Powering a Dual 4 sub

[Kumquatism]

So i have a Dual 4 voice coil sub, and i'm looking for an amp to power it.

i checked out the12volt.com and it said to wire it to 2 ohms.

right now i have a 2 channel amp powering a 4ohm sub bridged. I looked at its specs...and for there is a listed 2 X xxxW @ 2ohm listed...but there is no 1 X xxxW @ 2 ohms.

does this mean the amp will not be able to power my sub? I'm guessing no, but I want to make sure

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[mapolley07 10+ year member]

the amp is not stable to 2 ohms. you can wire the sub in series to present an 8ohm load, but you will lose power

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

the amp is not stable to 2 ohms. you can wire the sub in series to present an 8ohm load, but you will lose power

Not an incorrect answer but more like an incomplete one. After telling someone some things expecting them to take it as a given why not try and explain why?

On to the question actually asked...

So i have a Dual 4 voice coil sub, and i'm looking for an amp to power it.i checked out the12volt.com and it said to wire it to 2 ohms.

right now i have a 2 channel amp powering a 4ohm sub bridged. I looked at its specs...and for there is a listed 2 X xxxW @ 2ohm listed...but there is no 1 X xxxW @ 2 ohms.

does this mean the amp will not be able to power my sub? I'm guessing no, but I want to make sure

The majority of 2-channel amplifiers are not stable when presented with lower than a 4 Ohm impedence while in bridged-mono mode. (hence the lack of a XXX-wattage @ 2 Ohm mono bridged rating in your paperwork - it isn't meant to work that way)

Does that mean your amp won't power your sub? It means it won't work with it while the sub's voicecoils are wired in series to a 2 Ohm load. You'd need to rewire them to be in series and make an 8 Ohm load. Your amp will work there but the real downside is that the sub will only see half (give or take) of whatever watttage the amp is rated for at 4 Ohms mono bridged.

Ergo - if the amp is rated to output 400w @ 4 Ohms when mono bridged then by powering a sub wired to an 8 Ohm load your amp would run cool as a cucumber and show the sub 200w.

To run a single Dual 4 Ohm subwoofer a mono amp is really more appropriate. Or, if it would be an easier fix, swap your Dual 4 Ohm driver for a Dual 2 Ohm version if available and then wire that to 4 Ohms and problem solved. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[angrydad]

Is is it possible to just treat the DVC4 sub as two speakers and wire each coil to one channel and therefore present a 4 ohm load?

 

[mil81 10+ year member]

I don't think that is a good idea. The amp will be running in stereo mode, so you will probably get different phases running at the same time, meaning the voice coils wouldn't be working in perfect time. I don't know, but I assume that would blow the voice coils.

I understand that you always want to power the voice coils from the same source.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Murray

 

[illbmeubu 10+ year member]

I don't think that is a good idea. The amp will be running in stereo mode, so you will probably get different phases running at the same time, meaning the voice coils wouldn't be working in perfect time. I don't know, but I assume that would blow the voice coils.
I understand that you always want to power the voice coils from the same source.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Murray

this is correct. I have seen people running dual VC with two channels with no problem, but I have also seen the consoquences of doing so. I would say get a mono amp that is capable of running at 2 ohms

 

[BEAVER.989 10+ year member]

Another option would be to pick up a Memphis brigding module ($25 or So).

This will allow you to sum the signals from the left and right RCA's to make a summed mono signal. You could then run a separte channel to each voice coil as described above... just another option.

 

[mil81 10+ year member]

That sounds like a good option. I've never heard of a bridging module.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

uhh, guys - 4 ohms through this magical bridging module will do nothing more than bridging the amp and wiring the subs for 8 ohms. The resulting power will be exactly the same. 4 ohms stereo is the same as 8 ohms mono (just as 2 ohms stereo is equal to 4 ohms mono) and will produce the same amt of power into the sub.