Four sub wiring

[Outbacksound 1]

Is it possible to wire four 4 ohm dvc subs to a 2 channel amp, with each channel seeing 2 ohms? I have them running at four ohms, but can you use series and parallel wiring to create this load? If I set each sub in parallel wiring (+ to + and - to -, right?)and then run the - from one channel to one sub, the positive from that channel to the other sub, and a wire connecting the other + and - terminals from sub to sub, would this do it? Here's what I'm talking about. (pic may not work) Just hooked up these subs, but they sound distorted and just terrible, will they sound better after they break in, or just lower/louder? Replaced 4 RF P1 12's with 4 infinity 1252w's, and I miss the rockfords.

IMG_1109.PNG

[altoncustomtech 773]

unfortunately there's no way to get a 2 ohm load with 2 4 ohm DVC subwoofers.... all you can get is 16, 4, and 1 ohm loads.... sorry

[bigrank916 72]

Is it possible to wire four 4 ohm dvc subs to a 2 channel amp, with each channel seeing 2 ohms? I have them running at four ohms, but can you use series and parallel wiring to create this load? If I set each sub in parallel wiring (+ to + and - to -, right?)and then run the - from one channel to one sub, the positive from that channel to the other sub, and a wire connecting the other + and - terminals from sub to sub, would this do it? Here's what I'm talking about. (pic may not work) Just hooked up these subs, but they sound distorted and just terrible, will they sound better after they break in, or just lower/louder? Replaced 4 RF P1 12's with 4 infinity 1252w's, and I miss the rockfords.

IMG_1109.PNG

You can wire all four together at 2ohms while bridging the amp. You should try this option if your amp is 2ohm stable.

Voice coils wired in series, speakers wired in parallel

[KU40 173]

What you did was wire each sub's voice coils in parallel for a 2 ohm load on each sub. Then by wiring two subs in series, each pair is 4 ohms. So if you have one pair of subs wired to each channel of the amp, you're getting a 4 ohm load on each channel.

What amp is it? My bet is that you just aren't getting enough power and are in response turning up the gain too far and clipping the amp, and the clipping is the terrible sound you're hearing.

[Outbacksound 1]

The amp is a piece of s**t Xplod XM-1652Z that (I think) puts out 240-280 watts per channel @ 4 ohms, 390 watts per channel at 2 ohms. I don't think it can go at 2 ohms bridged, it's a piece, as mentioned. I'm going to be getting a kenwood excelon amp that'll do 1200 watts at 2 ohms, which will be perfect. I was just hoping to get 2 ohms out of this amp, but I kind of knew I couldn't. The gain is a little less than 3/4 of the way up, I turned it up and down until it sounded best. But even with the power I have, I've heard a visonik pos 10" on it's tiny amp, and that was louder. Something is wrong with this setup. Unless they will sound quiet and distorted during the break in period. I'm going from the RF's ported to these sealed, so these should have better SQ, but it's quite the opposite. Also, the rockfords practically ruined my car, and these won't even shake my mirrors a little, despite the fact that they are moving just as much as the RF's did. I am going easy on them at half volume, but even at the same volume the rockfords were 5x better SQ-wise and SPL-wise. Should I keep breaking them in and hope they loosen up, or give up, sell them and just put me old subs back? Or should I port these, and tune really low (the RF's were tuned to 29 Hz, which I liked better than 36 and 32Hz).

[KU40 173]

Maybe triple check the wiring and make sure nothing is out of phase. Take a battery to each voice coil to make sure they are labeled and wired correctly.

[Outbacksound 1]

I think I might have wired my subs at 16 ohms, so they're barely getting any power-  I wired them according to crutchfield's four sub, 2 channel dual 4 ohm voice coil chart, but according to KU40, if I wired them like I mentioned in an earlier post, then they would make a four ohm load at the amp.  I am confused.

[JASON123 1]

This place can be your best friend lol ( http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer_configurations.asp ) hope it helps you out

[Outbacksound 1]

How would you wire 2 dual 4 ohm subs to 16 ohms? I don't want to do that, I just want to eliminate that as a possibility of what is wrong. These subs hardly make any noise, when they should at least be audible above the speakers, especially because I turned the sub up to 10 (max) just to see if I could hear them, and only some of the high notes were audible. Checked the wiring, and they're all wired the way crutchfield and the12volt site (here checked for two subs to see what one channel sees, because they don't have an option for a two channel amp) said to. Voice coils wired in series, subs wired in parallel. If I wire the vc's in parallel, and the subs in parallel, what will happen? Vc's in parallel and subs in series?

[Julian 641]

heres some picture diagrams

12volt ftw

[Outbacksound 1]

One channel was wired out of phase. I feel like such a dumbass. Did I do any harm to them?

[SpeakerBoy 64]

One channel was wired out of phase. I feel like such a dumbass. Did I do any harm to them?

We all make mistakes....

Nothing should have been damaged, unless you were beating on them extra hard (clipping) with it wired wrong, trying to compensate.

Edited November 18, 2009 by DeepSubBoy

[Outbacksound 1]

They sound great now. I wasn't pushing them hard at all- I'm still letting them break in. I can't wait until I put them to a real amp, and (maybe) a ported box.