alright im not some super-duper electrical guy.

but i know some electric's stuff....

anyways to the topic at hand i need help, and some guidance for wiring subs (easy you think?... read on)

im linking 3 pics for u guys to check out...

Pic 1 (http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/subs/untitled.bmp)
Pic 2 (http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/subs/untitled2.bmp)
Pic 3 (http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/subs/untitled3.bmp)

basically what i know is that wiring in series will double the ohm's like in the pic where the wiring look like x's and wiring in parallel will halve the ohms like in the first pic.

with amps ive noticed they'll run higher watts at lower ohms

so say an amp will run 1000w rms @ 2ohm but only 800w rms @4ohm

and u have 2 15's that run at 500w rms and are dual voice coil...(which as far as im aware all of them are). what ohm subs would u get and how would u wire them up to get exactly 1000w @ 2ohm.... keepin in mind that they would be dual voice coil.
lemme know if any of the pics ive drawn up will work properly and if i need to change the ohms on the subs...
also anyone know what would happen if you were to wire up subs like ive done in the 3rd pic.
i'm hopin u guys can give me a hand with this cause im not really sure beyond what ive already written.

cheers guys,

t-man

To avoid confusion that will be inherent in answering this question.

What gear have you got at the moment? What specs?

Subs? -> How many subs? Are they Dual Voice Coil or Single Voice Coil? What is the resistance of each coil? (eg 2 ohm DVC?)

Amp(s) -> What amp have you got? How many channels? What is the lowest load this is stable at? If it's a monoblock it will prob be 1 or 2 ohm.

What is your overall aim? Do you want a wiring configuration that will be the loudest? Or that will give the best quality?

A few other things... Say a sub is rated at 500 w rms, this doesnt mean they will only run at that, nor does it mean that ur amp has to match this. It is always good to go overboard with ur power (you can't overpower a sub if you set the gains right) the added headroom will result in a much cleaner signal getting to ur speakers. For instance, enthusiasts will look upwards of 2 kw rms just for the front stage. This may be running a pair of 500 w rms splits, but will mean that they can be run with the gains on minimum. This will mean a full power signal will be coming from the headunit, and the amp won't have to break a sweat turning this into sound.

Ur on the right track otherwise. If you have two 4 ohm subs running in series, these will present an 8 ohm load to your amplifier. The increased resistance will cause the overall output from the subs to reduce.
If you wire these in parrallel they will present a 2 ohm load to the amp, causing the overall output from the subs to increase.

Peace

Tim

What is your overall aim? Do you want a wiring configuration that will be the loudest? Or that will give the best quality?


well i want something thats gonna pump but i dont want it to sound like sh*t.

i hadnt realised before, but it makes sense now to have an amp with larger power output than the speakers.

as for setup atm ive got a pioneer monoblock 500w rms @ 2ohm and will be ordered a kicker 15" 500w rms sub for now. (atm ive got 2 jaycar venom 15's running but they are going)

the plan is to get rid of the pioneer monoblock and look at getting a higher power amp. it'll still be monoblock but something powerful enough to run an extra kicker 15". they are both dual voice

so we've established that the amp output optimally should be larger than the total rms output of the 2 15's.
ok so the problem is that i know how to wire up 1 sub to get optimal power and the right ohms. but i'm unsure of how to wire up 2 subs to get the right ohm's.

so say both subs are dual voicecoil and are avaliable in either 2ohm or 4ohm. and its a monoblock amp that'll hand 2ohm. how should i wire the subs up so the total setup ends up as 2ohm for the amp to run optimally.

atm this is all open ended questions due to the fact that its a system that im going to be building up. i wanna make sure that i get the right gear so it works best that it can.

i dont wanna go out and buy 2ohm dual voicecoil subs when i should have bought the 4ohm ones... if u get what i mean. im hopin this all makes sense.

actually this may be simpler.

say i have 2 15" subs with DVC 2ohm.

and on the subs the are wired in parallel to drop them both down to 1ohm.
if i run wire from each of them back to the amp terminals like in the first picture in my first post will that double the ohm to 2ohm or halve it again.

Yep, you want two DVC 2 ohm subs. Wire these up in series to present a 4 ohm load per sub, then wire the subs up in parrallel to present a 2 ohm load to the amp. Or wire each sub in parralel to get a 1 ohm load per sub then wire the two in series to get a two ohm load to the amp.

But with only one of these subs ur amp will only be able to run a 4 ohm load, which should be fine for the moment.

Just a quick question tim with the gain settings isnt that to match rca input voltage to the amps rca capabilities??. i mean match the rca output of youre headunit to the rca input of youre amp. I was told this but am not sure.

ok tim

so wiring the coils up in series then wiring up the subs in parallel as u said above.

would it look like this?

http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/untitled4.JPG

as for the other way round. i know how to wire the coils in parallel but how do u wire the subs to the amp in series to get 2ohm as well?

wire like this for 2 ohm load

which is the same as this

http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/subs/untitled2.bmp

thanks for the pic megatron.

and thanks very much tim, for the help and the info!

sorry mate u have more wires then u need in the pic (u have the SUB in series and parallel)


have another look at the pic i posted


Just a quick question tim with the gain settings isnt that to match rca input voltage to the amps rca capabilities??. i mean match the rca output of youre headunit to the rca input of youre amp. I was told this but am not sure.


tfv630 that is sort of ture the gain should be set on point when the HU is playing at its max(without clipping) then amp gain should be set to the rms handling of the sub/speaker

eg the JL manual tell u how to set the amp at is max rms output before clipping, play a 0db 50hz tone at the max of the HU and adjust the amp gains until it measure XX.Xohms.

what i think tim is saying is ppl with money/really really really like car audio will buy and amp with more than enough power thus the amp will never be stressed and produce CLEAN xxxx power output, thus having the gains set at minimum

what i think tim is saying is ppl with money/really really really like car audio will buy and amp with more than enough power thus the amp will never be stressed and produce CLEAN xxxx power output, thus having the gains set at minimum
Yep spot on...

To set ur gains you want to match it to the headunit. The main aim of setting the gains is to get as much use out of the volume knob as possible. (As many increments, with min being no noise and max being the loudest ur subs will play without distortion)
Set the gains to minimum, turn up the volume on ur headunit till it distorts. 1/2 way on cheap headunits, 3/4 way on good headunits. All the way on SQ decks.
Play something u know well, something loud. (eg for subs play something with big bass lines, for tweets use vocals etc.)
Slowly raise the gains until the speaker starts to distort (i hope ul know what this sounds like) Dial the gains back until before the distortion started)

Hope it helps...

s_tim_ulate, I enjoy my Panasonic headunit, but I do hope to move into SQ very soon, what head-unit would you recommend that isn't Alpine? :-|

Denon, Nakamichi, Clarion... Too many options... Give us a price range?

Try to find something with parametric EQ, and time alignment. 1 bit DAC etc etc.

Features arent overly important. You dont need mp3 to compete.

Eclipse make some quality units at a better price than the above mentioned.

$800 on a headunit (RRP) though

Look at second hand gear. U could score urself something like a 7998r for around that price. or 98 series alpine.

Otherwise Pioneer units arent too bad at that price range.

sorry mate u have more wires then u need in the pic (u have the SUB in series and parallel)


have another look at the pic i posted

its the same.. its just ive got the cable running straight to the amp in my pick from the subs. also with the wiring on the sub in my its just the polarity isnt switched over like in the jl pick
UNLESS your talking about this particular pic...

http://tklane.customer.netspace.net.au/untitled4.JPG

then your right... i realised that was wrong when i saw your pick.


but yeah i still got what was being said...

and with setting up the amp with the head deck i never had the idea of turning up the volume then adjusting the gain.
my system cranks now but still isnt working at its maximum potential.... another way to piss off my parents and neighbours... i love it. :)

well i got help with my sub question and managed to solve the problem AND i learnt some useful information which should have been obvious if i used that thing between my ears lol

thanks guys

i think he ment like this (you are douvle crossing your sub's voice coils)

snu2,

point taken mate. see what u mean.

Im gunna say thanks aswell, the info given here is very handy to know. :thumbsup: thanks guys