Question: can a 4 channel amp power a sub?

[travis_gillard]

so i have my alpine 4 channel amp that i bought to power my speakers of course but i didnt install it sold my system and it rotted in the garage for awhile, now i have a pos 10" sub from xs cargo haha, and since im so ghetto i cant afford a proper amp do you think i could make this work?
yay or nay?

[SprayGUN]

nope.

[johnboy27]

Is it bridgeable? If it is just bridge one channel and don't use the other. It may not sound great but it may work.
If you want I will sell you 2 of those dub edition 10's that XS was selling a couple of months ago for 15 bucks. Neither has been used for more than 10 minutes. they are in boxes already.

[Kloubek]

It will only work properly if you can bridge the channel, as johnboy said.

[Graham_A_M]

Oh wow. The "information & help" here in this thread. :nut:

Along with what John had to say:
First off, yes the amp probably can power the sub. It depends on the ohm rating of the voice coil. As in, is it a 4 or 2ohm sub?
Some 4 channel amps cannot do 2ohms bridged, although they can sometimes do 1 single channel at 2ohms.

With two of the 4 channels bridged, your amp may (and probably will) be able to do 2ohms (bridged) so if your sub has a singular two ohm coil, that will work. Since your sub is from XS cargo, I have a good feeling its a 4ohm voicecoil. That means just hook it up bridged from the amp.
You dont have to bridge the amp, but you will get twice the power from the amp if you do, as the channels are then working together for a common purpose.
Most common 4 channel amps have power ratings around the 40-70 watts RMS x4, so by bridging two channels: you'll get about 80-140 RMS X2 in grand total (depending on the ohm rating, lower ohm rating typically translates to more power coming from the amp). With that singular, single -voice coil sub, I think you can be pushing around 100 RMS into it, which is a fair bit.
If that is at all unclear, just ask and I'll try to clear things up.

Again, with the model number of the amp, and more info on the make & model of the sub, I can find out exactly if they will work, and what to do.