Can I use a 2 channel amplifier to power one Kicker L5 sub? I know it's generally bad, but is it so bad that I should sell my amp and get a mono amp? Losing money in the process.

 

It's not bad at all. In fact, people do this all the time... it's called "bridging". Basically take the positive (+) from one channel and the negative (-) from the other channel, and it bridges the power from both channels into a single channel. You get the most power from the amp this way, so just make sure you aren't pushing more than your speaker can handle.

 

I see, so it isn't a good idea then to just use one channel's pos and neg and leave the other channel entirely blank. Does it matter which channel I use the positive for? Or could the positive be used from either channel.

 

Do you have another sub?

 

No I just have one Kicker L5 sub.

 

Then go with what Sinsecure said and get a bridge....shouldn't cost that much. Let us know how it sounds!

 

Doesn't matter which channel you take the + or the - from. Just pick. If you want, you can just use one channel of your amp, but you'll only be using half of your amp's potential. In other words, if it's a 300 watt, 2 channel amp, you'll be sending ~150 watts to your one sub. Now if you bridge the amp (+ from channel A, - from channel B, just for argument's sake), you'll be sending all 300 watts to your single sub. There's nothing you need to buy. I'm sure there are some fancy bridges out there, but simply take your wire (pos and neg) and put one on each channel

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

what's your amp? and if it's 2ohm stable then bridged will give max at a 4 ohm load. with a mono u can get more power at a lower ohm load pending on amp. is the L5 a dual 2 or 4?