What are the effects of splitting a mono amp two ways and could this blow the subwoofers?

Question

I want to get two 4 Ohm kicker CVX 750RMS/ 1500Peak power Subwoofers and put them both under one channel. On a monoblock 1500 watt amp. What would it require me to purchase to be able to do this and what would the effects of doing it be? (such as loss of wattage, drop to 2 Ohm, blowing of subwoofer on install, and any thing else you could think of adding would help)

Answer 1

First, no offense but you need to do a little bit more research.  I am glad you are asking questions which shows you want to learn but sometimes sites like these are not the best places.  There are a lot of myths in the car audio world and places like these tend to spread them.  Use the links below to learn a little more about this stuff besides what I tell you.  I am just giving you a general idea.  You can also e-mail me if you want to ask any more questions.  I just want to make sure you are not misinformed and end up spending money on something that will not work for you.

http://www.bcae1.com/

http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/learnin...

http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/learnin...

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Using a single channel (monoblock) amp with two subs is fine to do.  There is no harm nor is there anything you are sacrificing when doing this.  There are, however, changes made when you hook up more then one sub.

The biggest change is the impedance the amp will see.  This is measured in ohms.  So your subs are 4 ohm subs.  So having a single sub connected to the amp would result in the amp seeing a 4 ohm load.  Now if you add another sub you will change what the amp sees.  Now the amp will see either a 2 or 8 ohm load, depending on how you wire the subs.  This is what you need to look for the most when wiring up multiple subs.

In the last example I assumed that your sub was SVC (Single Voice Coil).  That means there is a single voice coil that has a impedance of 4 ohms.  However, you subs are DVC (Dual Voice Coil).  This means your sub has two voice coils, each with an impedance of 4 ohms.  This changes how you are going to need to wire your subs and what the amp sees.  With a DVC 4 ohm sub those Kickers your amp will see either a 2 ohm or 8 ohm load with a single sub.  

With two subs your amp will see either a 1 or 4 ohm load.  This is what concerns you most because this is the setup you are looking to get.

I'm going to skip the rest of the explanation and just jump to what amp you need to get.  To get the full potential from those subs you will need an amp that is either 1500w @ 1 ohm or 1500w @ 4 ohms.  Now getting one that is 1500w @ 1 ohm is going to be cheaper.  But it does put more strain on the amp which can cause it to not last as long.  This is not usually much of a problem if you setup your amp correctly.  1500w @ 4 ohms is going to be a little bit better but it is going to be very expensive.  So 1500w @ 1 ohm is going to be your best option.

Kicker amps are not stable at 1 ohm (maybe the Warhorse but the ZX amps are not).  So that means you will want to look at other brands if you want a single amp.  If you are interested in a Kicker amp the ZX750.1 is a good choice but you would need two of them.  

Look around and see what you find for amps.  Then post some of them back on here and we can help to tell you if they are a good choice or not.

Good Luck!!!