Audio Question - Amplifier Hookup
 

For any of you car audio guys, I need a little help. It's been like 15 years since I've wired an amp in so I have some questions.

I have an amp that I'm wanting to run both channels into one subwoofer. My memory tells me that I can run one channel's (+) to the woofer's (+) and the other channel's (-) to the woofer's (-). Is that correct? Also, I have a setting on the amp for 2 ohm and 4 ohm. Would I want to run 2 ohm with this bridged-mono setup?

Just to let you know what I'm doing. I recently bought some 2way Audiobahn 3.5's for the dash and 2 4x10 components (with crossovers) for the rear of my suburban. I plan on running those off of a new 50w per channel head unit and then I'm going to run a sub (not sure which yet) off of a 400W kenwood amp. I've already hooked up the mids and highs to the old crappy head unit I have and it already makes a huge difference. I can't wait until I have everything hooked up.

I'm currently going through a divorce and that's why I haven't been on in awhile. And that's also why I'm now starting to do some more stuff to my truck because I have more free time now. :)

Nice to see you back around! Sorry to hear about the family, you and Brandon running off together? :D

how many subs and what is the ohm rating of the sub(s), it will be on the back of the sub. if its a single sub then just hook it up bridged, it shound say what terminals on the amp are the ones to make it bridged. also is it a single voice coil (1 set of terminals) or a dual voice coil (2 sets of terminals)?

make sure that the amp can be wired mono. if its a stereo only amp you will fry it wiring it mono. also make sure that you have the subs wired to the ohm load you want to run. *see pic*...corn

almost any amp can be wired mono. What you have to watch out for is make sure that you dont run say a KENWOOD amp past 4 ohm mono. Most amp are only rated to run 4 ohm mono unless it is a high dollar amp or a mono block. If you had 2 subs that where 4 ohm each you have to run them with the kenwood at either 8ohm mono (series wiring) or in stereo. Essentially 8 ohm would be the same as 4 ohm stereo to 2 subs. Mono wiring would be best even though it is 8 ohm because the subs would hit at the same time. To run the kenwood with 2 subs you will need to 8 ohm subs wired in parallel or 1) 4 ohm sub.

agreed.

give us some feed back on how thoes subs sound!!

Damn, what's up with all these divorces?

Greg, if I was to run off with anyone, she'd have a lot more hair and a lot smaller waist than Brandon (no offense buddy). :D Although, from what I hear, B is getting alot closer to that smaller waist!


I don't know Mike. I definitely never thought it would going through this. I just married somebody that hid alot from me and has never been honest. When you can't believe a word your own spouse says, it's really hard to trust and stick by them. Unfortunately, I have two young kids and that is the hardest part. However, I think they will see more love with us apart then they ever did with us together.

To the rest of you, thanks for the help. The amp I have is bridgeable and can be switched between 2 and 4 ohms. From what y'all have said, it should be fairly simple. Like I said, I've done this stuff before. I haven't bought subwoofers yet. My plan (because I'm on a budget), is to just buy one 12" and a ported enclosure. I'm not going for tremendous bass, however I do want some good sound. With only a 400W Kenwood amp, I probably will need to stick with the single voice coil sub because that's about all it could push. I'm currently looking at an Audiobahn and an MTX. I figured since all my other speakers are Audiobahn that maybe I should just finish it out with one. We'll see. I'll let you y'all know how it sounds.

if you have'nt gotten the subs yet, check out this site. www.discountsjungle.com my friends and i have orderd a lot from them and they are top notch people