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i've searched and searched n i still cant get a strate answer.

what is the difference if a sub is 2 Ohms or if it is 4 Ohms? some people say the higher the ohms the better? Does one sound better than the other? or hit harder?

i kno its a noob question but i need an explanation.

thanx

 
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Well its not an easy answer. Its a trade off, and wiring etc complicates things.

Higher ohms: You get greater woofer control (called damping) but it causes the amp to put out less power.

Lower ohms: You get less damping, but the amp puts out more power.

Now ohms on subs can't change themselves, but what ohms the amp sees changes based on how the subs are wired. There are math formulas to figure it out. The JL website has some nice tutorials. Generally parallel somewhat reduces ohms while series somewhat increases ohms.

Notes:
1) When too low of ohms are given to an amp, it will go into protection or burn up.
2) Many amps are 2 ohms stable, but only 4 ohms when bridged.
3) Its ok to go w/ higher than recommended ohms (because you just get less power), but not lower ohms than recommended (then you get too much power and the amp burns up).

Heres an example of power output w/ a 400 watt @ 2 ohms amp.
8 ohms - 100 watts (amp puts out little power but has high damping)
4 ohms - 200 watts
2 ohms - 400 watts (amp putting out its max power)
1 ohms - 800 watts (amp burns up or goes into protection)

 
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daaaaaamn! thanks for the info! i actually learned from that!



i'm still a little confused though, but at least i got the main concept of it.

thanks a lot man!

 
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Amps have ratings of power @ a certain ohms. The ohms an amp "sees" is a combination of the sub ohms and the wiring scheme.

Heres an example ..... take a typical 2 ohm, 500 watt amp, like an Alpine M500.

1) Hook up a standard 4 ohm sub. The amp will output 250 watts to that sub.
2) Hook up a 4 ohm DVC sub (that has two 4 ohm coils). Wire the coils together in parallel, that makes the sub act like a single 2 ohm sub, and the amp puts out 500 watts to the sub.
3) Hook up a 4 ohm DVC sub and wire it in series instead. Now the sub acts like a single 8 ohm sub, and the amp puts out 125 watts if that.
4) Hook up a DVC 2 ohm sub in parallel, it acts like a 1 ohm load, and the amp goes into protection.
5) Hook up a DVC 2 ohm sub in series, it acts like a 4 ohm load, and the amp puts out about 250 watts.
6) Hook up a pair of DVC 2 ohm subs. Wire each subs coils together in parallel so each sub now acts like a 1 ohm sub. Then wire each sub together in series so that both subs appear to the amp as one 2 ohm load. Now the amp puts out 500 watts, 250 watts going to each sub.

 
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bah, you wont notice damping for crap on subs

 
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simple, lower omhs less resistance, more ohms, more resistance.