I've had a family member offer to give me two identical Cliff Designs amplifiers from one of his old setups when I mentioned that I plan to get a Q12 setup going. I had previously been looking at a Hifonics HFi1500D. He is rather insistent. As I don't want to offend him, I'm wondering how practical it is to use one amplifier per voice coil. I could get 1000W out of it the pair theoretically (500W x 2 amps @ 2 ohms) by doing that instead of only 700W (700W x 1 amp @ 1 ohm) that the gear can provide otherwise. I know not if the amplifiers themselves can be strapped, so it would have to be this route if I wish to use them both. I have an oscilloscope that I could use for getting the outputs matched up as close as possible. I'm wondering what the consequences are in terms of physical abuse to the transducer as well as sound quality implications because of potential small phase variances and whatnot.

Is it entirely unrealistic? I know it's done in competitions, but there they don't give a hoot about sound quality and device longevity is not a primary concern.

it'd be better to strap the amps if possible

There are no negative side effects to the subwoofer or sound quality as long as the amplifiers' settings are all matched (which in reality isn't all that difficult; people make it out to be much worse than it really is). The settings between the two amplifiers would actually have to be significantly different before you'd breach the realm of audibility, so minor deviations aren't really that important. And before anyone asks; No, the subwoofer would not be damaged by the settings being slightly different.

There would be zero difference to the subwoofer between running one amp per voice coil, a strapped pair of amplifiers, or a single amplifier to both coils. The sub doesn't know or care. It just responds to a voltage. If the voltage is the same, the result will be the same.

It would also possibly be a little better from an amplifier perspective to run two separate amps @ 2ohms compared to a single amp @ 1ohm. Typically efficiency will be a little higher @ 2ohm than 1ohm and you won't be running the components as close to their limits @ 2ohm. This could decrease heat within the amplifiers, decrease the current drawn from the electrical system and improve amplifier longevity. It's hard to compare these differences between two different amplifiers without all of the variables being known, so this last paragraph is just a generality but something to think about.

If the amps can't be strapped in the normal sense, try strapping them on the input side with this.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_20093_Hifonics_MLX-100.aspx

They answered it

If the amps can't be strapped in the normal sense, try strapping them on the input side with this.

http://www.onlinecar...cs_MLX-100.aspx

Or you could simply save $100, not buy that, and just set the amplifiers settings to match

If the amps can't be strapped in the normal sense, try strapping them on the input side with this.

http://www.onlinecar...cs_MLX-100.aspx

Or you could simply save $100, not buy that, and just set the amplifiers settings to match

X2

Since you already own an o'scope then matching the amps will be relatively easy. I think you'll appreciate the results of running both the amps at 2 ohms rather than a single one at 1 ohm as well, and you'll LOVE that Q.