ok so im somewhat of a wiring newb anywho ive had a set of audiobahn 12'* the 700 rms dual voice coils. i have a alpine 4ch amp running the sheet i got with it from alpine said certified 170... rms per chanal and its something around 500rms bridged. a friend of mine not to be name hooke the whole thing up in series. so if understand that right i was runing either 8 0r 16ohms of resistance. it sounded good was loud not crazy but loud. but when it hit it never drained the bat much (voltage gage didnt drop much when idling) anyways i figured out i f'd up and ran them in parallel well kinda i ran the voice coils in series and the subs in parallel which is supposed to bring it down to 4 ohms. knowing I=V/R if r goes down currnet goes up right all good.
ok problem is yes it hits harder and is louder but now the gauge drops a lot it cuts out if i turn it up loud or leave it really high for a while. is that normal and just overworking the amp or is something messed up here. I dont know if this makes sense but for you audio guys if i can make it make more sense let me know. and feel free to correct i love to learn

yeah your amp is probably working harder and it might get hot and go into protection mode to keep from damaging itself. what is the model number of your amp? what is the model number of your subs? might be running them @ 2 ohms in 2 channel mode and it may only be able work @ 4 ohms bridged in two channel mode.

hmmm have to look at the amp tomorrow for its numbers the subs are
Audiobahn AW1000Q Subwoofers
or if you have a better look up the AW1000Q its the older set up 400w rms 100x4 blah blah.
I dont have a cap could that be a or the prob and my speaker wire isnt the best. also noticed the fans dont like to kick on dont know if they ever do. but i know it has gone on very long runs like road trips with movies on for hours and hitting the entire time no cutouts until i wired to 4ohms...

your road trips give me a chance to use a perfect analogy as an example. running your amp @ 4ohms is like it getting to walk on your road trip. It can take its time and not sweat. I doesnt have to work hard to get you there. Now 2ohms however is a different road trip. that is like making it run the whole trip up hill will 100 lbs of equipment on its back. it will get worn out quicker that way and will have to stop and take a break or (go into protection mode). especially if it isnt supposed to be ran @ 2ohms bridged. that is why we need to look at what kind of amp you have so we can figure out what it is capable of doing

It sounds to me that your amp is being overworked or, it is possibly overheating. I put my amp just behind the access panel in the back seat. My amp doesnt shut down now. But, I am not quite pulling that many watts though. Try getting a capacitor and see what it does.

please dont get a capacitor. I never ever ever ever suggest capacitors to anyone. check your amp first. chances are it isnt pulling so much current by itself that it will shut down for lack of current to draw from. check the amp and make sure it can be ran at 2 ohms. that is first and foremost . after that we will take it from there

why dont u suggest capacitors? i have 2 12" L5s with a 4800 watt amp and i didnt used to have a capacitor and it would drain my voltage like crazy at stoplights if i didnt turn it down, almost enough to kill the car. i recently got a cap, and now it barely moves the voltage at all. I would highly recomend a capacitor. its not gonna hurt your system, only make it better, and put less stress on ur car battery and alternator. and if his system has a lack of current to draw from as you say, a capacitor would help that. so i dont understand why you dont recomend them.

No dude. that will not make his system better. it will only act as a bandaid on a wound that will never heal unless it is used for the right reason. If you have a system that is too demanding on your cars charging system, and you add a cap to it, you still have a system that is too demanding for your car. A cap is good in theory because it serves as an electrical reserve that is ready to be taken from in times when your cars charging system isn't producing enough amprage to provide what the amplifier is asking for. But lets not get it confused. The problem is still there. I am not bashing you for thinking that it would be the cure for the problem. At one point I thought the same thing, but as i said before, the problem is still there, and where you find your problem is where you will find the sollution. If your charging system doesnt produce enough to meet the demands of an amplifier/*, the sollution would be to increase the capabillity of your charging system. The best way to do that is through a high ouput alternator. I will use my system as an example. My 4 channel amp has a total fuse size of 90 amps. My future subwoofer amp has a total fuse size of 120 amps combined they total at 210 amps. A bonneville SE'* alternator is 105 amps (cold rating). Although the amplifiers never pull there fuse size amperage (because if they did, they would blow the fuse) between the two they most likely pull more than id say... maybe 85-95 amps total. The electronics in your car probably pull the rest. Our cars alternators were made the way they were for a reason. to meet the needs of the vehicles electronics and most likely maybe just a little bit more but not enough to power 1 or 2 high powered amplifiers. I purchased a high output alternator that is rated at 200 amps. because my fuse size for my amplifiers is right at about 200 amps. This means that my alternator will produce enough amperage to meet the demands of my amps without dimming my headlights or hogging all the power that was meant to go to a smaller less demanding electrical pull. Now, if you really think about it, your car only uses its battey to start the car and keep the memory of the radio and clock when it is parked. Other than that, the alternator does all of the work. It is what powers your amps and it is what needs to be addressed to have an efficient charging system for an aftermarket audio set up. If you have times when you are pulling more than what even that alternator can produce (becuase a 300 amp alternator would still be better but cost some serious $ for a guy with a family) dry cell batteries are supposedly the best plan B because they recharge quicker than a wet cell battery and is introduced to the charging system kinda bringing its own power to the table instead of needing the charging system to introduce power to it first. They claim that you should have 1 cranking amp per every watt of any amps that you have combined. So that would mean if you add up the total wattage of 2 amps and the number is 1500 watts, you need a total of 1500 cranking amps between your primary and secondary battery. You would also need an isolator so if you are pounding your system with you car turned off, it wont kill your primary battery. Go to motor city remans website. They sell a 200 amp alternator for around $200 and it comes with a lifetime warranty. That is a good investment and its the one I have in my car. If you wanted to add all of these things to your car and then add a cap, you will have a very bullet proof system. If you dont beleive me, google it and see for yourself. So once again, a cap may help your amp get enough power and keep your headlights from dimming but it does not ultimately fix the problem.

p.* if your total fuse size is just a little over what your alternator produces then you should use a cap like if your total fuse size is 150. that would be like putting a bandaid on a scratch but if it is up near 200 amps total, it would be like putting a bandaid over a bleeding cut that needs stitches. That is when you would need an alternator. so i guess in a way id have to say that gmmuscle91 could be right but for it to be killing your amp the way you say it does, chances are a cap wont cut it

so after a long long delay it is a alpine mrf545 here is a spec sheat
Alpine MRV-F545 V12 Car Amplifier Car Amplifiers MRVF545 MRVF 545 car auto audio amplifier amp power channel stereo for car cheap dual best
according to this im 1 ohm stable and running at 4ohms currently... so i dont think i should have issues but why am I? im going to do a little bit of checking on my ground making sure its good enough.. but other than that im lost. I upgraded the wires to 12 gauge now that helped slightly as long as i dont turn them up realy loud its fine but i dont have subs to be quiet ya know?