Amp With Channels?Confused

[Driver15]

i am not exactly understanding the channel thing, so do i have to switch channels or w/e or does it just give a certain amount of power to each channel instead of just one?

[vinnym86]

Originally Posted by Driver15

i am not exactly understanding the channel thing, so do i have to switch channels or w/e or does it just give a certain amount of power to each channel instead of just one?

an amp with 250watts rms x4 will give you 250 watts of continuous power by 4 channels. each channel sends a current to a load (i.e. speakers/subs). you can power 4 speakers with a 4ch amp, or 2 subs by bridging into 2 channels.

research the entire site of http://www.bcae1.com. you'll get ur answers for everything there.

[sr20de4evr]

Each channel carries its own signal (like left vs right). You can put however many speakers you want on a channel (power will be split between them), but they will all be receiving the same signal. If you want your speakers to receive different signals, then you need to put them on separate channels, that's the gist of it. Most people use a 4ch for their interior speakers so that they have 4 individual signals being sent to the 4 speakers, that way they can still use their balance and fade controls. You could put all 4 speakers on a 2ch amp if you wanted, both L speakers on one channel and both R speakers on the other channel, but you would lose the ability to fade. Or conversely you could put both front speakers on one channel and both rear speakers on the other channel, but then you would lose stereo and you would lose the ability to balance between the La nd R. You could put all 4 speakers on a mono amp if you wanted too, but you would lose stereo, you would lose the ability to control the L and R balance, and you would lose the ability to fade front and back.

With subs you generally don't want to fade back and forth between them and you don't care if they're playing the same thing, so most people use a mono amp or a bridged 2ch amp (bridging is the act of combining 2 channels into 1, so a 2ch amp behaves like a mono amp, a 4ch amp behaves like a 2ch amp, etc).