Members ju5t1n20 Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 I am bridging a 700 x 2 stereo amp that will give me 1400 watts bridged at mono @4 ohms. I cut the end off of one of our leads to connect a banana jack to the amp. The tip wire was positive and the sleeve was for ground, hope I am right. Now I just got two brand new subs to keep us hgoing for the mean time rated at 500 watts cont, and 1000 watts peak. Am I gonna hurt the subs by throwing 700 watts to each speaker, or will I need to run the gain down on the amp. I am still learning about ths stuff, and I hope to gather some insight from you guys. Thanks again for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Details please ... amp model, speaker model. Your numbers don't add up. When people ask questions like this I expect they are looking for some kind of guarantee. There are no guarantees only reasonable expectations. You are far more likely to damage a speaker by sending too low a frequency than by sending too much (thermal) power. It's unlikely that you could actually ever send 700 CONTINUOUS Watts to the speaker by playing music into the amp. Do you have limiters set? Do you have HP filters? If not it isn't gonna matter because without them it's like driving a car blindfolded. At this point your speed isn't your biggest problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ju5t1n20 Posted August 29, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Amp - Cheapo Behringer EP1500Subs - Cerwin Vega 118S Subwoofer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Those are 250W continuous speakers not 500. I'd recommend just running the amp in regular 2 channel mode with the hP filters set at 50Hz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ju5t1n20 Posted August 29, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Sorry the Cerwin Vega Subs are INT - 118S. The rms is 500w and max is 1000w. Would pumping 1400 watts to these speakers hurt them, considering they would each get 700 or is it overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allexcosta Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Would pumping 1400 watts to these speakers hurt them, considering they would each get 700 or is it overkill. I wouldn't go over than 350-400W without some protection. You'll damage them sooner than later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 That amp is about 300w a channel into 8 ohms which would be about max for those subs. If you bridge it you'll be burning them up sooner or later . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 Cerwin Vega has always been a company not so concerned about super huge "wattage" specs. They build their own drivers, which are generally very efficient for their price point. The more efficient the speaker, the louder it can get with less wattage. Bottom line, don't worry much about throwing all you have at the speaker. Frankly, even if you did put 700 into it, you'd likely not even notice the difference. Sound isn't "straight addition". That is to say, double the power does not double the volume. It takes 10X the power to double the volume, which is a 10dB difference (100dB is twice as loud as 90 dB). In theory, doubling the power raises volume only 3dB, which is about the threshold that the "common ear" can tell a difference in loudness. So you're really not doing anything but stressing the components of both speaker and amplifier by bridging. I would also at least engage the 30 Hz filters, and would personally use the 50 Hz. This will also maximize output of the amplifier as it won't be trying to sweat out the lowest notes. I don't care what the specs say, it's not putting out usable frequencies below 50 Hz anyway so no sense wasting the power there. One last thing - you mentioned turning the amp down as a safety precaution. The "volume" control just attenuates the input sensitivity. The amplifier is still entirely capable of producing it's full ouput power if it gets a signal strong enough. One "oops" moment and the subs could be smoked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 I still think the bridge function should be disabled on all amps sold to non-professional users. This post is a good reason. I see plenty of blown speakers in for recone for exactly this reason. Complete lack of understanding of power. The CV driver is a fairly robust 250-300 watt RMS driver. Generally works well powered at 400 watts or less w/ a 40-50Hz HPF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members W. M. Hellinger Posted August 29, 2009 Members Share Posted August 29, 2009 I still think the bridge function should be disabled on all amps sold to non-professional users. This post is a good reason. Or quit beating around the bush and make dedicated bridge-mono amps (again). And replace the front accessable attenuator knobs with limit knobs. I thought Crown had a good idea with their amp model (CT possibly?) that required an adaptor cable to operate in bridge-mono mode (no convenience switch). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.