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Ohm Question

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:53 pm
by NViejeP
Hey guys, sorry if this question sounds stupid but I'm new to everything.

What's the difference between 2 ohm and 4 ohm.

I plan on getting a 4 channel amp soon and wiring it to my head unit and subwoofer.

Should I use 2 ohm or 4 ohm? Thanks

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:16 am
by GlassWolf
read http://www.bcae1.com

ohms are a measure of resistance or impedance.
4 ohms is twice the impedance of 2 ohms.

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:43 am
by JeremyC

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:27 am
by geolemon
How it matters to you is that 2 ohms is less "resistance" than 4 ohms.

Specifically, it is "less resistance" against current flowing through a circuit.
The lower the impedence (or resistance), the more current will flow.

And, the more current flows through any electronics, the more heat is produced.
What makes a fuse blow? Too much current flowing through it, right?
Why does it blow? The element melts - heat.

This is important in car audio, because you don't want your amp internals to melt, by hooking up too low of an impedence to it. It's not just fuses that melt. ;)
...which is why amps are rated as being "stable down to..." a specific impedence. 2 ohms, 1 ohm, whatever. You don't want to hook up a lower impedence than what it's been designed for. ;)

Speakers come in many impedences (plus, you can wire them in combinations to either double, or halve the impedence for each combination of two you connect) so that you can wire them to the proper impedence you need, given whatever amp it is you have.

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:00 pm
by GlassWolf
the trick is matching the speakers you choose to the right amplifier..
that will depend on if the amplifier will be bridged or not, or if it's mono, how many speakers each channel will drive, how they're wired together, etc.
What may be easier is to pick out your speakers, and tell us the specs of them.
Then give us a budget to work with and we can suggest both good amplifiers, and how to connect them.

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:30 pm
by albino
u need to have an amp that will handle the ohm load of your speaker if they are not compatible u will mess up your amp or sometimes your sub