OMGz snip snip huge increase

[dtavano 10+ year member]

For whatever reason(OK, I'm a dumbass) I was running like 18' of 12gauge speaker wire to my subs with amp putting out 600W. Well I cut the extra 13' of cable off today and omgz. I got a huge increase in volume from doing just that. My subs now sound louder with my windows down and driving than it did before with windows up and sitting still. I don't have a trained ear or anything but I imagine it was over a 3db increase. At first it sounded a little bit crappier as far as the quality but after about 15 minutes the subs were louder and actually seemed like they had better clarity than when I had all that extra wire. Maybe the increase in volume just made it seem as if the quality went up.

Does this make sense? Should I be gaining such significant increase in volume just by getting rid of that excess 13' of wire? How does the wire effect the resistance, is it like some sort of variable resistor such as a light bulb? No need to state the obvious larger wire = less resistance, was wondering if it got a bit more indepth than that. Considering you need larger wire for higher wattage I figure the resistance of the wire must be variable or else the amount of power going through the wire wouldn't make any difference if the resistance was fixed(adding or subtracting wire length is not the "variable" I'm talking about.)

Another question: I always see people speaking of excursion. Is having a high excursion important for the quality of the sound? I'm running 2 subs at 300 W a piece, would it make more sense to run just one of the subs at say 500 - 550 W or keep it at 2 x 300W? Do you get a more punchy and tight type of sound when the sub approaches its max excursion? I have 2 12w3v3 and JLs recommended power range spans from 150 - 600 W with 300 W being "optimal." So should I stick with the 2 x 300W setup or go with just one sub @ 600W and wait until I get another or a new amp to use the other sub?

I feel like such an idiot having left all that extra wire, doh! I didn't realize the difference would be so profound.

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[mannyb18b]

13' is alot of wire.

but I don't know about THAT much of an increase

 

[htownplaya456 10+ year member]

so it got twice as louder??? 3 db increase is usually twice as loud unless its in the 140's then its different. but i think your just getting the placebo effect. just playin but maybe it did get louder?

 

[chillin 10+ year member]

If the wire was long enough it could affect the timing a bit, but I think it would have to be longer than 13 feet to notice.

 

[mannyb18b]

If the wire was long enough it could affect the timing a bit, but I think it would have to be longer than 13 feet to notice.

timing?...no

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

Yeah... you probably thought it might sound better... so you unconsciously cranked the volume a bit and voila! a foot of wire shouldn't have made much of a difference.

As for excursion... Subs with high excursion are generally (but not always) well-suited for sealed boxes, where they need to make up for the lack of a port by moving a lot of air with the cone. This doesn't mean they can't perform well in ported boxes, though.

But less excursion = less distortion, so letting two subs play with less excursion as opposed to letting one play with more will sound cleaner. And you won't be punishing the subs as much.

 

[bk12321 10+ year member]

a foot of wire shouldn't have made much of a difference.

13' = 13 feet, not inches... for the record

 

[ThomasG 5,000+ posts]

omgz //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[mannyb18b]

well he said it was 13 FEET. but still doesn't justify such a large difference.

Resistance was lessened thats for sure.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

13' = 13 feet, not inches... for the record

sh*t... he really had 18 feet of wiring? lol! i just assumed it was a typo...

Yeah... 13 feet is a lot of wire...

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

timing?...no

18' of wire will cause a phase shift and a change in phase can "delay" the subs' cone movement. Will it be a huge phase shift? Doubtful... but there will be one.

It could be possible that you had them wired out of phase and this re-wiring brought things back in phase which will yield a VERY noticeable difference in output and quality.

I'm about to buy some more wire so I'll try having like 50' of wire to my sub and see what kind of difference it makes in my setup.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

It would be a slight change in phase but that change woul affect both subs, not changing the relative phase between them. It could mess up the blending with the front stage but wouldn't do a thing to that actual sub-bass response.

The lower resistance of the shorter amount of wire would make a difference, but if your wire was absorbing half of your amplifier power (3dB is double the power) that wire would be getting quite warm.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

I'm reading another variable that is not accounted for:

My subs now sound louder with my windows down and driving than it did before with windows up and sitting still.

With that information, it's quite possible that you noticed a large difference when listening; in fact, it's the norm.

And just to clarify something: 3dB is a perceived increase in sound, but the perceived doubling of sound is 10dB.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

It would be a slight change in phase but that change woul affect both subs, not changing the relative phase between them. It could mess up the blending with the front stage but wouldn't do a thing to that actual sub-bass response.

I didn't mean the subs shifted phase from one another but meant from the front stage which could improve SQ as he mentioned. My second paragraph was meant that the subs were originally wired out of phase from each other and when he changed the wire out, he wired them in phase this time.

 

[bdawson72 5,000+ posts]

hold on....all you did was roll down your windows