8 ohm subwoofer on a 2 ohm amp?

modernwar99 · Aug 26, 2014

I have an old JBL Music 1 passive subwoofer and it needs an amp to be used with my modern Harman Kardon A/V receiver. I was stupid and bought a 200 watt single channel amp rated at 2 ohms. My subwoofer runs at 8 ohms and needs a 10-200 watt amp. Based on my understanding I could run a 2 ohm amp with an 8 amp subwoofer, but it wouldn't output 200 watts at 8 ohms. I don't want to open the box in case I need to return it, so can I use a 200 watt amp rated for 2 ohms on an 8 ohm subwoofer, and if I can, how many watts will the amp put out at 8 ohms?

jdwii · Aug 26, 2014

modernwar99 :

Ok first thing don't come to toms for audio help unless its headphones/headsets/headphone amps/cheap PC speaker crap.
Second i can help a bit 1 it doesn't need to output lots of watts since 100 watts isn't 10 times louder than 10 watts. Also you can use 8ohm speakers on lower ohm amp nothing is wrong with that but you can't do it the other way around.

modernwar99 · Aug 26, 2014

Thank you, I'll try it out. Also I know that there aren't many experienced people in audio on this forum, but I didn't want want to sign up for a forum dedicated to audio for one thread. I figured since I already had an account here, I might as well make a thread.

jdwii · Aug 27, 2014

modernwar99 :

I understand that man and you can always PM there is some expert audio guys here just not a lot and nothing compared to AVS fourms or anything

americanaudiophile · Aug 28, 2014

The amp will put out about 50 watts at 8 ohms. Given that the sub came from a package system I would say it should be fine. The power specs on these kind of systems is usually wildly exaggerated the same way car amp specs are.

lemon07r · Dec 24, 2014

Run your speaker sub setup in a parallel circuit (daisy chain it) and the impedance will be

So your total impedance will [most definitely be lower then 8 and] depend on the ohms of your speakers (which are usually actually even lower then what they are labeled as). This is under the assumption you are setting it up using only a the high lvl input connectors.

I had a similar issue, had a 4-8ohm amp and 2ohm amp, and 8 ohm speakers. So I just ran it in a series (amp to sub to speakers) using only the high level in (my sub didnt have a high level out). So in theory its a 10ohm circuit, but probably less then that cause like i said before, most speakers have less impedance then what is labeled on the back.

Links to look at for a better understanding:
http://www.prestonelectronics.com/audio/Impedance.htm <(This one is really good)
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-paralresist.htm

Search

8 ohm subwoofer on a 2 ohm amp?

modernwar99

Reputable

jdwii

jdwii

Splendid

modernwar99

Reputable

jdwii

Splendid

americanaudiophile

Titan

lemon07r

Distinguished

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page