voice coil wattages

[ncc74656 2]

I feel I am confusing myself here. a subwoffer with dual voice coils has a rated wattage of 500W, that is for a single voice coil? if its for both voice coils is it rated at 500W in series or parallel? wiring a dual 1ohm sub that is rated at 200W in series means that sub can still take 200W as that's what the first voice coil sees. wiring a dual 1 ohm sub that is rated at 200W in parallel means it can take 400W as that is what the 2 coils can take together. am I right or wrong here in the way im explaining this? (again this is how it was just explained to me at work and now I feel confused.)

 

 

if you have a dual 2 ohm sub you can wire that sub up to 4 ohm or down to 1 ohm right? is there any negative impact from wiring up vs down or vice versa?

 

also, speaker companies list rated power for each coil and not both?

Edited April 28, 2014 by ncc74656

[lithium 358]

If the sub's vc thermal rating is 500 watts thats rating for any vc combination offered. Take the SSA dcon for example, you can get a single 4 ohm or dual 4 ohm configuration. In the case of the dual coil, each coil will handle half the total rating. You dont magically gain twice the power handling by purchasing the dual coil version. 

[lithium 358]

how  power is distributed in the circuit is easily explained 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor#Theory_of_operation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_and_parallel_circuits

Edited April 28, 2014 by lithium

[Impious 1,476]

I feel I am confusing myself here. a subwoffer with dual voice coils has a rated wattage of 500W, that is for a single voice coil? if its for both voice coils is it rated at 500W in series or parallel? wiring a dual 1ohm sub that is rated at 200W in series means that sub can still take 200W as that's what the first voice coil sees. wiring a dual 1 ohm sub that is rated at 200W in parallel means it can take 400W as that is what the 2 coils can take together. am I right or wrong here in the way im explaining this? (again this is how it was just explained to me at work and now I feel confused.)

if you have a dual 2 ohm sub you can wire that sub up to 4 ohm or down to 1 ohm right? is there any negative impact from wiring up vs down or vice versa?

also, speaker companies list rated power for each coil and not both?

Power rating is a thermal rating for the coils combined. A 500w power handling rating on a dual voice coil subwoofer would be 250w per coil. Series or parallel doesn't matter as the heat dissipation by each coil and the amount of power each coil receives is the same regardless of wiring method. 500w to a dual VC sub means each receives 250w no matter how you wire it. Not sure where you are getting all of this 200w is 400w nonsense from.

There is no difference to the subwoofer between wiring a 2ohm DVC sub in series or parallel. Technically the BL is higher with series wiring, but since Re is also higher the net result is the same as is performance. Some would argue 4ohm allows for higher damping factor at the amplifier, and while technically true the difference is not audible. Amplifiers are usually more efficient at 4ohm than 1ohm, so that may be a factor.

[ncc74656 2]

see thats very much what i was thinking but i had never thought to break down teh ratings for each coil before untill today.

so let me lay out what happened so you can get a better idea of where im coming from.

A customer wanted subs for his KX1200.1 so i offered a 15 CVR or 2 12CVR's and we decided on the 12's. well kicker rates there subs on final resistance and not per coil so its confusing as fuck and i dont know of any other company that does this shit.... in either case, i call up my distro store to check stock as i want the dual 4ohm sub so i can take 2 of them down to 2 ohm final load. we only have the 2 ohm sub up there so im thinking that its a dual 2 ohm coil so it wont work to get 2 ohm final out of it but it is already 2 ohm final at the single terminal so it would either be 1 ohm or 4 ohm... so i am asking my boss about it and he says that i should wire only in parallel as if i wire in series im burning up the voice coils as the sub will see greater wattage. now i think i understand that series would increase resistance and parallel would reduce it but then he is throwing in this (subs are rated per voice coil and not both coils together) bit and it threw me off. his exact explanation was "wiring a DVC 100W sub in series will limit the power rating to 100W as that is what hte first coil will see and it will get over loaded with power as the sub is intended to take 200W (100W per coil)"

after more research i believe i should eb able to take the 2 ohm variant and change the switch they come with to 1 ohm, then wire the 2 1ohm subs up to 2 ohm. right?

i have wired hundreds of subs before but this explanation of how subs work from my boss has really thrown me for a loop.

[lithium 358]

this is basic series and parallel circuit stuff. 

[ncc74656 2]

how i have always looked at it is as follows: you have a dual 2 ohm sub rated at 400W. you can either go to 4 or 1 ohm on it and you must give it 400W of power or less @ what ever wattage your amp is stable at. if you have a 400W 4 ohm amp and run the sub at 1 ohm you are throwing a potential of 1600W at that sub now (assuming the amp does not pop right away) as you have removed all the resistance the amp is expecting to see on the circuit. vice versa is true when taking a 1 ohm up to 4 ohm. of course its not a linier change of exactly double or halved power and blah blah but still the basic concept is there.

i was told this was wrong however as you never want to series your subs as that reduces there potential power due to the first voice coil being the limiting factor. so in series if 2 coils are each rated at 100W you can not get 200W out of hte sub but are stuck with 100W. is that true?

also i had always thought the X wattage rating of a sub was simply the total power you could run at what ever ohm load you set up, not a measurement of each individual coil. the way it was explained to me today is a 100W dual voice coil sub is actually a 200W sub in parallel or a 100W sub in series and thats why you dont want to run series.

[puscifer2 27]

You should leave that shop...

[lithium 358]

 

 

 was told this was wrong however as you never want to series your subs as that reduces there potential power due to the first voice coil being the limiting factor. so in series if 2 coils are each rated at 100W you can not get 200W out of hte sub but are stuck with 100W. is that true?

 

no, thats not how a circuit works.  look at the links i posted. each coil will see half the power, period. 

 

 

 

also i had always thought the X wattage rating of a sub was simply the total power you could run at what ever ohm load you set up, not a measurement of each individual coil. the way it was explained to me today is a 100W dual voice coil sub is actually a 200W sub in parallel or a 100W sub in series and thats why you dont want to run series. 

 

ugh

[ncc74656 2]

if what i was told today is right then i have been wrong about the very basics of car audio for many, many years.

i dont see any links in your post.

[lithium 358]

some extra reading material. the circuit diagrams should make this easier to follow. 

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/ohmlaw.html

[lithium 358]

how  power is distributed in the circuit is easily explained 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor#Theory_of_operation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_and_parallel_circuits

 

if what i was told today is right then i have been wrong about the very basics of car audio for many, many years.

i dont see any links in your post.

 

the people you work with are idiots. 

[ncc74656 2]

im so pucking trying to not be an idiot with this but i really feel like i should just enroll in some electrical night classes and try to get some real education on the matter. the challenge of reading and interpreting on my own and then having misinformation be delivered at work is hands down the most challenging way of learning that i have ever experienced.

[jcarter1885 995]

not again  

[ncc74656 2]

lmao... how did you get that animation? thats perfect

[Impious 1,476]

The answer is very simple. STOP LISTENING TO ANYTHING THEY SAY AT WORK. Everything they've ever told you has been wrong.

[ohio45113 24]

http://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-verizon&source=android-home&site=webhp&source=hp&ei=WbdfU9m1DqXj2QW_soCICw&q=how+to+wire+2+dvc+subs&oq=&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.41l3.0.0.0.13842.1.1.0.1.1.0.316.316.3-1.1.0....0...1c..42.mobile-gws-hp..0.1.98.3.U4pIODpZg1k

we got this cool new thing now called google. type in how to wire 2 dvc subs. wiring diagrams everywhere! magic

Edited April 29, 2014 by ohio45113

[frogcase2002 393]

Man I don't see how where you work could be an audio shop lol. Seems like I knew more than them when I was like 14 and just getting into audio. . . . . This is all pretty simple stuff

[frogcase2002 393]

The power rating is for the whole sub. However many coils and what ohm they are is just going to determine how your going to wire to the amp

[SpeakerBoy 64]

see thats very much what i was thinking but i had never thought to break down teh ratings for each coil before untill today.

so let me lay out what happened so you can get a better idea of where im coming from.

A customer wanted subs for his KX1200.1 so i offered a 15 CVR or 2 12CVR's and we decided on the 12's. well kicker rates there subs on final resistance and not per coil so its confusing as fuck and i dont know of any other company that does this shit.... in either case, i call up my distro store to check stock as i want the dual 4ohm sub so i can take 2 of them down to 2 ohm final load. we only have the 2 ohm sub up there so im thinking that its a dual 2 ohm coil so it wont work to get 2 ohm final out of it but it is already 2 ohm final at the single terminal so it would either be 1 ohm or 4 ohm... so i am asking my boss about it and he says that i should wire only in parallel as if i wire in series im burning up the voice coils as the sub will see greater wattage. now i think i understand that series would increase resistance and parallel would reduce it but then he is throwing in this (subs are rated per voice coil and not both coils together) bit and it threw me off. his exact explanation was "wiring a DVC 100W sub in series will limit the power rating to 100W as that is what hte first coil will see and it will get over loaded with power as the sub is intended to take 200W (100W per coil)"

after more research i believe i should eb able to take the 2 ohm variant and change the switch they come with to 1 ohm, then wire the 2 1ohm subs up to 2 ohm. right?

i have wired hundreds of subs before but this explanation of how subs work from my boss has really thrown me for a loop.

Quit your job and work elsewhere man. 

Walmart has more audio knowledge than that guy...

[Shogen 325]

What if I told you this guy is trolling?

[frogcase2002 393]

What if I told you this guy is trolling?

Would make a little since lol

[Shogen 325]

What if I told you this guy is trolling?

Would make a little since lol

Doing a great job I might add as well... Lol

[jcarter1885 995]

 

 

What if I told you this guy is trolling?

Would make a little since lol

Doing a great job I might add as well... Lol

 

 

I heavily doubt it especially after seeing his install.

Edited April 30, 2014 by jay-cee

[Randal Johnson 544]

so i am asking my boss about it and he says that i should wire only in parallel as if i wire in series im burning up the voice coils as the sub will see greater wattage.

Nice mentor you have there young skywalker.

But then again, Most supervisors that I work with/for don't know shit either.

Thinking that's a skill set you have to have these days to be a supervisor.