question about bridging amps

[highteknology]

when i bridge an amp it puts out more power right?
for my subs they are rated at 300 watts rms @ 4 ohm. the way i had the installer set it up they bridged the amp, which is 2 channel. My question is, the amp is rated at 330 watts rms when bridged, is this enough to push my subs? if not i was looking at getting a new amp and possibly bridging that one but all the specs say the bridged power for one channel. is this what i should be looking at even though it is pushing 2 channels?

[highteknology]

also, if i get an amp that puts out 340 watts rms when the sub suggests the rms ampage should be 300 will i ruin the speaker?

[Navy I.C.]

the bridged rating is usually listed with the specs, if you're going to run your amp in bridged mode, this is the spec you should look for. divide by the number of speakers in parallel to know how much each speaker is getting. damage usually occur to your speakers after the max rating is reached and/or exceeded for extended periods of time. thermal failure is a result of exceeding it's power limitations and mechanical failure happens when a driver exceed it's physical limitations

[highteknology]

what do you mean when you say divide by the number of speakers in parallel. for example, the amp i'm using says its like 330 rms bridged and i'm running two drivers. so then do i divide the 330 by 2?

[cody911911]

if your amp is running 330 bridged at 4 ohms that should only be running to one speaker. If you have 2 speakers hooked up when it is bridged it gives the amp a 2 ohm load so that amp is now making 660 at 2 ohms. This is good if you want power but it will burn out your amp. youe would be better running each sub off its own channel even though it is going to be cutting down on your power your amp will last much longer. I would recommend geting a mono channel amp that is 2 ohm stable or just get a larger 2 channel amp. I run 3 speakers which makes a 1.33 ohm load and I burnt out my amp in about a month (when bridged) but I got it for cheap(5 bucks). If you have any other questions ill reply lata

[highteknology]

how long does it usually take to burn out an amp. i've had mine for about 4 years now running like that and it still thumps.

[Navy I.C.]

hey, pump ya brakes cody. you can't just automatically assume his amp is seeing 2 ohms, putting a fluke on your amps output will tell you how many ohms

[mx6rrr]

hightec, it can take 5 seconds to fry an amp...it all depends on the install and the quality of the amp-speakers.

[cody911911]

this is resonably acurate I didn't say it would be exactly 2 ohms.....maybe its 1.9364 how am I suppose to know exactly but it will be around roughly 2 ohms if they are ran the way he has them set up. What you need to worry about is the stability of the amp which should be on the stats tag usually on the back or on the box that you got the amp w/ which I doubt U have now. With mine it was an older pioneer and only 1 of the channels worked if it wasn't bridged so It was about time for it to go anyway. Mine was running at 1.33 ohms which is quite low...Hifonics amps are the only amps that I have seen that can run this low of ohms. So lets say that amp could put out 100rms when bridged at 4 ohms. This is then roughly 200 watts rms at 2 ohms. Some wattege is lost but its just easier to explain in this fashion. Mine was running at 1.33 ohms so the amp would be supplying around 330 lets say(rough estimate). See this is a good thing to have if your amp is stable at low ohms cause you can basically add speakers and lower the ohms and the new speaker wouldn't be draining wattage from the other speakers. With my amp it got extremely hot (burn ur hand almost hot) and then started humming like mad if the volume wasn't turned up enough to run them. It's your decision as to what you want to do what kind of amp are you running if it has been running like this for 4 years and you haven't noticed anything you can probably leave it the way it is.

[Navy I.C.]

you can get a single bridge 2ohm setup if your amp is stable enough. If your amp has the capability, a double bridged 4ohm setup. IF THOSE SUBS ARE 4OHM (DVC) THEN YOU COULD HAVE A POSSIBLE (1), (3-ish), or (4)ohm setup...

all i meant by pump ya' brakes, is to give 'hightek' a minute to get a little bit more specific about the specs on his system. It'll be a lot easier to give a cut and dry answer to his questions

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by cody911911

If you have 2 speakers hooked up when it is bridged it gives the amp a 2 ohm load

IF he had 2 svc 4ohm subs and IF he wired them in parallel then you would be right, but those are some VERY large "if"s, and you absolutely cannot assume things like that when making recommendations to people.

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by cody911911

Mine was running at 1.33 ohms which is quite low...Hifonics amps are the only amps that I have seen that can run this low of ohms.

1.33? Half the monoblocks out there are rated stable down to 1ohm, and many are stable even lower. I'm running at 1ohm right now and I don't have a hifonics....

[cody911911]

He started this thread with "when i bridge an amp it puts out more power right?" I kinda figured that he only had single voice coil speakers but I guess I should have asked more in depth. I figured he wouldn't know that much about his setup if someone else installed it as well but maybe im wrong there as well...What exactly is your setup?

[cody911911]

Looked at another one of his threads and this is what his amp is anyway its a Bazooka EL2100

RMS Power Range : 130-330 Watts
Maximum Power: 165x2 Watts
Built In Crossovers: Yes
115 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms
165 watts RMS x 2 at 2 ohms
330 watts x 1 in bridged mode
Stereo or bridged mono output
Tri-Way capable
Variable high-pass/low-pass crossover, 12 dB per octave
MOSFET output devices
Bass boost
Output port for easy connection of Bazooka EL-series amplified bass tube
Speaker-level and preamp-level inputs let you connect to any radio, factory or aftermarket
Dimensions: 11-13/16"W x 2-5/8"H x 10-1/4"D

[Navy I.C.]

damn cody, that was a kickass recovery gettin' those amps specs...but that's still only half of the info needed to answer all of his questions.
but as far as getting more power from bridging, that's dependent on how your amp is regulated...
is it enough power for your subs? that depends on what subs, and how many...
as far as that last part...well first you say it's a two channel amp, O.k. cool. Then you say it's bridged, O.k. still cool. But then at the end you say it's pushing two channels,...Hmmm. Bridged means that you took two channels and combined them into one "more powerful" channel. now when you say your pushing two channels do you mean to say your pushing two subs off of the one bridged (combined) channel? Or, are you trying to say something different?