I have a question regarding amplifier power....I have a 12" kappa perfect sub i need to power...its rated at 350w RMS....so i was looking into a few amps for it...

I came across the alpine mrd-m501 which is a mono amp rated at 250wx1 @ 14.4...it would run me around $250 new. Then I happened to come across the alpine mrd-t420 which is a 2 channel amp....i noticed that this amp can be bridged to give 340w RMS x 1 @ 14.4...the amp is also about 60 bucks cheaper...

Is there any difference in power when the amp is bridged? are there any benefits to getting a mono amp over a multi-channel amp that can be bridged?

 

While there are some theoretical reasons to prefer a mono over a bridged, the main reasons are practical: A mono channel is usually 2 ohm stable, and a bridged amp is usually 4 ohm stable (2 ohms for the left and 2 ohms for the right, bridged together, makes 4 ohms, is the simple way to remember it).

So if you have a single 4 ohm voice coil sub, a bridged amp will put out max power, but a mono will not. If you have a single 2 ohm VC or a pair of 4 ohm VCs paralleled to 2 ohms, you will get max power out of a mono amp, but you will shut down most bridged amps.

 

Gotcha, well my sub runs at 4 ohms...so ill go with the 2-channel amp...

funny, how did i know you were gonna be the only person to answer me...lol

thanks eld