can a bridged 2 chnl amp use to power 2 subs? or do i have to use each chnl individually to power each sub... say i am powering 2 400 watt 10".... do i need a 2 chnl amp giving 200w@4ohms x2 or i can bridge one to give 200W@4ohms and have the 2 subs share the power?

 

you can bridge the amp and have the subs share the power....

 

since 1 sub requires 200w of power... does it mean if i am using 2, i need an amp that produce 400w of power when bridged?

 

This question can get a little complex.

Technically, you could string as many speakers as you want together and power them with a bridged amp, assuming you keep the impedance load on the amp correct.

So, in your case, if you're talking about powering 2 10'' subs with a single bridged amp, it's totally workable. Of course, this assumes that you can wire the 2 10's together to acheive the proper load.

This will depend on your amps specs... most amps will only be stable in bridged mode at 4 ohms, but there are some that will handle lower impedances.

Assuming that you need a 4 ohm load, your 10's would either have to be 2 ohm speakers or 8 ohm speakers... they could be wired in seriers or parallel, repectively, to acheived the desired 4 ohm load.

If your 10's are 4 ohm, there is no way to wire this unless your amp can handle a 2 ohm bridged load... b/c that is the impedance two 4 ohm speakers run in parallel will produce.

 

i am try to get the best proformance from my rockford RFZ3410(150rms/400peak)... me powering it with kenwood 629S (150w bridged)and find it just not enough.. therefore thinking of buying another RFZ3410 and a new amp... can you tell me which amp will give a single RFZ3410 enough power or if i get another sub.. which amp will be the most suitable for my situation for both cases?

 

Looking at your amp and sub, I wouldn't put any more power to that sub than you already have. You would definitely run the risk of blowing it if you did.

If you're looking for more thump, adding another one of those subs would do the trick. But as you mentioned, getting a stronger amp would be a good idea.

I don't have a particular amp in mind, but in my opinion, just about any decent quality amp would work well. I would look for something that puts at 150w x 2 at 4 ohms. The other option would be to find an amp that is stable at 2 ohms bridged and bridge it to your 10's wired in parallel. But since those Fosgates only will take 150w continuous, I think staying with 4 ohm stereo would make the cleanest power and keep the amp running cool.


Also make sure that you have them in a good enclosure with the proper amout of cubic space. The fosgate website says between .625 and 1.5 cubic feet.

I was thinking about your situation a little more just now... and since you already have the Kenwood amp, instead of trying to sell it or whatever (of which you would lose quite a bit of money) you might just want to get another one just like it and use the 2 of them bridged, one to each 10. That might be the most cost effective way to get what you're wanting.

That way, when you decide to go off the car stereo deep end one day (and it looks like you're well on your way) you could use those to power your front and rear separates in stereo mode, and you could then buy a bigger amp for the bigger subs that you will inevitably want.

 

oic thanks for you input... so you saying i should get another set right? before i was thinking it was the amp problem cause my friend was using the same sub and pushing it with a 200W Presitege amp and it pounds harder than mine. I was thinking about either a 150S or 200S Rockford amp to push the one i currently have, since it had bass boost, i thought i would get a bit more from it... I just don't want a bunch of different brand and wanna stick to Rockford

Say if i went the way you suggested by buying another kenwood amp and same sub... would i need extra battery to power the second one or need another wire from the back to the front car battery? or do i somehow draw power from the other amp to the second one?

 

I'm sure you would get more sound with the bass boost on a rockford amp... if you like the way your friend's sounds, then go for it. I've always been more of a sound quality guy and have never particularly cared for the fosgate sound. There's no doubt that they are loud though.

If you put a second kenwood in, I would suggest running a second power wire to the battery. You shouldn't need another battery though... you might get a little bit of lights dimming when the bass hits real hard, but it shouldn't be a big problem.

I'm pushing more power than that with my amp and sub and I don't have any problems.


This really comes down to personal preference... you could do this any number of ways, but if you like the way your friends sounds, then go with that.

 

Thank you alot... i am a big newbie to the sound system world for cars.... so don't know anything.... say that if i wanted the perfect 10" sub with the perfect amp... giving the most clean, clear and solid pounding... which brand and model number would i use and how much will it run me? I see alot of ppl using JL 10W7 and powering it with the JL 500.1 (mono i assume). Is this a 500watt sub? why don't ppl use 12W7?

 

As far as the perfect setup goes... you'll get a different answer from everyone that responds.

If you find one that you think sounds great... then you made the right choice no matter what anybody else thinks.

But JL does have a reputation for great sound quality at fairly reasonable prices.

I don't know why people choose the 10 over the 12... must be price and also the smaller enclosure necessary for the 10. But I personally prefer the lower frequency response of the 12 for that extra thump.

I probably am a little biased toward the JLs though... especially since my wife has 2 12w6s in her accord coupe!

 

Just wanted to clarify a few technical aspects... you can easily use a bridged amp to drive these speakers when they're connected in series. Assuming they're 4 ohm speakers, the equivalent load the amp sees is 8 ohms.

Now, you're gonna want to know about power eh? Well, a bridged amp produces 4x the power of the unbridged channels (ideally)--given the same load. However, here you're going to increase the load from 4 ohms to 8 ohms, so you're going to get an effective 2x increase in wattage.

In your case, you were talking about using a 200Wx2channel amp for driving 4 ohm speakers. If you were to connect one speaker to each channel, you would get 200W/per channel (400W total) outta the amp (again, ideally). If you bridge the amp and connect the subs in series, you're going to get 400W of power out. It's a net gain of ZERO (in terms of power).

However, the amp is going to like one load over the other, depending on its design and it will SOUND DIFFERENT. Experiment with both configurations and enjoy.

What you don't wanna do here as mentioned above is to bridge the amp and then put the speakers in parallel (equivalent load of 2 ohms). This would ask the amp to deliver 1600W of power! FYI, whenever you bridge an amp each channel "sees" only half of the load.... so your amp needs to be 1 ohm stable, not 2. It's going to run HOT. Cheap amps can't deal. Good ones stress. Even if the amp can handle it, so do your drivers, power system (need CAPS), and ears.

-- Nihil

 

right now i am just gonna get myself another 10" and new amp that is 2 channel 100-150 x2 @ 4 ohms and hook each one to the channels looking at the kenwood 729s 600W... let me know if you have any better suggestion in amps.. me looking at nothing highend... around 300-400 dollar amps..