Is it possible to run a 2 ohm stable amp into a 8ohm speaker.
I thought it was it just wouldn't be as loud.
Am I wrong?
Will the amp not work with an 8 ohm speaker?

 

Correct. No harm will be done to the amp or the sub unless you are severly underpowering it but thats a whole other topic. But as you said you won't be gettting a whole lot of power out of that amp.

 

correction I am getting NO power.
I am told this is because the amp is a comp amp and the guy who sold me the amp thinks that 15" sub might be dvc but I know it is 8 ohms. He said the amp will not run at 8 ohm but will work decent if I can get it down to 4ohms.
Could the ohm theory be correct.

<edit> What can I do to get the sub to a lower ohm level?

[This message has been edited by crows_camaro (edited December 31, 2000).]

 

No, any amp will work with any speaker. What I'm saying is, You can run a 1 ohm load into a 4 Ohm minimum amp. The amp wont last long, it will severely overheat.

Also, you can run a 16 Ohm speaker into an amp that is two Ohm stable. The thing about it is, the amp is stable at two Ohms. Anything with more resistance, (Ohms) will work. The amp will not need to work as hard, and will not produce alot of wattage.

If your system isn't working, it's not the Ohms. There is another problem.

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So I am right the fact that 15 orion is an 8 ohm dvc and the amp is a American Pro Bass Machine which is stable at 2 ohms is NOT the Reason the amp is not working.
I am glad in one respect because this means my speaker will work. However now I have to trace down the probalem why no music comes out of the sub. The sub works I heard it yesterday on a dif amp. Tha amp cuts on but apparently no music is leaving it.
Any other ideas? RCA calbes?

 

RCA cables were messed up
Speaker is fried(I think that is because I cross bridged it and it sparked an I guess that is why the speaker is burnt out.)
Amp works great though.
Thanks for all you help though guys
Crow

 

Severly underpowering an amp ?? Bwhahahahahaah! Dude it's better to shut up then talk out of your *** . Seriously! LOL

 

had nothing to do with underpowering, he said the rca cables were bad and he didn't wire the speaker right

 

Blade, man you know what you don't have to be d*ck to everyone. I was talking about underpowering the sub. If you disagree I will glady explain it to you.

Power is applied to a sub it is put through a coil (aka voice coil). When the power passes though the coil 2 thing happen. A interaction between the magnet field created by the magnet and the energized coil causes the sub to move up and down. Second, The coil heats up considerably. In excess of 500 degrees. Now the sub is cooled by the air being moved by the sub vibrating. This is where designs like vented pole pieces and vents around the coil become bentificial. It allows more air to flow around the coil. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. If the sub isn't moving enough to produce enough air circulation the tempature of the voice coil will continue to rise untill it finally melts causing sub failure (and effectively showing the amp 0 resistance) This will not happen imeadiatly but could happen over time if you underpower your sub. Blade, if you have a different point of view please share.
Digital Designs' web site also has a good explanation of this problem under the R&D shop and then under power handeling info: http://www.ddaudio.com/



[This message has been edited by camaroguy99 (edited January 15, 2001).]

 

In addition to what Camaro Guy said, underpowering the sub also substantially raises your chances of physical damage, like the cone separating from the spider or the voice coil. When you overdrive an amp, the output waveform will clip, and will no longer be sinusoidal. A clipped waveform forces the subwoofer to stop immediately, then start moving immediately. As we all know from physics, immediate motion is not possible, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. All of a sudden the voice coil tries to stop moving, but the cone with it's heavy mass, is still traveling at a high rate of speed. The result is a severe stress at the connection point between the voice coil and the cone. The end result usually winds up being a cone that separates from the voice coil. Not good stuff. This is more common than it used to be, because as Camaro Guy said, newer venting technology is helping to keep the voice coils cooler, so stress failure has become more common.

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BURN!!

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'82 Firebird, dead stock, 9 bolt disc rear, over 200,000 miles and still going strong, more to come...
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I dont know how old this topic is but......is this true?

A 4ohm amp can run a single voice coil 8 ohm sub?

I woudlent think so....someone correct me if Im wrong cause i need to know.

 

To clear up your question, crows_camaro, exactly what kind of amp and speaker are you asking about? Having the model numbers would be a big help. As far as the impedance of your sub, most dual voice coil subs have two FOUR ohm coils. Bearing this in mind, you can wire them so that your amp 'sees' either an 8-ohm load, a 4-ohm load, or a 2-ohm load. It all depends on how you wire your setup. JL Audio's website has an excellent tutorial to explain this. As far as why your setup doesnt work, running an 8-ohm load on an amp that is 1-ohm stable wont hurt anything, but all the power that very stable amp is designed to make goes down the tubes. Maybe your amp is just not powerful enough to push the sub, but I doubt it. Most 1-ohm stable amps are big dogs that make lots of power.

 

Heh, no offense, Ragnarok, but he must have figured out the problem by now. This post is over a year and a half old! LOL I bet he's got new subs, amps, and speakers in a new fourth gen by now.

 

LMFAO!
Didn't even see the original post date.......have to keep an eye out in the future....

 

I disagree with your theory of "melting coils". Going by your theory the SAME thing would happen if you keep the volume down on your subs which most people do most of the time. A minimal amount of AMPS will flow through that coil when the volume is down or when you "underpower" the sub. You can't tell me 100mA will melt a voice coil and certainly not 500 degrees F !!

Going by the same theory all the speakers in our radios, TVs, and all electronic appliances with speakers in them will cause the voice coil to melt because they're not being maxed out all the time. Your theory is severly flawed IMHO.