Will I hurt my amp?

[va72mlibu]

I'm in the unusual circumstance of having too much amp for the speakers. I have one DVC 2 Ohm sub and a 2 channel amp. Running both channels bridged is too much power for the sub to handle. Is there any harm in just running one channel of a 2 channel amp? I can't think of any reason there would be? Thoughts?

[SLO-N-LOW]

nope none at all..But why not just turn you gain way down on the amp some amp will only produce power that you set it at?

[CRead01]

nope none at all..But why not just turn you gain way down on the amp some amp will only produce power that you set it at?

I have done that in the past too.

depending on the amount of wattage and type of sub it wouldn't hurt too bad to run the subs with it. I have pushed my alpine subs past the limit for a couple years without problems. I also have some boston acoustics in my truck that I am pushing about a hundred extra watts to. It also depends on how hard you push them. I don't usually crank it all the time. I listen to it a little loud hear and there but not like some people.

jmo

[bbcc]

There really isn't any harm running one channel only, but if you run it bridged you can turn the gain down, thus decreasing the signal amplification resulting in a cleaner and less distorted signal to your dirver. To properly set an amp for a given driver load turn the volume up on the head unit with all effects turned off, all crossovers turned off, and the equalizers set to zero (flat). Turn the volume up to the maximum volume you plan on listening to. Now you can set your gain level on the amp. Starting with the gain set all the way down, increase the gain slowly untill you notice the speaker start to distort and "clip". Back the gain off about 1/4 turn. This is pretty much the optimum setting you can get from the amp. Oh, and use a song or cd with alot of base when you are setting the amp for a subwoofer. This will guarantee you will not over power your driver and damage the voice coil or suspension. If you have a bi-amped system (one amp for your components and one for your subs) set the component amp first using this method, then set the sub amp second.

And you mentioned that your sub is a dvc rated at 2 ohm. How are you feeding the power to each voice coil? There are a couple different ways to wire this sub with a 2 channel amp, depending on how low of a load your amp can handle. If you need any help wiring your system, let me know.

cheers bbcc

[LowBuckX]

Yea if your subs are dual 2 ohm running them parallel your amp will see a 1 ohm load and running them seriesed your amp will see a 4 ohm load. The 4 ohm load is easyer on your amp and will drop the output.

[audioman]

Running an amp at 4 ohms is the best and if it's a good SQ amp it will sound better. This of course if all other parameters are right.