amp power output?

[SweetWagon]

My clarion 4ch amp puts out 50wx4 at 4Ohms and 100wx4 at 2Ohms, my question is that why when you bridge it, it can only handle 4Ohms, not 2? and what would the power output be if i bridged 2 channels? I would assume it would be 200w

Just another question, if i hooked up 2x 4Ohm speakers (creating a 2Ohm load) to a channel to get the most power, would each speaker be getting 50w.

Cheers

[StoneX]

When you bridge an amp to a 4 ohm load, it means that each channel is running at 2 ohm, so bridged 4 ohm power should be twice a single 2 ohm channel. So 200W x 1 at 4 ohm.

And yep, two speakers connected to the same channel will share the power. So 50W each.

[SweetWagon]

I see, so wiring in parallel would create the 2Ohm load on the channel? I drew up a diagram of how i will wire it.


Also do the gain controls on the amp just control the wattage being put out, therfore determining how loud it goes??

Thanks for your help

[StoneX]

Yep, that is parallel wiring.

The gain controls are just a setting to match your head unit to the amp and the amp to your speakers. Different head units put out a different voltage signal from their RCA's, so if an amp had no gains and you used a head unit with higher voltage RCA's you might only be able to turn the head unit up 1/4 before the amp was producing full power. That doesn't leave you with much adjustment with your volume control. And the opposite for low voltage outputs, you might turn your head unit volume to max and only be getting have the amp's power from it.

Also, when you set the gains you're setting it to make as much power as it needs to to reach the limits of your speakers. So if they are set correctly, you shouldn't be able to cause your speakers to distort from too much power.

[edit] I thinkthere is a tutorial on gains in the tutorials section of Car Audio Australia.

[SweetWagon]

Cheers, so basically with the gains, if i crank up the HU to about 80-90% then start turning the gain controls from MIN until the speaker starts to distort. I'v never really known what exactly the gain control do so it should should a bit better when their set properly.
Thanks again

[StoneX]

Yep, exactly s you said but once the speakers distort turn it back until they aren't and your gains are set correctly.

[RVN 355]

2 OHM impedence... Impedence being (Z) - The opposition to flow of current flow in a circuit.

Impedence R = V/I resistive circuit
z = V2/I2 Reactive circuit

Basically mate as your Resistance goes ^ Voltage(V) goes down .

[semi]

not really. The voltage drop over the speaker is gonna be the same (kirchoff's voltage law). So the current actually increases.

what you've written doesnt make sense. R=V/I so V=IR. if r increases, then v increases