Car Audio System Drwing too much power with 2 different Amps

Is the sub dual voice coil?

Two things I need to know
1 Make and model of Amplifier you intend to use
2 Is it going to be a single sub or 1of a pair

Is your sub single or dual voice coil. This will also make a difference in choosing amps. Pretty much any amp that will supply your required power will do. But, if you have a single voice coil sub, you will be wanting to look for RMS power at 4 ohms. If you have a dual 4 ohm voice coil sub, you can wire it to a 2 ohm load. Then you will need to search for amps that supply the RMS requirements of the sub at 2 ohms. The choices are almost endless. I am an RE Audio dealer, so I absolutely know that they will do you well. Hope this helps.

No the LOWER the resistance the MORE Output or Draw, If say it is 100 Watts into 4 Ohms, if you used a 2 ohm speaker it would draw 200 watts.(only if capable of delivering that amount of power) The LOWER the Resistance, the HIGHER the Current Draw. WATTS = AMPS x VOLTS. (This is not strictly true with amplifiers output though, as it is an AC Current, and a "Reactive" load, it has, Inductance, Capacitance and Resistance, all in one.and is worked out via a Formula) see below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_power

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_1_1/v1n1spk.html

Now with Dual Voice Coils, Essentially, you can think of these speakers as TWO speakers in ONE enclosure. As such, They are basically TWO Speakers. Please see the website below it explains everything for you. http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/FAQ/Wiring/
Everything is a function of Resistance and Ohms law.
Current (I) = Voltage (E) divided by Resistance(R).
Voltage = Current Multiplied by Resistance.
Resistance = Voltage divides by Current.

Is the speaker a dual voice coil speaker? If so you can wire it up a couple of diferent ways, go to rockfordfosgate.com they have a woolfer wiring wizard that can show you the different ways to wire for 8 ohm.....4 ohm.....2 ohm....and 1 ohm...I would figure out how to get the most power out of the amp in mono mode, take that ohm load from there and see if you can wire your speaker to match it.

ok this gets confusing sometimes. Ok first look to see what ohm your subs are. If you have a dual 4 ohm sub When you run that on sub + to + and - to - then that will make that sub 2 ohm. its different on ohm if the sub is say a 8 ohm then putting the wires that way will bring that sub to 4 ohm. Now lets say you have 2 subs that are dual 4 ohm and wire both of them + to + and - to - and go bridge the amp which would be both wires from sub both + together and both - wired bridge on the amp will make it a 1 ohm to the amp. Please post what ohm your subs are and i can tell you alittle more about it

That all depends upon whether or not the sub you are running has dual voice coils or just a single voice coil. The 800a4 is a four channel amp; thus the only way you can bridge it will be 3 channel or 2 channel. If you are running a dual voice coil sub then you can wire the amp two channel and get 400 watts x 2 @ 4 ohms. Make sure that you sub can handle this kind of power though.

Here are the specs:
4 x 100 @ 4 ohms (13.8V - <0.05% THD)
4 x 200 @ 2 ohms (13.8V - <0.10% THD)
2 x 400 @ 4 ohms bridged (13.8V - <0.10% THD)
Fuse: External 60A
Manufactured in 1999 - 2001

The easiest way to think of wiring voice coils and subs is this:

• Two items of the same impedance in parallel = Half of the impedance
• 4 ohms in parallel with 4 ohms = 2 ohms
• 8 ohms in parallel with 8 ohms = 4 ohms
• Two items of the same impedance in series = Double the impedance
• 4 ohms in series with 4 ohms = 8 ohms
• 8 ohms in series with 8 ohms = 16 ohms

In this case, you want to wire two subs, each with dual 4 ohms voice coils, so that the total equals 2 ohms. Your options are:

• DVCs in parallel, 2 subs in series = 4 ohms
• DVCs in series, 2 subs in parallel = 4 ohms
• DVCs in parallel, 1 sub = 2 ohms

With two, dual 4 ohm subs, you can only have 1 ohm or 4 ohm total impedance.

Mamola,

Get an amp with at least 200 Watts RMS. The RMS value is what is important about driving Subs. This could be proclaimed to be a 1000 Watt amp. REad the RMS value.

Wiring. It is better to series your Speakers to give them and your amp more reliability,

Get a Mono or Bridgeable amp. If it si bridgeable, BRidge the output as described in the manual you get. Some Amps have a diagram right on the output..

AMP+ to Sub1 +
Sub1 - to Sub2 +
Sub2 - to Amp -

Get a 4 Guage wring kit. Run your power wiring down the Drivers side, and Audio signal wiring down the Passenger side, keep the two separate.

The amp's not actually a very good match for the sub, since the sub can be wired for 2 ohms or 8 ohms, and the amplifier is most efficient at 4 ohms in bridged mode. My advice would be to wire the amp in bridged mode, and wire the sub for an 8 ohm load. To do this, the amp's (+) wire should go to the (+) terminal on one of the sub's voice coils. Then run a wire from the (-) terminal on the OTHER voice coil to the (-) terminal on the amp. The remaining (+) and (-) terminals (on opposite voice coils) should be connected to each other with a wire. Your original wiring setup had the amplifier connected to only one voice coil, while the other voice coil was shorted.