Hooking up two amps to one sub

[imhungnurnot 9]

I have a Dual 2 ohm sub 1500 wRMS.. so it can be wired at 1 ohm or 4 ohms. I have two 1 ohm stable Autotek 1400s.. They can be linked using the MXL-100 but then I can only put a 2 ohm load on the "strapped" amp set up.. so if I run the sub on the strapped setup at with the sub at 4 ohms ill only be getting 1400 watts. Which is what I would get if I run a single amp on the sub at . Think I could run a amp to each coil if I set the outputs of the amps with a DMM? Would this cause problems? Thus giving me 1000 watts per coil and 2000 watts for the sub all together..

[Hansk 1]

what sub is it..... bc i dont think thats gonna work for ya....i could be wrong ... but i dont think so.....but what kind of sub is it

[imhungnurnot 9]

its a DD (digital designs) 9512.. why would the sub matter?

[Hansk 1]

i was just curious what sub.....

[Hansk 1]

is it the 9512 A? E? theres a couple different ones that i googled im looking at the spec..

[Hansk 1]

i donno it might work .... i just dont know .... my only concern would be the fact of have an amp for each coil... that would be putting 1000 watts on each coil to a sub thats rated for 1500 total. im not familiar with those subs about being able to handle more than what there rated or not .... but f it was me i wouldn't do it.. bc think about it like this... if its 1500 thats 750 a coil. thats 250 watts more on a coil.. and i have heard it's safe to run about 150-200 watts more on a sub than what it's rated for but that would be an extra 100 watts total and that could be a big difference on changing things... just my 2 cents

[jcarter1885 995]

You can wire an amp to each coil but you may be asking for trouble so I wouldnt advise it personally. I would just run it on one amp at 1 ohms till you can get an amp that you need.

What is the exact Autotek Model number and what does the amp do at 1 ohm?

[Kanaworm$ 292]

It can be done! But trying to gain match to seperate amplifiers without strapping or the Maxxlink is going to be tough even with a DMM.

You may want to inquire about a recone going with D1 or D4.

[emh9009 199]

i donno it might work .... i just dont know .... my only concern would be the fact of have an amp for each coil... that would be putting 1000 watts on each coil to a sub thats rated for 1500 total. im not familiar with those subs about being able to handle more than what there rated or not .... but f it was me i wouldn't do it.. bc think about it like this... if its 1500 thats 750 a coil. thats 250 watts more on a coil.. and i have heard it's safe to run about 150-200 watts more on a sub than what it's rated for but that would be an extra 100 watts total and that could be a big difference on changing things... just my 2 cents

there is no set number for +- watts for a sub, it depends on the box the sub is in.

[Hansk 1]

Like I said I could be wrong in my previous post but I wouldn't do it...

[Drek75633 1]

It's possible. But you have to get the outputs of both amplifiers within milivolts of each other. Otherwise one coil will be pushin while the other is pullin. It will create a lot of thermal. Coils goin to go poof.

[95Honda 486]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with running 2 different amps on one sub.

Additionally, matching the amps is trivial. It will not hurt the sub in any way if the signals are completely different. You will just have more loss the less they are matched in phase (shouldn't be an issue with 2 identical amps set the same). The only reason you match the level is so that each amp is running out of steam at the same time, that way one amp isn't already taxed while the other is at say 50%.

In the voicecoil, no matter how you wire it, if the signals are in phase they are additive, if they are different levels, they are still additive. If they are out of phase they begin to cancel. This doesn't really hurt anything. The coil doesn "work against itself", instead the magnetic field weakened, or not built.... It doesn't overheat anything as long as you don't exceed the thermal ratings of the coil.

There are literally millions of passive DVC home audio subwoofers around the world that have been operating on combined stereo signals (huge phase and level differentials) for decades without any issues.... As they should....

Edited May 3, 2010 by 95Honda

[deernet 6]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with running 2 different amps on one sub.

Additionally, matching the amps is trivial. It will not hurt the sub in any way if the signals are completely different. You will just have more loss the less they are matched in phase (shouldn't be an issue with 2 identical amps set the same). The only reason you match the level is so that each amp is running out of steam at the same time, that way one amp isn't already taxed while the other is at say 50%.

In the voicecoil, no matter how you wire it, if the signals are in phase they are additive, if they are different levels, they are still additive. If they are out of phase they begin to cancel. This doesn't really hurt anything. The coil doesn "work against itself", instead the magnetic field weakened, or not built.... It doesn't overheat anything as long as you don't exceed the thermal ratings of the coil.

There are literally millions of passive DVC home audio subwoofers around the world that have been operating on combined stereo signals (huge phase and level differentials) for decades without any issues.... As they should....

Very informative post. I've often thought about how hard it would be to do this.

[KU40 173]

i donno it might work .... i just dont know .... my only concern would be the fact of have an amp for each coil... that would be putting 1000 watts on each coil to a sub thats rated for 1500 total. im not familiar with those subs about being able to handle more than what there rated or not .... but f it was me i wouldn't do it.. bc think about it like this... if its 1500 thats 750 a coil. thats 250 watts more on a coil.. and i have heard it's safe to run about 150-200 watts more on a sub than what it's rated for but that would be an extra 100 watts total and that could be a big difference on changing things... just my 2 cents

there is no set number for +- watts for a sub, it depends on the box the sub is in.

The coil still has a thermal rating.

[SpeakerBoy 64]

i donno it might work .... i just dont know .... my only concern would be the fact of have an amp for each coil... that would be putting 1000 watts on each coil to a sub thats rated for 1500 total. im not familiar with those subs about being able to handle more than what there rated or not .... but f it was me i wouldn't do it.. bc think about it like this... if its 1500 thats 750 a coil. thats 250 watts more on a coil.. and i have heard it's safe to run about 150-200 watts more on a sub than what it's rated for but that would be an extra 100 watts total and that could be a big difference on changing things... just my 2 cents

DD's can take a fair bit of abuse.

[Hansk 1]

i donno it might work .... i just dont know .... my only concern would be the fact of have an amp for each coil... that would be putting 1000 watts on each coil to a sub thats rated for 1500 total. im not familiar with those subs about being able to handle more than what there rated or not .... but f it was me i wouldn't do it.. bc think about it like this... if its 1500 thats 750 a coil. thats 250 watts more on a coil.. and i have heard it's safe to run about 150-200 watts more on a sub than what it's rated for but that would be an extra 100 watts total and that could be a big difference on changing things... just my 2 cents

DD's can take a fair bit of abuse.

ok well im not familair with those subs. Thats why i said that...but very interesting thread

[Impious 1,476]

Little benefit to running them both, other than more money in wires, more space taken up and more time installing.

The audible difference between 2kw & 1500w is only 1.25db at best, under ideal conditions.....by the time you factor in power compression, the difference is going to be well below the threshold of audibility.

[imhungnurnot 9]

Its the DD 9512g, thermal limits? who cares.. lol i know what VC smells like when you get it hot, just turn down the volume.. Just because an amp on each sub I don't need to have 1000 watts on each coil.. gains are adjustable.. and I think it'll sound cleaner running both amps at 2 ohms anyway... plus i already have the amps from awhile back. why not use them?

Also, how can one calculate the box rise and how does the shape of the box, etc. affect box rise?