Wiring Pro 80's and JL 300/2

[vr6mole]

Just picked up a 300/2 to power my pro 80's. I figured I would just wire each speaker up to each channel and run each at 150 watts RMS.

I did read a post that some guy had these hooked up as mono which confused me until I did some thinking.

Does that mean he has the amp bridged and is running that to both speakers? (each of the speakers + and - wire in the bridged terminal locations)

Would this be a 2ohm load or an 8 ohm load?

Is each speaker getting 300 watts RMS or is it splitting it for 150 each?( same as wiring it normally, unbridged)

[crowland]

http://www.bcae1.com/bridging.htm

BCAE1 is a great resource if you arent aware of the site.

I believe that amp has the circuitry built in that can sense the impedance and can operate between a variety of ranges when using both channels or bridging, so you would theoretically have the same output. However I believe the pro80s are 4ohm, so if you wire them parallel and bridge the amp them you would be producing a 2ohm load. I believe that the amp is only stable down to 3 ohms when bridged. You could wire the 2 speakers in series and that would give you an 8ohm load. By wiring in series you are going to have a more efficient running amp - at least that is what the math says... when you are trying to achieve a certain ohm load at an amplifier all your doing is changing the resistance to flow. The higher the ohm, the more stable the load, cleaner power, but less overall power is allowed through. The lower the ohm load, the less stable, but more power is allowed through. Also generally speaking there is more distortion at lower ohms - the JL has great THD ratings so I dont think would notice any more or less distortion using different wiring. Again I think alot of this is theory and not really sure how it plays out in reality.

I personally have my tower speakers (NVS 1010s) bridged mono to 2 channels on a 4 channel amp - I am not able to notice a difference in sound quality in stereo versus mono. With that amp you should be able to try different wiring patterns and see what works best for you.

[vr6mole]

Based on what you described I could wire them in series for an 8 ohm load which is stable on that amp
when bridged. Would that give 300 to each speaker or would the speakers split the total power for 150 each?

I know the pro 80s are rated at 200 rms but have read that more power is ok for them.

[crowland]

Based on what you described I could wire them in series for an 8 ohm load which is stable on that amp
when bridged. Would that give 300 to each speaker or would the speakers split the total power for 150 each?

I know the pro 80s are rated at 200 rms but have read that more power is ok for them.

You are going to be getting 150 to each. Also keep in mind that everytime you double the RMS wattage you only gain around +3 dBs. Just so you can hear the difference I would just hook up one speaker and bridge the amp, then change the wiring to only one channel of the amp and see if you can tell the difference in both output and sound quality.

[Latonkaboarder]

[QUOTE=crowland;134272]http://www.bcae1.com/bridging.htm

I believe that the amp is only stable down to 3 ohms when bridged. QUOTE]

I could be wrong but a thought all of the slash series amps from JL could run at 1.5 ohms

[crowland]

[QUOTE=Latonkaboarder;134278]

http://www.bcae1.com/bridging.htm

I believe that the amp is only stable down to 3 ohms when bridged. QUOTE]

I could be wrong but a thought all of the slash series amps from JL could run at 1.5 ohms

I saw that in the manual. I could very well be wrong, I have no personal experience with the amp - most amps that I have seen that are able to bridged that I have seen are either 1 or 2ohm stable. I have never seen the 3ohm rating, but suspect that those ratings have something to do with the circuitry for wiring the W7 subs, I do know that those have the 1.5 and 3 ohm ratings.

[RyanATX]

Just hook it up in a normal 2 channel configuration with 150x2. I had (3) 300/2's in my boat's system last summer and they dont like to be bridged... They build up a lot of heat that way, or did at least the way I was running them. When I de-bridged them, I lost minimal output and sound quality was more consistent.

[EarmarkMarine]

vr6mole,

I'm guessing that you read where someone bridged two 300/2 into a single pair of 4-ohm speakers. Two of these amplifiers bridged would be common on a pair of 485s for example.

With a single 300/2 and one pair of Pro80s running stereo this is identical power to running the amplifier bridged into seriesed Pro80s. In either case you'll get 300 total watts. So keep it simple. Run in stereo with less wire resistance.

Effectively cut your actual load by half when you bridge in order to determine the amplifier demand. For example, 4-ohms bridged will pull the same current as 2-ohms stereo.

Because the Slash series has a strictly regulated power supply it will put out the identical power with virtually the identical performance (distortion, damping etc.) over a broad impedance load. It does this by cutting back on the power supply voltage to compensate for a lower impedance in order to manage the same current flow. Very few amplifiers operate this way so you don't want to apply this to every amplifier.

David
Earmark Marine