Mulitiple Amps To 1 Woofer

[creyc]

I believe what you're getting at is using two amplifiers to drive the same load, which is known as a paralleled amplifier. Yes it can be done, but it requires a bit of knowledge and some extra thought.

The premise of a paralleled amplifier is to increase the current handling capabilities, as it has NO effect on maximum voltage output. In a way it's somewhat the opposite of bridging an amplifier. When you bridge a multi channel amp you double the maximum voltage swing, keeping current handling the same, but also doubling your minimum impedance for the setup. A paralleled amplifier maintains the same voltage swing, but doubles the current capability and cuts the minimum impedance handling in half. (i.e. if it were 1 ohm stable, it would now be 0.5 stable)

If you just throw two amplifiers outputs together however they will try to drive current into each other, fight each other, and then overheat. To prevent this you need output resistors in series with each amplifiers output, of much lower impedance than the load you're driving and sized based on the amount of power the amplifiers provide. You'll have to hunt down the formulas to find out exactly what resistor you'll need.

Finally, will all this make it "louder"? Maybe, maybe not. If you're current-limited by your amplifier then adding a second amp in parallel can help you put more power to the speaker. But if you're tapped out on the voltage side of things, this will be of no benefit whatsoever. Good luck!

Edited February 26, 2009 by creyc