stupid amp question

I feel dumb asking this because I should know it... especially after reading a few articles on it...


I bought 2 Kappa Pro-15LF2 for my Cubo 15s. They are supposedly rated at 600w, which from the way i read can't always go by. If I have Crown XLS 2000 running the speakers bridged in 4ohm the amp is rated at 2100 watts... or just under 400 watts to run in stereo at 8ohms. Do I need to worry about bridging them with that much power if I keep an eye on it and don't try to over do it? Just stick to running at 8ohms?

I also have a QXC GX3. It isn't bridgeable, but running 4ohms from one channel its rated 500 watts. Would that be better? Ive always heard its better to over power than under power.

Last dumb amp question. If I'm running 500 watts through 2 chained speakers, does the wattage split or does the 500 watts pass through both, and just make the amp work a little harder?

each speaker you have is rated at 600 watts if these run on the same channel thats 1200 watts needed, so if each channel is feeding 1 driver then it would need to drive 600 per channel at 8ohms. for dance stuff an amp rated at 600 watts per channel at 4ohms should be fine, for live stuff you would want an amp that is out putting 780 watts allways add a 3rd in power for live audio as a rule of thumb......

now the kappa pros are rated at 600 watts nominal and 1200 watts peak, this means they will take 600 watts all night with no problem, but can take peaks up to 1200 watts,

so if you where to run them bridged the amp would need to be outputting 1200 watts in to 4 ohms minimum and 2400 watts peak at 4ohms
and if you where to run them on there own channel each channel would need to be 600 watts at 8ohms with a peak of 1200 watts at 8ohms.

hope this helps a bit......

As Bee says,

An Ampilfier gives power to a speaker depending on how much power the speaker requires, up to the amplifiers maximum output. e.g. 1000 watts at 4 ohms per channel or 2000 watts at 2 ohms per channel etc.

If you have an amplifier that says it's output is 1000 watts at 4 ohms it will usually have an output of 500 - 600 watts at 8 ohms. It is always best to check what the 8 ohm output of an amplifier is, unless you know you will always use it at 4 ohms per channel.

If you have a 600 watt speaker at 8 ohms then this means that the amplifier needs to have an output of 600 - 900 watts at 8 ohms.

If you have two 8 ohm speakers running in parallel off of 1 channel or in bridged mode off both channels the impedance load becomes 4 ohms. whether you link two speakers in parallel or series the power consumption is still doubled meaning that the speakers still need at least 1200watts.

Normally a standard speaker cabinet which has 2 speakon connectors, they will usaually be connected in parallel.

cheers,

Thanks guys. I was just unsure whether two speakers in parallel getting 2000 watts would both actually get 2000 watts, or if the wattage was effective split up between the two. I think I get it now, thanks.

in your position i would run both cabs from the amp set to bridge mode, 2100 watts through both subs linked, running at 4 ohms, but! beware, do not let the amp clip, if it is clipping with the signal turn down the attenuaters until you get no clipping, the wattage will be split between the drivers, i.e 1050 watts to each kappa LF when bridged