Yes it is the one I have.

 

OK, so by going off of what I have.....

ARC mini amp
4 ohm Alpine speakers
Alpine IDA-X100

How should these speakers be wired?

 

What do you have the gain set at on the amp?

 

The only way you can really (with 2 speakers) is straight up. One on the left and one on the right. Pingman might be on to something with his question about the gain control setting on the amp. Check to make sure it's not turned all the way down.

I have the ARC 6x9's in my dragonfly fairing which are rated at 4 ohms as well. I have to crank it up fairly high, but it is loud and clear.

 

The amp is 2ohm "stereo" stable. You really have no control on how you hook it up (in your setup). Your speakers spec's will determine the way it performs. Since your Alpine speakers are 4ohm, it will perform in 4ohm. If you plam tp purchase new J&M speakers, get the 2ohm J&M's so you get the maximum power the amp puts out.

 

Can't honestly say, but I know they are not turned down as I messed with them this past week after having a radio on/off problem. After I finished, it sounded a lot better at higher volumes.

I'm trying to get the full potential out of what I have, but I don't have a problem with purchasing different speakers if it will sound better. Question is, do I need to purchase different speakers? Different as in ohms? Do I need 2 ohm speakers?

Am I correct in saying that in order to get the ARC amp to put out 2 ohms, it has to be bridged? Is bridging an amp what makes it 2 ohm or 4 ohms?

As you can tell, I don't know the technical side of this, but I'd like to learn!

 

So if I do go with the J&M 2 ohms speakers, will it sound different? Will I still have to turn the head unit up to 3/4 to get loud and clear?

Also, so whether I have 2 or 4 ohm speakers, they will hook up the same way to the amp? A (+) and (-) for each speaker?

 

Bridging is actually getting a 2 channel (left and right or stereo) amp like this one to do mono or 1 channel output. You take the speaker wire (from one or more speakers), twist the positives together and the negatives together, then hook the positive bundle up to the left positive post and the negative bundle up to the right negative post. This will take a set of 4 ohm speakers and make the amp see them as a single 2 ohm and double the power output. Kicker is it's only mono, not stereo.

You could get the same results (2 ohm output only in stereo) with 2 2 ohm speakers hooked up just like the 4 ohm ones were and maximize the output of the amp. You just need to be careful that the speakers can handle the 2 ohm output of the amp. 125-150 watts in this case.

The J&M 2 ohms "should" be louder relative to the Alpines since they are only putting 2 ohms on the amp instead of 4 which should take advantage of the full power of the amp.

Gotta run take the family for frozen yogurt. Back in a few.

 

Hard to say, speaker sensitivity plays just of a large role in overall volume output. A speaker that is more sensitive than another will play louder all else being equal.

Yes, you would hook both speakers up as normal as you mentioned.

 

With 2ohm speakers there should be a noticeable difference though right?



This post is extremely helpful in understanding things in english. So to make things easier, I just need to purchase some 2ohm speakers that can handle the wattage output of the amp @ 2ohms correct?