2 ohms or 4 ohms? Easy Question...

[CentralFC 0]

So my subwoofer (Alpine Type R 12") is dual voice coil 4 ohm. Now what I'm confused with is it's wiring down to 2 ohms (for 500 watts RMS). I wired down to "2 ohms", but is that per voice coil, making it 4 ohms, thus leaving me with only 300 watts RMS? If so, does that mean I'd have to wire it down to 1 ohm, making it 2 ohm total?

Basically what I'm asking is if the ohms are per voice coil, or total. Any help would be great! This would really make things clear.

[Duran 387]

If wiring the woofer to 2 ohms the woofer will see total of 500 watts. 250 watts per coil.

[caintrain 0]

when you wire a sub to any "ohm value", you are changing the resistance that your amp will see. Thus, wiring to 2 ohms, your amp sees 2 ohms of resistance and can push the desired 500 watts.

[caintrain 0]

^^^that being said, when you play music, this resistance will rise a small amount and you will not get to a true 500 watts.

[KU40 173]

No, the impedance will fluctuate. Resistance stays the same (unless/until heat from playing affects the voice coil and raises resistance a little).

When you wired to 2 ohms, you wired the voice coils together. Thus making effectively one voice coil, which is 2 ohms.