[cleansoundz]

I decided after about 5 years to slay the 1 ohm monster. For years and years I would never run any woofer setup at 1 ohm. However after much thinking and deliberation, I decided to slay the 1 ohm monster. I am running 2 10s at 1 ohm and from what I can tell there isn't much of a difference between 2 ohms and 1 ohm as far as sound quality.

Any thoughts?

 

[ATOMICTECH62]

Some amps that claim more power into 1 ohm will actually do less then at 2 ohm.
Since most class d amps are unregulated the 1 ohm load pulls the input voltage down.And since the efficiency drops with the lower impedance the PS cant maintain the rail voltage.
There is one very popular amp that does this that comes to mind.Its rated at [email protected] ohm and [email protected] ohm.I get about [email protected] ohm but 1 ohm only [email protected] ohm.
Plus the damping factor gets cut in half so it sounds a little more sloppy.
They rate most of these amps at 14.4 volts so when that voltage drops the amps output suffers proportionally.

 

[ATOMICTECH62]

With all amps the damping factor gets cut in half when the load is doubled.But the one Im referring to is the old Memphis 16st1000d

 

[cleansoundz]

Alpine and some Arc Audio amps do the same thing.

 

[SkizeR]

=I am running 2 10s at 1 ohm and from what I can tell there isn't much of a difference between 2 ohms and 1 ohm as far as sound quality.

wait, your saying you actually thought there would be a noticeable difference?

 

[SkizeR]

edit.. should have read the whole thread

 

[Weigel21]

Always wondered about my Memphis 16-MCD1000, it's rated similarly and has the same 80AMPS of fusing. Be nice to find out what it's really capable of producing as it too seemed to have a fair following, or at least that line.

 

[WestCo]

I decided after about 5 years to slay the 1 ohm monster. For years and years I would never run any woofer setup at 1 ohm. However after much thinking and deliberation, I decided to slay the 1 ohm monster. I am running 2 10s at 1 ohm and from what I can tell there isn't much of a difference between 2 ohms and 1 ohm as far as sound quality.

Any thoughts?

Keep a fire extinguisher close by

JK, it'll be fine, get it out of your system and you'll never feel the need to do it again.

 

[Hanatsu]

Run the amp as low as possible. It's better to have power available.

Damping factor is irrelevant, so is a marginal increase in THD.

 

[hot9dog]

MORE POWER!!!!! FEED IT LOTS OF JUICE, DUMP IT TO THE LOWEST OHMS... DO IT NOW!!!! (SAID IT IN A MONSTER TRUCK ANNOUNCER VOICE)

 

[cubdenno]

I decided after about 5 years to slay the 1 ohm monster. For years and years I would never run any woofer setup at 1 ohm. However after much thinking and deliberation, I decided to slay the 1 ohm monster. I am running 2 10s at 1 ohm and from what I can tell there isn't much of a difference between 2 ohms and 1 ohm as far as sound quality.

Any thoughts?

I played around with several amps on my sub and when level matched, to account for differences in power, if there was a sonic difference, I couldn't tell. Except for output capabilities.

 

[upgrayedd]

it also depends on amp designs, If an amp is designed to be run at 1 ohm, then it is no worse off than one designed to be run at 4, being run at 4. As was mentioned, depending on design, some amps may not catch fire but they will become inefficient ovens below a certain point. With my adcom, I noticed a large gain in output and an expected rise in current draw going from 4ohm mono to 2 ohm mono. At 1 ohm mono, they just got hotter and were current monsters. There may have been more output but it was negligible.

 

[cleansoundz]

I played around with several amps on my sub and when level matched, to account for differences in power, if there was a sonic difference, I couldn't tell. Except for output capabilities.

I listened to some rap and R&B music with lots of vocals and instruments and the bass was very responsive. All of the drums beats were there and the bass blended in with the music nicely. Class D mono block amplifier designs have improved very nicely over the last several years. My amp barely got warm and my current draw didn't change. To my ears my 2 10s at 1 ohm sounded very very good.

 

[Hillbilly SQ]

I've always made it a point not to run any amp below 2 ohms but that's just a mental thing. And the extra current draw has never been worth it. I guess if you have the juice to feed the amp you may as well. Come to think of it, the only times I've run an amp below 2 ohms is when I was a n00b and wired a pair of d2 cvr10's parallel parallel instead of series parallel. The JBL bp600.1 took a .5 ohm load like a champ but definitely sounded cleaner at the originally intended 2 ohm load after realizing my mistake. Also ran a little warmer at a 2 ohm load for some reason. And also ran a Treo ssi10 at 1 ohm on a Crossfire vr600d for a short time. Current draw was an issue with the stock 130a gm alty.

 

[WestCo]

I've always made it a point not to run any amp below 2 ohms but that's just a mental thing. And the extra current draw has never been worth it. I guess if you have the juice to feed the amp you may as well. Come to think of it, the only times I've run an amp below 2 ohms is when I was a n00b and wired a pair of d2 cvr10's parallel parallel instead of series parallel. The JBL bp600.1 took a .5 ohm load like a champ but definitely sounded cleaner at the originally intended 2 ohm load after realizing my mistake. Also ran a little warmer at a 2 ohm load for some reason. And also ran a Treo ssi10 at 1 ohm on a Crossfire vr600d for a short time. Current draw was an issue with the stock 130a gm alty.

I've ran at 12 ohms nominal with the a6000gti on some reconed id maxes. That was a lot of fun. Not a lot of power though... >.<

 

[cleansoundz]

It seemed like my amp ran cooler at 1 ohm vs 2 ohms.

 

[WestCo]

It seemed like my amp ran cooler at 1 ohm vs 2 ohms.

That would contradict the laws of thermodynamics...
Unless you were putting out 1/2 the power @ 1.

Also the ambient air temperature has a lot to do with the temperature of the amplifier, even after it's been on a while.

 

[OldSchoolAddict]

I'm not an electrical engineer but I firmly believe that once you reach too low of a load you begin to get what some call "sloppy bass".

I used to run two Sundown E12s on my USA400. Anything lower than 2 ohms stereo sounded like ****. Sounded as if there was a delay if that makes any sense. In hindsight I may have been lacking in available amperage at that time. Another thing that needs to be considered is the dampening factor of the amplifier but that was already mentioned.

 

[Hillbilly SQ]

It seemed like my amp ran cooler at 1 ohm vs 2 ohms.

Glad I'm not the only one that's happened to. My amp was mounted on the back wall between the sub boxes in a single cab truck so would reach back and touch it any time I wanted. Maybe I had the sub output turned down because the added distortion at the lower impedance made the subs seem "louder". Considering the subs were Kicker Comp vr10's (the black and grey ones with the trible dust cap) I just spouted off a ton of irony. Should have never sold them.

 

[OldSchoolAddict]

That would contradict the laws of thermodynamics...
Unless you were putting out 1/2 the power @ 1.

Look at some of bigdwiz' videos, some amps top out at 2 ohms and make less power as they go lower. Cheap Korean ****, to be fair