Thread: Did I hook up my Dual voice coil subs correctly?

Originally Posted by mister2rbo

just a quick glance, but it looks like you ran it series-parallel. i'm assuming the subs are dual 4 ohm subs (those are usually the ones available on the market), so in the end, the amp will see an impedance of 4 ohms. if that's what you're after, then you're good to go

in that diagram, all four speaker wires are connected to a different [amplifier output] terminal. the voice coils are wired in series, the speakers are not connected together. if the speakers are 4-ohms per voice coil then the amplifier would see an impedance of 8-ohms per channel.

Originally Posted by mister2rbo

whether you use all the speaker terminals on the amplifer...i dont think it matters because (correct me if i'm wrong), most of the 2 channel amplifers are internally bridged.

any true 2-channel amp CANNOT be internally bridged. in a bridgeable stereo amp, one channel is inverted. the inverting of the second channel allows both channels to be independent (stereo) or be combined (bridged) to power a single load.

in an inverted channel amp, the signal wire on channel-2 will be the opposite of channel-1 (in other words, if channel-1's signal wire is labelled as [ + ], then channel-2's signal wire would be labelled as [ - ]). when bridged; one channel's signal wire is [via speaker(s)] connected to the other channel's [inverted] signal wire, bypassing the 'speaker ground' and allowing the bridged output to provide full voltage to a single/mono output channel (as opposed to providing 1/2 voltage to each stereo channel).

Originally Posted by mister2rbo

most of the 2 channel amplifers are internally bridged. they just give you the option to run stereo or mono....

an amplifier that is internally bridged would be a mono amp. there would be no [true] stereo option at all. although most mono amps have 2 sets of speaker connections; they both output the same audio signal. the terminals are internally wired [in parallel] to a single output, which makes it a mono output regardless of the number of speaker connections.

those subs are not the best choice for that amp. they will work fine, but they are not the correct impedance to get the maximum power out of that amplifier (explained below )

Originally Posted by Blackhawksfan24

I'm confused on why this is a mono amp when there are spots to hook up two subs

the terms "mono" and "stereo" refer to the number of independent audio [output] channels, NOT the number of speaker outputs. a mono amp always has only 1 audio [output] channel. a stereo amp always has 2 audio [output] channels. a multi-channel amp can have any number of [output] channels greater than 2.

most mono amps have 2 sets of speaker outputs. this is purely for convenience reasons, to make it easier [for some people] to hook up multiple speakers. although there are 2 sets of speaker outputs, they are internally wired to a single output channel. generally, the output terminals are [internally] wired in parallel (check the owners manual, or use a multimeter to verify).

each amp has a minimum impedance rating, and they will output the most power when run at the lowest impedance. with a mono amp, the minimum impedance is the same regardless of how many speakers are being connected. your amp can handle a minimum 2-ohm load; at 2-ohms it will output 500wRMS. unfortunately the subwoofers you chose can only handle that power as a combined 1-ohm or 8-ohm load (if they are wired as a combined 4-ohm load then they can only handle 300wRMS).

Originally Posted by Blackhawksfan24

Also, I saw my amp can handel 4 ohms and my subs are 2 ohms

yes, your amp can handle a 4-ohm load but it will not output as much power at 4-ohms.

Originally Posted by Blackhawksfan24

my subs are 2 ohms so i hooked them up how i did so my subs will get 2 ohms and the amp will get 4 ohms correct?

not really... the way you hooked it up; your subs are 8-ohms each (4-ohms per coil wired in series gives you 8-ohms per speaker). your speakers are then wired in parallel (via the amp's internal connection) which gives you 4-ohms total. this 4-ohm load is what your amp sees.

whether you're wiring speakers or voice coils, the same rule applies; when you wire them in series the impedance is doubled, when you wire them in parallel the impedance is cut in half.

a DVC sub is basically (electrically) two speakers in one unit. though they share everything but the coils themselves, each coil is electrically independent. a DVC sub has 3 possible impedances; since your subs are 4-ohms per coil, you can wire them up as 2-ohm, 4-ohm*, or 8-ohm. (*=4-ohm requires one voice coil to be left unconnected, this will cut the speaker's rated power handling in half. in your case, each speaker will only be able to handle 150w RMS).

wiring those 2 subs together gives you possible combined impedances of 1-ohm, 2-ohms*, 4-ohms, 8-ohms* or 16-ohms.

• 1-ohm - your amp CANNOT handle a 1-ohm load (it may work for a little while but it will not last long. unless you want to use your amp as an expensive paperweight, do NOT run your amp at 1-ohm)
• 2-ohms - it is possible to wire them together as a combined 2-ohm load, but this requires you to leave 1 coil from each speaker disconnected, which will cut it's rated power handling in half (so unless you want to use your subs as expensive paperweights, do NOT wire your subs as a combined 2-ohm load!). by using only 1 coil it also defeats the purpose of buying a DVC sub in the first place
• 4-ohms - this is how you have it wired in that diagram. it is pretty much the only safe impedance level that you can wire those speakers with that amp, so keep it wired this way and enjoy your subs
• 8-ohms - it is possible to wire them together as a combined 8-ohm load by hooking up only 1 coil per speaker (like the 2-ohm method above), but this will lower the amplifier's power output to less than 150w. same as 2-ohm method, by using only 1 coil it also defeats the purpose of buying a DVC sub in the first place
• 16-ohms - this may or may not harm the amp, but the impedance is too high for the amp to work properly. if it works at all, it's power output will be drastically reduced (so don't do it ).

Originally Posted by Blackhawksfan24

I'm actually so new to all of this but I'm starting to understand it pretty quickly.

you're new to this? really?

just kidding hopefully I didn't confuse you too much with this ridiculously long post...

the bottom line is; they way you have it wired now (4-ohms combined load) is the best way possible with those subs. just realize that by using those subs, you're not getting the maximum power out of that amp

enjoy your subs!

The way you have it wired, you are sharing 300 watts between the two subs, so effectively, you're only getting 150 watts per sub. It's fine and will not blow anything, but your amp doesn't match the subs.

If you can, you should either get a two channel amp or two dual 2ohm subs to maximize the power capability.

To compare, the KAC-7203 has the same "Maximum" of 1000W (if lightning strikes the amp...)
If you wired the subs in parallel to each channel separately, the amp would have a load of 2 ohms per channel, and you would output 250w each. (You could also wire both subs in series and the VC's in Parallel to have a total of 4ohm load again, and bridge the channels on that amp, which would share 500 watts between the subs, which ends up the same, but it would be in mono.)

@FusionFanatic, you explained everything so nicely, but I wanted to reiterate that those subs and that amp are not matched well...

Originally Posted by monkeyracer

If you can, you should either get a two channel amp or two dual 2ohm subs to maximize the power capability.

while that would work fine, there really is no need for DVC subs at all...

a pair of regular (SVC) 4-ohm subs in parallel would result in the same 2-ohm [combined] load

Originally Posted by FusionFanatic

while that would work fine, there really is no need for DVC subs at all...

a pair of regular (SVC) 4-ohm subs in parallel would result in the same 2-ohm [combined] load

Correct. That's why dual 2ohm subs are somewhat hard to find. And SVC's are a lot of the time less expensive than their DVC counterparts.

BTW, I have two of the REF1242W's (dual 4 ohm) on a Pioneer GM-5300T 2CH amp, With each sub wired to 2 ohm on each channel seperately, I'm hitting north of 135 dB easily. That's really only putting 190 watts into each sub too. So yours will hit a little softer than that, but really anything more than about 130 dB or so is only good if you want to show them off. That's where hearing damage will come in after extended exposure, and in day to day use is useless. (Like having a corvette, but never driving over 35 mph.)
If you did switch to an amp like the KAC-7203, you'll be able to have more power than would be practical, and would be able to set it to a good volume and not really worry about anything blowing. If you wanted to show 'em off, you'd have the power to do so.