Equation 4: Speakers in ParallelZt = (Za x Zb) / (Za + Zb)
Turning again to our subwoofer install, say you want even more oomph from your system. So you trade in the original amp for one that has the same 4-ohm power rating (100 watts x 2) but is also 2-ohm stable. Since the power output of most amps increases as impedance decreases, you could boost the amp's power output and the system's bass response simply by switching to a parallel wiring scheme. Doing so would drop the net, or equivalent-load, impedance for each channel to 2 ohms. Mathematically, you substitute 4 for Za and Zb in Equation 4 and work it through:
Zt = (Za x Zb) / (Za + Zb)
Zt = (4 x 4) / (4 + 4)
Zt = 16 / 8
Zt = 2 ohms
To calculate the new amplifier's power output into 2 ohms, refer to Equation 2. Plugging in the appropriate numbers, the calculation goes as follows:
Po = 100 x (4 / 2)
Po = 100 x 2
Po = 200 watts
As you can see, by upgrading to a 2-ohm-stable amplifier and wiring the same four 15-inch woofers in parallel – two per channel – power output jumps fourfold – from 50 watts x 2 to 200 watts x 2.