How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Need help with your car stereo system? Have a technical question? Post here.
Post Reply
bds0688
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:10 pm

How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by bds0688 »

The subs I'm interested in and am getting a good deal on are dual 4. I'm pretty partial to Phoenix Gold amps and am trying to find an amp that can do 200-350 for each sub.
User avatar
Eric D
Short Bus Driver
Posts: 4259
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:50 am

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by Eric D »

Run the amp with one channel per coil. Although the ZX450 is rated at only 75W x 4, it does almost 150W x 4, so you would have close to 300W a sub with all 4 channels running on 4 ohm loads.

If you are worried about the balancing of loads, then bridge the ZX450 into 8 ohm loads instead of 2 ohm.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
User avatar
smgreen20
Posts: 2873
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:23 am
Location: Somewhere in Between

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by smgreen20 »

The review I saw on the 450 side of a Reactor did 111 x 4 at 4 ohms.
"ZPA's will have the same sound essentially as you get from the MS, they just feature a bigger shinier set of balls."

Install:
http://phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16998
Virtue
Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 10:05 pm

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by Virtue »

So I assume you have 2 subs, dual 4 ohm voice coils? As Eric said, 8 ohms mono or 1 ohm mono (not recommended). What you also can do is you can run it 2 ohms stereo. So, each sub is on each channel, stereo. Then your amp will see 2 ohms stereo. What you then need to do is get a y-adaptor rca cable, it joins the signal together, (mono signal) and then get another y-adaptor and split the signal back into two RCA's then plug it into the amp. This will give a mono sound signal into the amp and then you won't have a stereo (left and right) sound coming out of the amp and then into the subs. Is this important, not really, but some music recordings will have more bass out of one side than the other, so by joining the signal and then separating them back, both subs get the exact same sound signal.

Down the road, you can buy another amp for more volume (one amp per sub), or, just use one sub right now and you should get similar sound and volume out of it by bridging the amp and it will see 2 ohms mono.
User avatar
Eric D
Short Bus Driver
Posts: 4259
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:50 am

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by Eric D »

Virtue wrote:So I assume you have 2 subs, dual 4 ohm voice coils? As Eric said, 8 ohms mono or 1 ohm mono (not recommended). What you also can do is you can run it 2 ohms stereo. So, each sub is on each channel, stereo. Then your amp will see 2 ohms stereo. What you then need to do is get a y-adaptor rca cable, it joins the signal together, (mono signal) and then get another y-adaptor and split the signal back into two RCA's then plug it into the amp. This will give a mono sound signal into the amp and then you won't have a stereo (left and right) sound coming out of the amp and then into the subs. Is this important, not really, but some music recordings will have more bass out of one side than the other, so by joining the signal and then separating them back, both subs get the exact same sound signal.

Down the road, you can buy another amp for more volume (one amp per sub), or, just use one sub right now and you should get similar sound and volume out of it by bridging the amp and it will see 2 ohms mono.
The ZX450 is a 4-channel amp.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
User avatar
MW3
Morgan @ PG
Posts: 634
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:51 am

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by MW3 »

Eric D wrote:Run the amp with one channel per coil. Although the ZX450 is rated at only 75W x 4, it does almost 150W x 4, so you would have close to 300W a sub with all 4 channels running on 4 ohm loads.

If you are worried about the balancing of loads, then bridge the ZX450 into 8 ohm loads instead of 2 ohm.
X2

Although the ZX450 can drive 2 ohms front and rear bridged, it will put A LOT of stress on the amplifier.
Morgan West
Phoenix Gold Product Manager
Virtue
Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 10:05 pm

Re: How hard is it to bridge a ZX450 2ohm x 2?

Post by Virtue »

(The ZX450 is a 4-channel amp)


Hahaha oops! Reading was never my strong point. Bridging amps are! :D
Post Reply