins what he thought about it and he seemed to agree. 

I'm not liking that Marantz paper linked above.  It does explains damping factor well.  But it seems to skirt around the idea of how damping factor effects "speaker control".  All they describe in their examples is the amplifier being driven to it's limits due to the load.  I don't see anywhere where they explain how the output impedance directly is limiting the output current. 

zhalverson wrote:

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Well since there are different opinions on this one I did a little researching.  I found this article https://www.diyspeakers.net/Articles/Richard%20Pierce%20DAMPING%20FACTOR.pdf which suggests that damping factor has very little effect on the sound of a system and especially not a audibly noticeable difference.  Pretty convincing to me...

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This paper however had ample information to back up it's claim.  I especially liked the comment about driver production tolerances having more effect on system Q than damping factor will. 

This is definatly an interesting topic and debate.

I deal occasionally with the Alpine PDX amplifiers..thier specs (power and distortion) do not change if running at 2ohms or 4ohms.

I recently had a situation where I was running 2-3ohm W7's to the 1000 x 1..which only has a 2ohm rating. Not surprisingly, the amp could not handle the load wired in parallel (blew the fuses on the amp casing) so we re wired in series giving a 6ohm load. I did not notice any difference in output or sound quality.

I have not done any tests using a 1ohm stable amp wired to a 4ohm load so has far as the OP, I can't give a conclusive answer.

I am wondering if the effect of damping factor has more to do with the specific amplifer, rather then simply using the final ohms load by itself to pre-determine if any noticable difference in sound quality could be predicted. As I read more info on this topic..I find it leaning more toward being an amplifer spec and not really coming to anything conclusive result about how it effects sound quality. Being that we are dealing with a vehicle environment, electronics and equipment, vs. home audio tested in a chamber, I question what the actual application of damping factor has do do with real world car audio systems.  Does anyone else see where I am going with this?