Ok, I'm not really really into the whole car audio thing (yet...), but I do know enough to install my system. However, I came up with an idea to get a little more out of it. Of course, it's probably been done, and I'm not saying it hasn't, but I just thought of it not too long ago. I have (don't laugh... I only make about $100 a week, so I can't afford anything too nice, and I got good deals on most of this stuff...):

-Pioneer DEH-P400 reciever
-Pioneer 4x6's & 6x9's
-Kenwood amp (not sure what wattage... I think it's 200w 2 channel amp, so that's what... 100x2?)
-A pair of Kenwood 10"s...

Now, let's say that my amp is 100x2. When I bridge it, it'll bump it up to 200 mono, right?. I'm pretty sure I have 4 ohm speakers (haven't taken them out of the box to check... too lazy). So, if I bridge the amp, and run the speakers (I get confused with parallel & series, so I'll try to explain...) so that the positive wire comes off the amp, into the first sub, off the negative of that first sub, into the positive of the second sub, off the negative of the second sub, back to the negative of the amp. This would drop the ohms to 2, right? I'm also fairly sure that my amp is 2 ohm capable. Just wondering if this will work (if you understand what I mean), and if not, what can I do to get a little more power out of this thing (besides buying real stuff )? Thanks!


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--'87 Camaro LT --
Currently undergoing a 2.8->3.4 swap.....

 

The only thing that changes total power output is impedance. Nothing else. Let's say you have a pair of 4 ohm subs. If you wire up a 100 watt per channel amp in stereo, it'll provide 100 watts per channel. If you hook up a pair of 2 ohm subs in stereo, each channel of the amp will be playing at 2 ohms and will provide (in theory) 200 watts per channel. If you take 2 4 ohm subs and wire them in series, you will get the equivalent of a single 8 ohm load. When you bridge the amp to power that single 8 ohm load, each amp channel will see a 4 ohm load, and your total output will be 200 watts. If you bridge to power a single 4 ohm load (this is usually achieved by parallel-wiring a pair of 8 ohm subs) each amp channel will see a 2 ohm load and your output will be (theoritically) 400 watts total. If you parallel-wire a pair of 4 ohm speakers, that will result in a single 2 ohm load, which will put a 1 ohm load on each individual amp channel. This will result in way more power output than most amps are designed to handle and will either cook the amp or put it into a "protection" mode.

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I believe you described wiring the subs in series. This would create an 8 ohm load and roughly half your power.

What you want is to wire your subs in parallel. This would create a 2 ohm load and roughly double your power.

To wire in parallel ... use two sections of speaker wire and, at one set of ends, connect the (+) & (-) to each sub like normal. At the other ends, connect both (+)s to the amp's (+) and both (-)s to the amp's (-). If the amp is bridgable then the appropriate (+) & (-) terminals on the amp should be marked.

HOWEVER, (THIS IS IMPORTANT), most cheaper amps (even if costly) are stable at 2 ohms stereo but are NOT STABLE at 2 ohms bridged mono. Unless the specs for the amp specifically say "stable 2 ohm bridged mono" then it probably is not. It will be possible to hook it up 2 ohm bridged mono but the amp won't be stable. If it's not stable, then you risk damaging the amp.

[This message has been edited by Belker (edited March 22, 2001).]

 

BRIDGING AN AMP IS FOR RUNNING ONE SPEAKER ONLY. YOU ARE BEST OFF IF YOU ARE RUNNING TWO SPEAKERS AND THE AMP IS A TWO CHANNEL AMP TO STAY WITH ONE SPEAKER PER SIDE OF THE AMP. A LITTLE TRICK TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN JUDGING POWER RATINGS OF AN AMP. THE FORMULA FOR WATTS IS I TIMES E OR CURRENT TIMES VOLTAGE. SOME LESSER NAME AMPS CLAIM TO HAVE LARGE WATT VALUES. BUT IF YOU MULTIPLY THE FUSE ON THE AMP WITH 12 VOLTS THAT IS THE MOST THAT AMP COULD POSSIBLY PUT OUT.

 

I have run that exact amp at 2ohms mono and hit fairly well with it. The key is to keep it cool and not run it hard all the time. You also need to keep the gain on the amp turned to an acceptable level as well. This is some thin ice to tread on and I am not reccomending that you do this. I am merely saying that if you play your cards right, it can be done. But it sounds like you are running on a limited budget so I would just run them at 4 ohms stereo. BTW, you have a pretty respectable system, especially for someone who pays for it himself, so take care of it and take pride in it. Man, I'm just throwing my $.02 everywhere.....

Chris Payne
'92 RS
'84 S/E

 

i run all my subs both coming off mono, i believe thats paralell mono ?

did it with Jensen amp(died), Pioneer, Pioneer Premeir, Fosgates, work fine, i drive around a lot, id say anywhere from 1-2 to 5-6 hours a day stereo slammin entire time, and i never had any problems at all since ive been running them...