Phoenix Gold Phorum

I have a 2200HCX bahm amp that is 1600 rms A 1 ohm.

Word around the fire is this older model of amplier is stable down to .5 ohms. And since i have played with this amp for years I would assume so.

My question is: If my amp puts out 800X2 or 1600x1 @ 1 ohm what is a rough estimate of the power at .5 (half ohm)

Impossible to say. Normally when you halve your impedance, the amp will put out double voltage... so THEORETICALLY 3200x1 @ 0.5 ohms. Of course this is totally neglecting that the amp has protection circuitry which will probably keep it at about 1600 in practice anyways, only making your amp run hotter, and reducing your overall headroom.

Hell, the 1600w claim is already dubious enough

stipud wrote:Impossible to say. Normally when you halve your impedance, the amp will put out double voltage... so THEORETICALLY 3200x1 @ 0.5 ohms. Of course this is totally neglecting that the amp has protection circuitry which will probably keep it at about 1600 in practice anyways, only making your amp run hotter, and reducing your overall headroom.

Hell, the 1600w claim is already dubious enough

Actually , this particular amp has been tested by many and has actually hit its range and most test s revealed like 1800x1 rms a 1 ohm from the research i have done. we have to remember that Audiobahn did get sued by Phoenix Gold for design I beleiveback in the . if you see the inside of this monster it looks pretty good and this was before Audiobahn started putting cheaper parts in. I will make no claim to the newer models of Audiobahn but this amp is built like a tank.

Also , I dont want to blow the crap out of this 15'' Immortal I am using. the sub will be in a ported box and it claims to handle 23oo rms but if I had a choice i woul dwant it 2000 or lower but all I have for amps are the 2200hcx and my PG zx500

If it were me, ide say ditch that amp all togehter.. Take a look at an audioque 2200.1 (thats probably my next amp), or even an exile 2400.1( my last mono amp) running below rated specs is one thing, doing it with an audiobling is another.. I know for a fact both amps I listed will run strong all day at .5, and will deliver much more power than the bling.

stipud wrote:Impossible to say. Normally when you halve your impedance, the amp will put out double voltage... so THEORETICALLY 3200x1 @ 0.5 ohms. Of course this is totally neglecting that the amp has protection circuitry which will probably keep it at about 1600 in practice anyways, only making your amp run hotter, and reducing your overall headroom.

Hell, the 1600w claim is already dubious enough

The size of your power supply along with the amplifiers ability to get rid of heat ultimately determines the amount of power your amp can produce without destroying itself. I would be willing to bet your amp is designed to produce its full power at 1 ohm, and you wont actually pull more power at the 1/2 ohm load since your power supply has nothing left to give. Your power will consist of more current and less voltage at that load, but no more power. All this is in my humble opinion of course.

flogger11 wrote:

stipud wrote:Impossible to say. Normally when you halve your impedance, the amp will put out double voltage... so THEORETICALLY 3200x1 @ 0.5 ohms. Of course this is totally neglecting that the amp has protection circuitry which will probably keep it at about 1600 in practice anyways, only making your amp run hotter, and reducing your overall headroom.

Hell, the 1600w claim is already dubious enough

The size of your power supply along with the amplifiers ability to get rid of heat ultimately determines the amount of power your amp can produce without destroying itself. I would be willing to bet your amp is designed to produce its full power at 1 ohm, and you wont actually pull more power at the 1/2 ohm load since your power supply has nothing left to give. Your power will consist of more current and less voltage at that load, but no more power. All this is in my humble opinion of course.

So in other words , my amp wont juice more than 1600 rms and Ill be safe ya think?


Also , Mackenzie this is not a Audiobling , this is when Audiobahn was normal and concentrated on research and stuff. No flames or anything on this amp , its oldschool and I think it may have been modeled the same as a US Amp's , or so it looks like , Audiobahn also got sued by US Amps for something and I would guess it had something to do with there amps. But , the amps you listed are pretty sweet! I dont want to blow anymore money though , I just want to be able to run this sub without setting anything on fire with what I have

Any suggestions on what I can do? Its a quad 2 ohm voice coil sub and I only have 1 so 1 or 2 ohm operation. all idas are welcome

thanks for all the advice

If your 2200HCX is half ohm Bridged stable and wont overheat with your existing cooling setup, I would say go for it. Just make sure it is 1/2 ohm bridged stable, not just 1/2 stereo stable. Thats a flippn' heavy load dude, nearly a dead short! LOL! Good luck!

flogger11 wrote:If your 2200HCX is half ohm Bridged stable and wont overheat with your existing cooling setup, I would say go for it. Just make sure it is 1/2 ohm bridged stable, not just 1/2 stereo stable. Thats a flippn' heavy load dude, nearly a dead short! LOL! Good luck!

flogger11 ,
I would be running it in mono and not stereo. I know the load is heavy and I wish I wouldnt do that to that amp. the most I have ever powered with that amp was 2 15's and they were wired in parallel down to 1 ohm load and receiving 800 watts a piece.

I am quite worried that if I try to run this thing at a half a ohm I will ruin the sub and or my amp. Is ther any other wiring possibility that I can do other than wire @ 2 ohms? , like I said earlier 800 watts just aint gonna do it.

I did today however bench test the amp on my tech bench with the Phoenix Gold ZX500 and it the amp pushed it well I had a steady hard beat @ close to 50 amps on my power supply. I let the amp push it for awhile as I was testing different tones and she kept up , although the Phoenix Gold was getting a little warm.....Great testing amp

Ok , In theory if I were to use the Phoenix Gold ZX-500 to power this 0.5 ohm load sub , would I be pushing 1200 watts outta the ZX500

What my ideal set up would be (4) ZX500's on each coil

Anyone have 3 ZX500's?

NO! Your PG is in no way stable past 2 ohms bridged!

I know but it was keeping up pretty well on the test bench with the sub lol.

Ok , ok In theory again . Because the 2200HCX draws around 120 amps of current and my alternator is around 110-115 amps and I have Walmarts best battery there is really NO WAY that at .5 ohms my amp will produce the 3200 watts correct? But I also dont want my amp to start pushing DC current through my sub

I was thinking if I keep the gains on the amp lowet than the 1/2 its at I might be alright to play around with the sub until I can get a amp or 2 amps to power this.

My buddy has another 2200HCQ that he is not using but his is the one with all the flames on it and I am not sure if in reality it is the same amp

Thanks

Ok , ok

In Theory again Becaue my amp draws 120 amps to produce the power rated and my alternator only delivers 100-115 amps there really is no way it would ever push the 3200 watts @.5 correct?

Couldnt I just set the gain on the amp lower for awhile until I find a better amplification soulution?

The fan has dual cooling fans and never really gets hot. It has a non regulater power supply I noticed if thats any help.

sundown stetsom maybee hifonics by maxxsonix but not pg

Smoke will be let out!!!

KHPower wrote:Ok , In theory if I were to use the Phoenix Gold ZX-500 to power this 0.5 ohm load sub , would I be pushing 1200 watts outta the ZX500

What my ideal set up would be (4) ZX500's on each coil

Anyone have 3 ZX500's?

If you want to keep it somewhat pg related, like I said, take a look a the exile 2400.1 Will run .5 ohms all day, and probably would be nearing 3kw at that impedence..

I though you only had one 10" sub???

Here is what you need to do: Wire your voicecoils in series, then wire that to your bridged ZX-500, making sure your amps bass gain is set to 0 while your sensitivity gain is wide open. Cross your sub w/ the crossover on the ZX-500, putting the cross a hair left of the twelve o'clock position. Also make sure to have all your sound settings on your deck set to flat and if you are running a sealed enclosure make sure it is airtight. Try this before going any further and let me know how it sounds, I think you may be quite suprised at the results!!

If that isnt enough w/ the PG on your sub, the correct thing to do would be to sell your current sub and get one w/ two 2 ohm voicecoils so you could actually use the 1600 by 1 of your Audiobahn amp. Thats really your best, bang for the buck option if your ZX-500 doesnt have enough sauce for you. Let us know how it sounds man!

It appears the only two major lines of PG amps that are designed to run at 1 or .5 ohms are the MPS and ZPA. Each of these kind of amps had a particular purpose and may not be as suitable as other amps of today that putting out huge power at very low ohm loads.

But I agree about the woofer. If there is a different VC setup, it might be wise to use the bahn and swap the woofer.

flogger11 and others

Its a 15 '' Audiobahn Immortal 2004 model not the old version and these things (the 15'' anyways) are really hard to come by , I was lucky a shop 100 miles away had 1 as a display. And the only availbale coil configuration for this design is Quad 2 ohm they do not make quad 4 ohm although the 2003 model Immortals had the choice of either 2 or 4 ohm configurations.

I will try using the ZX500 like you stated . I have used it on another 15'' once and it pounded pretty hard. Good little amp. I love the thing.
I know I have mentioned this before but if I could get 3 more zx500's wouldnt thta work almost perfect? I mean I know it would be a little pain setting up everything and checking every amp with a dmm ect...

On another note this sub seems like the kind of sub that will only work to some of its potential with over 800 rms at least but like I said I will try what you said with ZX500

Also , I think 3000 would blow this thing outta the water. I mean its a very well built sub and is by far the best Audiobahn has ever offered I think I want to keep it safe and only deliver 2000-2100 watts or lower. The sub says it can handle 2300.

Here are the specs of my Audiobahn Amp

2 channel
2200 high current

@ 4ohms 2x200
@ 2ohms 2x400
@ 1ohms 2x800


MONO
@ 4ohms 1x400
@ 2ohms 1x800
@ 1ohms 1 x1600

Wait a darn minute!

Ok Check this out. The Sub has 4 voice coils. Each one at 2 ohms . Couldnt I just wire 2 of the coils down to 1 ohm and wire it to one of the channels on the amp and do that top the other 2 coils? The amp would then see it as 2 subs correct and by the specs I listed give the sub 800 watts x2 right? or wire 2 coils in a series and run 2 ohms a channel and making the amp see a 1 ohm mono load?????

I say this because I was reading something in the tech tips at Auduiobahn and they did say it is ok to run a amplifier like this ( 1 sub 2 channels ), but , they did say that the amp must recieve a mono single(I believe) , Im not positive)

Thoughts?

KHPower wrote:I say this because I was reading something in the tech tips at Auduiobahn and they did say it is ok to run a amplifier like this ( 1 sub 2 channels ), but , they did say that the amp must recieve a mono single(I believe) , Im not positive)

Thoughts?

Yes, this works fine.

KHPower wrote:flogger11 and others

Its a 15 '' Audiobahn Immortal 2004 model not the old version and these things (the 15'' anyways) are really hard to come by , I was lucky a shop 100 miles away had 1 as a display. And the only availbale coil configuration for this design is Quad 2 ohm they do not make quad 4 ohm although the 2003 model Immortals had the choice of either 2 or 4 ohm configurations.

I will try using the ZX500 like you stated . I have used it on another 15'' once and it pounded pretty hard. Good little amp. I love the thing.
I know I have mentioned this before but if I could get 3 more zx500's wouldnt thta work almost perfect? I mean I know it would be a little pain setting up everything and checking every amp with a dmm ect...

On another note this sub seems like the kind of sub that will only work to some of its potential with over 800 rms at least but like I said I will try what you said with ZX500

Also , I think 3000 would blow this thing outta the water. I mean its a very well built sub and is by far the best Audiobahn has ever offered I think I want to keep it safe and only deliver 2000-2100 watts or lower. The sub says it can handle 2300.

FYI a ZX_500 w/ a 2 ohm bridged load is FOR SURE over 700 watts rms! Put two of those on your sub and it would put your other amp to shame!

stipud wrote:

KHPower wrote:I say this because I was reading something in the tech tips at Auduiobahn and they did say it is ok to run a amplifier like this ( 1 sub 2 channels ), but , they did say that the amp must recieve a mono single(I believe) , Im not positive)

Thoughts?

Yes, this works fine.

So what configuration would I use? do I wire 2 of the coils to a 1 ohm or 2 ohm load?
Basicly if I wired 2 of the coils in a series that would show a 2 ohm load right? channel #1 on the amp would see a 2 ohm load and then I wire the other 2 coils to channel#2 to present a 2 ohm load , so would the amp see this as a 1 ohm load all together and produce 800 x 2 ?
or do I have to wire down 2 of the coils to 1 ohm?

Thanks for all the help guys ! If anyone can give me morei nfo on what I need to do that would be appreciated