Understanding Impedance

 

Anonymous
 
Can someone tell what the difference between showing your amp a different resistance level does? Like if I hook up 2 4ohm DVC subs I can either get 1 ohm, or 4 ohms to the amp. I know that the 4 ohms will require 4x the power to get the same power to the sub, but how does that benefit me? Im getting a JL 500/1 (from a friend), and since it is regulated to put out 500 watts at 1.5-4 ohms, I was wondering what load I should get the subs to show the amp (I don't have any subs yet)

Thanks.
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 4358
Registered: Dec-03
www.bcae1.com
Ohm's Law and Kirchoff.
 

Anonymous
 
Sorry. How does the different ohm loads affect SQ or SPL? If it doesn't, what is the point of running a higher resistance? Seems to me that running higher than I can be stable at (say, 1 ohm) just uses more power than needed to get the same result.
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 4383
Registered: Dec-03
1 ohm is lower impedance than 2 ohms.. for reference. lower load is less resistance.. means more current at a fixed voltage.

ok running at a larger load, say 4 ohms instead of 2, will give less power, but you get more "headroom" from teh amp, meaning the amp isn't as close to it's peak output, so there's more reseerve power there for brief large outputs. distortion is lower (on paper), SNR is better, and damping factor is improved.
running a lower load just gives you more power, which for subs is helpful because power = money and the more power you need, the more it's going to cost you for an amp. every bit of power you can juice from the amp you get is going to be less you have to spend to buy a larger amp.

here's more on amps:
http://www.wickedcases.com/caraudio/amplifiers.html
http://www.wickedcases.com/caraudio/ampspecs.html
 

Anonymous
 
Okay. Since for the JL amps, it will push out the same power no matter what the resistance it sees. So I should try to get subs to make it see 4 ohms, to limit distortion and the like, correct?
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 4391
Registered: Dec-03
4 ohms is good for a JL amp yes
anything between 1.5 and 4 is acceptable
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