Dipping my feet into beginner car audio. Looking for clarification on this amp.

I was given an old school US Acoustics (USA4080) 4-channel amp from a co-worker the other day and I was hoping to use it like a mono channel amp to power a single sub woofer unit. I searched online for a manual or some information on it but didn't come up with anything but favorable reviews for it. On the sticker it reads 80W x 4 Channel.

I'm looking at this entry level, 400W RMS rated, 10" slim Pioneer enclosure as my first little unit: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_81224_Pioneer-TS-SWX2502.html

If I can't swing this amp to power the single subwoofer than I'll look into a mono amplifier and save this 4-channel for if I do my speakers some day.

Thanks in advance

 

This amp will let you bridge two channels but not all four. You could use the other two channels to power the front and rear speakers in parallel. It should be good enough until you feel like upgrading.

 

I have the early version of this subwoofer SWX251 and it only needs 200W RMS and I'm pretty sure I don't go near that even though my amp can supply 650W RMS. It sounds pretty darn good, I think that'll make a good beginner amp, no biggie if you kill it either.

 

Aaaah, I've heard about this bridging. Would it be possible to bridge two channels together, say 3 & 4 (not for speakers yet, just directly into each other), and use channels 1 & 2 to power the sub woofer? Or am I missing the point here...

Sorta like in this picture?

 

you would simply connect your sub to the CH 4 Negative (-) and CH 3 (+)

and no please don't connect channels together like using a jumper. You will not get any additional power.

Some amps you can do something similar but thats called strapping and thats very amp specific

 

Okay thanks for the clarification haha, frying something wouldn't be a good start. Not sure what my RMS would be in this instance, but I'm thinking around ~300? Would that be a problem if the sub is rated at 400RMS?

 

Bridged your probably only going to see 150-160wrms. Bridged load of 4ohms, and that sub is a single 4 ohm so your ok to do so. Don't expect this to be any forms of WOW but it should fill in some bass

 

Sounds like I should be saving this 4 channel for speakers and getting a mono for this subwoofer in the mean time. What RMS rating should I focus on?

 

400-600 wrms at 4 ohms

you would be better off with a different sub imho

preferably with d2 or d4 ohm or single 2 ohm coils

 

For now I'm going to stick with that Pioneer, unless I find something else locally on Canadian black Friday. I'll look for a new amp though. Thanks guys.

 

Ah you live in Cnd same here
AS mentioned your issue is gonna be a 4 ohm load