I have a 4 channel amp powering a dual voice coil sub. It works.

[bigbangmtl 10+ year member]

Hi there. I wired a 4 channel amp to a DVC sub. The amp is an alpine mrp-f300 bridged at 150rms x 2ch (4ohm) and the sub is a JL 10W3V2-D4. Since each coil of the sub is 4 ohm, I figured it should work and it does!

No one ever speaks of this, so I thought I'd post it. I'm using 2 y-adapters on the RCAs from the head unit.

I guess the only downfall is that if the bass is channel specific during a song then only one coil will fire and I'll have it at half power... whatever.

Click to read more...

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

nobody ever speaks of it, cuz it's not something that anyone who truly likes bass would want to do... sorry bro, but it just makes no sense to do that

 

[WhyUmad 10+ year member]

lol update us soon when it blows

 

[dragnix 5,000+ posts]

of course it works, just not the smartest thing to do. Also a pain to set the gain correctly, which somehow I have a feeling you didn't do.

 

[bigbangmtl 10+ year member]

of course it works, just not the smartest thing to do. Also a pain to set the gain correctly, which somehow I have a feeling you didn't do.

Thanks for the vote of confidence dragnix.

The reason behind the madness is money. I just upgraded my 4ch, so why would I spend money on another amp, when I have this one and it matches my sub rms perfectly. (300)

Does anybody have any technical reasons why this would cause damage to my sub or affect sound quality? Thanks.

 

[i love spl 10+ year member]

if u wanted to do something retarded like that then why didnt u just buy a 5 channel? its alot easier and smarter

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

if you set the gains incorrectly, it could damage the subs.

and its not just the fact that it could damage them thats getting you flamed... for one, where did you get the rca y splitters? those in themselves will create noise in the channel... then the fact that tuning something like that would be **** hard... so it will probably end up sounding like ****... trust me, get a 2 channel, or mono amp, and throw them on those subs, and you will get what we're talking about

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Because you cant match the gains perfectly. So one coil is prob getting more power then the other. Over time it will go kaboom

 

[i love spl 10+ year member]

ok, imagine this... one coil is getting 100 watts and the other is getting 102.. then that one coil is going to be pushing one side harder than the other. which causes the coil to be misaligned when the woofer is moving... so in theory the sub is moving sideways. u cant see that bc its moving so fast but in fact it is if the gains are not set properly. and by what you said about u most likely dont know how to do that or even have the tools to do that (no offense)

 

[matt_bennett05 10+ year member]

Keep your posts clean guys! Don't forget this isn't the dome!

Now if you had the sub wired to either the fron/rear only you would'nt be hurting a thing.

 

[bigbangmtl 10+ year member]

then that one coil is going to be pushing one side harder than the other. which causes the coil to be misaligned when the woofer is moving... so in theory the sub is moving sideways. u cant see that bc its moving so fast but in fact it is if the gains are not set properly.

Coils are wound over each other or stacked. Movement will always be rectilinear. You can see a picture here. Pictures are pretty.

Given that both signals are in phase, the sum of their amplitudes will determine the total speaker displacement, or power.

The only way I think this may affect sound quality is if the signals are somehow off-phase or different.

and by what you said about u most likely dont know how to do that or even have the tools to do that (no offense)

None taken from you.

Keep your posts clean guys! Don't forget this isn't the dome!
Now if you had the sub wired to either the fron/rear only you would'nt be hurting a thing.

Thanks for the feedback matt. I didn't try to do that because the sub is a 4 ohm dvc and bridged, I can only have it at 4 ohm. I would have to do it on a single channel at 2ohms which would supply 75rms to a 300rms sub..

 

[i love spl 10+ year member]

i understand that, but when u wire up a dvc sub u connect the 2 coils in either a parrallel or series load. and u do that to equally disperce the load. if u had a 2 channel amp and u hooked 1 channel to 1 coil and the other to the other coil it would be the same thing. im not saying its impossible to do what your doing, but its just not reccomended, especially for daily use. someone correct me if im wrong please

 

[bigbangmtl 10+ year member]

i and u do that to equally disperce the load.

I think it's done to make sure the signals match. No two coils (or inductors) will have identical inductance values. Close, but never identical.

Anyway, I think the horse is dead. I'll post something more if it all goes wrong.

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

 

[i love spl 10+ year member]

well yes thats true in every case. u can build 2 identical motors with the same identical parts and they will not produce the same amount of power.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

I used to run a dual 4 ohm voice coil sub with a 4 channel amp, it was a 12" Bazooka P. Miller series and an old school MTX Pro504, actually worked pretty **** good.

One thing though, that 4 channel amp is gonna work pretty hard since it's running a sub and the lowest impedance it can handle so it'll get hot. My MTX overheated a few times while bumping Ghetto D.

A class D mono subwoofer amp is a better choice but hey if you already have the 4 channel laying around then I don't see why not.