scoobyboy

can someone explain the relationship between amps and ohms? why are some amps better on 2 than 4 or vice versa. im looking at getting an amp soon but want to know a bit more about them.

BigRed

An amp wired to a 4 Ohm speaker will produce less watts of output due to the speaker having a higher resistance, also an amp wired to a 2 ohm speaker will produce more watts of output because of the lower resistance voice coil.
Before buying amps make sure there 4/2 or even 1 ohm rated, it's no good running an amp with a 2 ohm load if it's not going to handle it EG get to hot an keep cutting out.
I run my sub at 1 ohm but my Viper amp can handle this and takes extreme amounts of current doing so!!!

scoobyboy

so is it better to have the lowest ohm speakers you can get?

BigRed

YES ,but remember your amp as GOT to be able to run low impedence(OHMS) speakers, otherwise it will cut out on you or get very hot and destroy its self. Look on the amp spec to see if it will run 2 ohm loads or even 1 ohm loads, 1ohm rated amps are expensive though. Most standard car audio speakers are of the 4 ohms type, usually 2ohm and 1 ohm are subs only.

scoobyboy

cheers i think i better check to see what my speakers are then many thanks

chiark

It really depends what you want as to whether the lowest impedance speaker available is right for you.

Your amp *may* be able to produce more power into a low impedance speaker, but distortion *will* rise, the amp *will* produce more heat and the sound quality *will* be affected.

By amps, I guess you're talking about "amplifier" and not "amp" - measure of current? When you drop the impedance, the current delivered by the amp goes up...

Don't get hung up about power ratings... At best, you'll get a 3dB increase in output by running lower impedance, and the rise in THD will offset the benefits IMHO.

Cheers,
Nick
(running a continuum bridged into front channels, with sub channel running at 1 ohm!)