2 ohm or 4 ohm sub?

I am thinking about get one 10" W3V3 JL audio subwoofer, I have a 1200 watt 1/2 channel Sony amp. I would like to no if I should get the 2 ohm or 4 ohm sub. From what I've read there isn't really a difference besides wiring options, but wich one would I need since Im only getting one sub, or would it matter

 

Above all else, I would invest in ear plugs.

 

WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CANT HEAR YOU.

 

There isn't a whole lot of difference- provided we're talking about single voice coil drivers.

 

Which amp specifically?

 

I would say that it is more for wiring then anything. One could argue that higher impedance subwoofers sound cleaner then 2 ohm subs. This would also depend on the quality of the amp too.
You did not say whether your sub has dual coils or just a single. depending on the Sony amp, you may be better off running 4ohms then 2, the amp will need to work harder to deliver power at the lower impedance which will result in additional heat. 1200watts, I am assuming is the peak power rating. How much power does that amp produce nominally? What is the power requirements of the sub you are looking at?

 

There is no sound characteristic change between a .7,1,1.4,2,4 ohm coils.
One can argue that the higher the " ohm" the amp sees the cleaner the sound due to the damping factor increasing with increase resistance. Amps don't work harder with lower resistance loads either but i would recommend buying an amp that does rated power and the final load your going to have. Sony amps are garbage for what its worth

 

I have my 4 ohm sub connected to my Alpine PDX mono amp which is capable of running a 4 ohm or 2 ohm load while outputting the same amount of power. After the fact, I ended up finding an objective review (good reviews with real o-scope measurements are very hard to find when it comes to specific audio equipment) which stated they got nominally more power from the amp when using a 2 ohm sub versus a 4 ohm sub. When your running 600 watts (620 watt on birth sheet), an extra 10-20 watts really isn't going to make much difference.

Part of me was advising to go with 4 ohm sub in case I ever wanted to upgrade and get another sub - if I had a 2 ohm sub, I would have needed to try and sell a sub which most buyers assume will have been run hot and hard for long periods of time. So I went with the 4 ohm sub. Its much easier to sell my current amp and upgrade to the 1200 watt version of the amp to run 2 subs at 2 ohm, without needing to upgrade wiring or worry about boosting signal gain of the Sub RCA output since it would have been split. If I didn't think I would ever would want to upgrade, I probably would have went with the 2 ohm version of the sub.

 

^^^

That's an interesting philosophy - choosing a certain voice coil configuration because of perceived resale value. Can't say I've ever heard that one. FWIW, I won't buy a used sub no matter the impedance

 

I 2nd that

 

2 ohm.

 

I say a 2 ohm sub and a new/different amp and good to go