Concern about my completed system (with pics)

[Hypnoz711]

I have fully set up my new system, but upon thinking about how I set it up, there's one thing I'm not sure I did correctly.

I have a Pioneer Premier 10" subwoofer with dual 4 ohm voice coils that I wired in series instead of parallel. Wiring in parallel would have put it at 2 ohm, but since I did series its currently running at 8 ohms. What I am worried about is that my amp specs don't even show how much power it puts out at 8 ohms, the lowest listed value is 425w @ 4 ohm. At 8 ohm I think I may be underpowering my sub.

I originally got this sub / amp combo because the sub had 800w RMS, and the amp put out 800w RMS @ 2 ohm. However, when I finished wiring up my system with the 8 ohm setup, I still only keep my gain on my amp at around 40% and it is plenty loud, enough to vibrate my windows and sounds good.

I don't want to hurt my sub or amp by underpowering, and I'm not sure if there would be any "quality" difference by running at 2 ohm instead of 8. I am a little surprised the sub sounds as strong as it does considering its getting something like 250w RMS (estimating since my amp specs don't list below 4 ohm).

Please advise if I should stay at 8 ohm or switch to 2 ohm and lower the gain?

Here is more detail about my amp and sub combo.

Orion HCCA-D2400 Mono Digital Amplifier

* Class D Mono block amplifier

* 1x425 Watts @ 4 ohm

* 1x800 Watts @ 2 ohm

* 1x1200 Watts @ 1 ohm

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=16574

Premier® 10" SPL Component Subwoofer with 2500 Watts Max. Power

* 800 Watts Nominal Power

* Dual 4 ohm voice coils

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069929_153020683_tab=B,00.html?compName=PNA_V3_ProductDetailsComponent

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Here's some pics of my new system for anyone interested //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

CamaroProj-Outside.jpg

CamaroProj-Amps_and_Sub.jpg

CamaroProj-Cap_and_Blocks.jpg

CamaroProj-Inline_Fuse.jpg

CamaroProj-Deck.jpg

CamaroProj-Infinity_Kappa.jpg

Click to read more...

 

[northjmp 10+ year member]

try it at 2ohm. it wont take but a min to switch the wires. see what sounds better, but as far as 8ohm i have no clue what would happen to the amp or sub. someone on here should know

 

[locash]

i'd say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. however at 2 ohm you have much more potential. if you're happy with it, leave it alone - your amp will run cooler and the sub will probably last longer. but if it's not enough bump and/or you want to upgrade to a better sub, wire it @ 2 ohm. i would go with a different sub - something killer that can use all of that power.

 

[JarvisB 10+ year member]

x1

Your install is very clean.. You should do something with bunch of wires, then it d be cleaner... I like the install! nice job!

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

There is no way to damage the sub by underpowering it and the amp is more than happy running at a high impedance. If you are getting enough output, leave it like it is.