Do subs sound different if you wire them differently?

[TheAtomicMan 10+ year member]

I have a RF HX2 that was wired with each voice coil going to it's own channel on my amp. I recently bridged it and put it in a different box. I know the box will change the sound, but will bridging it change the sound too. I don't like the new sound I'm getting, it doesn't hit hard, but it rumbles A LOT on a low continuous note. Thanks

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[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

a watt is a watt

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

a **** is a ****... oh wait what were we talking about again??

Oh yeah... i think (my own speculation based on my personal knowledge of basic laws of electricity) that wiring a sub for a lower impedance WILL increase its output.. based on the amplifier's extra output at lower impedances. Im not an expert on it though... iv only had 2 pairs of DVC subs before

 

[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

no wiring a sub for different configs will not increase output...the AMP may increase output at lower loads but the speaker will sound the same no matter if its 2 ohm, 1 ohm, or 16 ohms

 

[trow100 10+ year member]

16 ohms god ****!!! i'm just jokin with ya. but ya he's right doesnt matter what its wired at 1 ohm will sound the same as 2 ohms. if your amp puts of more power at 1 ohm then 2 then i'd sound different but thats only because of the power not resistance.

 

[thehardknoxlife 10+ year member]

If I am not mistaken you get less distortion when running at higher ohms, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[rocky 59 5,000+ posts]

opposite buddy lower the ohms. the ohms are a measure of resistance so therefore lower the better

 

[VereChronicus 10+ year member]

Whew, off a bit on that one. The answer to your question is yes. You get a different Q when wiring one way or the other. When wiring coils in series, you get a lower Q which inherently makes it better for ported systems. When you wire the coils in parallel, you get a higher Q, inherently better in sealed systems. The change in Q is basically a change in the motors pushing force or electrical restoring force, which ever way you want to look at it. By dropping the impedance via wiring the single subwoofers two voice coils in parallel, your amplifier should make more power, which is where the "louder" part would come from. When you wire the single subwoofers two voice coils in series, you increase the motors restoring force, giving the subwoofer more electrical control over the stopping and starting of the moving parts. If you have equal input wattage on both variations, you should come out louder with the series wired coils every time. This is by measuring pure sine wave via an oscilloscope. Put both in a ridiculous box and it might be hard to tell the difference. Put them in an enclosure in the middle of their recommended volume ranges and you should easily be able to tell the difference unless you are listening to a bass CD where your amplifier is clipping anyway. Sinewave input to sinewave input, you can tell the difference in most cases.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

When you wire the single subwoofers two voice coils in series, you increase the motors restoring force, giving the subwoofer more electrical control over the stopping and starting of the moving parts. If you have equal input wattage on both variations, you should come out louder with the series wired coils every time. This is by measuring pure sine wave via an oscilloscope. Put both in a ridiculous box and it might be hard to tell the difference. Put them in an enclosure in the middle of their recommended volume ranges and you should easily be able to tell the difference unless you are listening to a bass CD where your amplifier is clipping anyway. Sinewave input to sinewave input, you can tell the difference in most cases.

Equal power, watt to watt, the difference in BL is cancelled out by the increase in the current flowing through the lower imp. Motive force is a product of BL and current. You half the BL when you wire in parallel, but you double the current for the same amount of power. Result is the same motive force. Where you MIGHT hear the difference is on a Class D amp with low damping (which is even lower with a low impedance load) which will have trouble controlling the sub. Assuming sufficient damping for the load that the sub presents, audible differences will be negligible. You might be able to note a difference in decay on a waterfall plot, but chances are that 99% of people couldn't hear the difference and the 1% probably couldn't tell you what it was.

 

[VereChronicus 10+ year member]

Current can most definitely overcome many obstacles can it not? The difference normally does come from the damping factor of the amplifier. When I went ahead and brought technical issues into it, it was initially meant to be a comparison at the audible difference level of say 200 or so watts where it is all basically listener preference anyway. Some like it overdamped, some like it underdamped and Goldilocks likes it just right. That aspect has been an ongoing debate for years on end, since before the Strokers were brought onto the scene in the 60's. I've had talks with many engineers over the years and most seem to come up with flux density rules over current. With current you still don't change the magnetic field that the coil rides in and if that field can be stronger to begin with and then have current dumped on it, it will yeild more potential for output than the weaker parallel wired version. It'll be a stalemate for another 30 years also I'm sure. My preference is series over parallel, since in most street cases we are talking 2 subs on one of these big amps. If I can get 1ohms worth of output from the amplifier, no matter what it may be by wiring series/parallel or parallel/series, it always came out louder and cleaner with the series/parallel and that is why I always wire them that way unless it just cannot be avoided...and that instance is when folks bring products in to have them installed. I have not run into those that like the soggier bass and I have yet to run into anyone that didn't agree when I had the comparison wired up in my demo vehicle. I often use this as a selling point if you will by demonstrating a sharp drum solo by Neil Peart where the overtones are pretty obvious since the midbass drivers in the vehicle remain constant. It seems to be a simple point to really lock in the customer to the point that we care to inform them about differences because we are not there to sell them product, we are there to build SOUND for them, to their preference. If someone came in and after the demo they somehow came to the conclusion that the parallel/series wiring sounded better to them, I'm sure I'd play the track again just to make sure but my customer would pull out with their new system wired the way they wanted it. In those cases with a single amplifier on two subs where the impedance and damping factor does not change either way, that is where the determining is just made by the ear.

 

[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

helotaxi is a very knowledgeable man, and his explanation is spot on.

Over all you should not hear a difference when switching the way an amp is wired. As was mentioned earlier the distortion is less at higher resistence, but on an average car audio amp used to power a subwoofer, the difference will not be audible to most individuals.

The one difference in sound you will hear, unless you're running a regulated amp such as the JL amps, is a difference in output. In general an amp puts out more power at lower impedences, thus your driver will see more power. Make sure when doing this however that a) your sub can handle the power and more importantly (in most cases) that b) your amplifier can handle the lower impedence.

 

[VereChronicus 10+ year member]

I'm calling bluff, no disrespect, be it by lack of experience or whatever, but after doing the A/B comparisons for years now with every new installer, system architect/salesperson and most importantly our customers...every one of which sits in a demo vehicle with this A/B comparison made has concurred that they can audibly differentiate the two and prefer the series/parallel wired version over the parallel/series wired version. The switch is a manual banana plug jack with two custom jack options that just plug in and out right at the center console and lead to the enclosure. Neither I nor any others demonstrating the vehicle tell the customer which is which until the choice has been made. It is a blind test that has had 100% accuracy so far. That information is aside from all of the european engineers testing outcome to the same end. When I talk next to another engineer friend I'll find out again specifically what testing methods he and his team used to come up with their hypothesis. I recommend that you try the way we do it in that particular demo vehicle for yourself and then come back with your end determination.....if it is the same as your belief now, I'll still respect your ear and your opinion just as much as I do now. Cheers.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

I can hear a difference.

 

[Toxic Tuan 10+ year member]

Whew, off a bit on that one. The answer to your question is yes. You get a different Q when wiring one way or the other. When wiring coils in series, you get a lower Q which inherently makes it better for ported systems. When you wire the coils in parallel, you get a higher Q, inherently better in sealed systems. The change in Q is basically a change in the motors pushing force or electrical restoring force, which ever way you want to look at it. By dropping the impedance via wiring the single subwoofers two voice coils in parallel, your amplifier should make more power, which is where the "louder" part would come from. When you wire the single subwoofers two voice coils in series, you increase the motors restoring force, giving the subwoofer more electrical control over the stopping and starting of the moving parts. If you have equal input wattage on both variations, you should come out louder with the series wired coils every time. This is by measuring pure sine wave via an oscilloscope. Put both in a ridiculous box and it might be hard to tell the difference. Put them in an enclosure in the middle of their recommended volume ranges and you should easily be able to tell the difference unless you are listening to a bass CD where your amplifier is clipping anyway. Sinewave input to sinewave input, you can tell the difference in most cases.

I don't mean to correct you...but for Qts...lower Qts suggests a sealed enclosure. Raising Qts suggests a ported system and anything above 0.7 would almost be best suited for free air applications.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

With current you still don't change the magnetic field that the coil rides in and if that field can be stronger to begin with and then have current dumped on it, it will yeild more potential for output than the weaker parallel wired version.

You are a bit off in the fact that you are not affecting the strength of the mag field in the gap. B is a constant and is determined by the magnet and pole assembly. It is the L portion of the number that you are changing, the effective length of wire in the gap. Coils in parallel results in half the effective amount of wire in the gap compared to the same coils wired in series. Since you have four time the resistance, however, you'll get 25% the amount of current through the series wired coils for the same voltage. You'll get twice the amount of current with the same power. The motive force of the sub is the same in that case.
This makes for a pretty interesting read. The conclusion reached: Qes, Qms and Qts were unchanged based on the wiring configuration.

This says exactly the same thing.

You can hear the difference between the series/parallel wiring with multiple subs because subs wired in series interact with each other through reverse EMF and cancel out some of the signal from the amp.

With a single sub, just get the load you need. There is no difference in SUB performance. If you have multiple subs you want to wire the subs in parallel. Wire the individual sub's coils however you need to to allow you to wire the different subs in parallel.