Thread:

subwoofer wireing

I have (2) 2ohm dual voice coil 12" subs and I am trying to accomplish a 1 ohm load at the amp. Is this possible?

the only way you could get 1 ohm at the amp is if you wired them up left and right stereo, if the amp will take the load.

If your bridging the amp there is no way

Originally Posted by Tim

I have (2) 2ohm dual voice coil 12" subs and I am trying to accomplish a 1 ohm load at the amp. Is this possible?

your only options into a single channel sub amp are 8 ohm, 2 ohm, or 1/2 ohm. If this is going in a boat then you are better off running it at 2 ohms instead of 1 ohm anyway.

less current draw and less heat.

Thanks for the replys. My amp is stable to 1ohm bridged. Would dropping it to .5 and turning the gain down be that bad on it? At 2ohms I'm only getting 200 watts and at 1ohm 400 watts. Would it be 800 watts at .5? The speakers are 400 watts rms and 800 peak. I'm trying to get the most out of the system and re wireing the subs once everything is put back together is a big job. What amp would be recomended for these subs and at what impedence?

Wiring a 1 ohm stable amp at half an ohm will do several things. The amp could overheat faster and shut off leaving you with no bass. The amp could catch on fire which would leave you with no bass or the amp could simply go into protection leaving you with no bass. I would either change the amp or the subs to allow both to work together correctly. Remember a 2 ohm stable amp is just as good as a 1 ohm stable amp if they are rated at the same power.

2 ohms in parallel is 1 ohm.

Originally Posted by pwerwagn

So you have 2 DVC subs, each coil being 2 ohm?

Would it not be possible to wire each sub in series, meaning both coils from one sub in series, then take those two "inputs" and wire them in parrallel....

yes...that would have a final impedance of 2 ohms at the amp. Thats the way I would do it.

Originally Posted by pwerwagn

So you have 2 DVC subs, each coil being 2 ohm?

Would it not be possible to wire each sub in series, meaning both coils from one sub in series, then take those two "inputs" and wire them in parrallel....

That is the way I went with it. I tried it at .5 ohm and it was to much. I was trying to acheive 1 ohm but that was impossible with the coils I have. I do have another amp that is stable to 2 ohm at 400 watts so I may try that at a later date.