But this, my friends, is not a regulated power supply amp. An amplifier with a regulated power supply will put out the same amount of power regardless of whether you give it 2 ohms, 3 ohms or 4 ohms. Unless, of course, your company primarily produces amplifiers with regulated power supply’s. If we understand anything about resistance and amplifiers we know that output varies with resistance. How could we both be right? The amp cannot produce the same 600 watts RMS when bridged to either a 4 ohm or an 8 ohm load. I began to think I was losing my mind when the second technician sided with both of us saying we were both right. I consulted with another technician at the manufacturer as I was distraught that such a reputable, long time standing company was giving out such misguided direction. 600 x 1 4 ohms – What we would get if we were to bridge the amp and give it a 4 ohm load.300 x 2 2 ohms – What we would get if we were to run two 2 ohm subs to each channel of the amp.150 x 2 4 ohms – What we would get if we were to run two 4 ohm subs to each channel of the amp.But at 4 ohms, the amp only puts out 300 watts RMS, do you agree? He feverishly argued that whenever you bridge an amp it sees half the impedance. The manufacturer’s tech support disagreed and adamantly argued that he should buy the two single voice coil 4 ohm subs and series those to an 8 ohm load. The amp would put out 600 watts RMS when bridged to the 4 ohm load.Īfter contacting the manufacturer of the subs, the reader received the wrong information. So in this situation, the correct answer would be to buy two of the single voice coil 2 ohm subs, wire them in series, then bridge the amp. 1 ohm isn’t going to work, but 4 ohm will. We know that if we parallel two 2 ohm subs we would get a 1 ohm load and if we series two 2 ohm subs we would get a 4 ohm load. So we can conclude the single voice coil 4 ohm subs would not be the right impedance to buy. Well, we know that when we parallel two 4 ohm subs we get a 2 ohm load and if we series two 4 ohm subs we get an 8 ohm load. The subs are offered in either single voice coil 4 ohm or single voice coil 2 ohm. In this particular instance, the reader is looking at purchasing two subwoofers. These two ratings are essentially telling us the same thing: Given this information, it’s safe to assume that the reader’s amp will put out 600 watts RMS when bridged to a 4 ohm load. You never want to bridge an amp with an impedance less than 4 ohms. In other words, if you bridge a 2 channel amp to a 4 ohm load, the amp sees 1/2 that load or a 2 ohm load per channel. The trick with bridging a 2 channel amp is to remember that the amp will always split and share that impedance between the two channels. Note this Audison amp doesn’t use the outside terminals, but it is still using left positive and right negative for bridging: Audison 2 channel amp show bridged. Some manufacturers do it a little differently so pay attention to the installation manual. See picture below: To bridge a 2 channel amp you usually need to use the left positive and right negative on the amp terminals. To bridge a 2 channel amp, you typically use the left positive terminal on the amp and right negative terminal on the amp. His understanding, as well as my understanding, is this: The last rating is obviously a bridged rating. He has a high powered 2 channel amp that puts out either: I’ve been inspired to write this post after receiving an unsettling email from a fellow reader. The last rating you will often see is the combined total of the last rating or Higher X amount of RMS power (combined) x 1 4 ohms. This is like running two subs that have an impedance of 2 ohms each with one sub on the left channel and one on the right channel. Higher X amount of RMS power x 2 2 ohms is the other rating you will see. X amount RMS power x 2 4 ohms defines using a 2 channel amp to run a pair of full range car audio speakers How do you make sense of the ratings? Here’s a run down of the typical types of ratings you will see: This is great if you plan on using your two channel amp for a sub or subs. Bridged is a way of mixing both left and right stereo signals from a 2 channel amp. That’s why you will find multiple ratings on 2 channel amps as there are a few different ways you can run them and one of the more popular ways to run them is bridged. It doesn’t change the impedance of the speakers you are using, but it does change the impedance that the amplifier itself sees. What happens to a 2 channel amp when you bridge it? Does it change the impedance?Įstimated read time: 6 minutes 42 seconds.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |