pooleo

I know that there is alot of confusion when it comes to amps, subs and how to wire them. I am not a professional, but researched the topic profusely when I installed my system.

For this we will use a few different size amps and walk thru the wiring of subs to them and how they will perform.

So, you have an 1800w Class D mono amp. Its ratings are as follows:

500x1 (4ohm)

900x1 (2ohm)

1800x1 (1ohm)

So what does this mean? Lets take the first set of numbers and decode them. 500 is the amount of watts this amp will put out. 1 is the number of channels and 4ohm is the ohm load of the speakers.


Now that we know whats going on with this amp, lets look at some sub options.

1) Single Voice Coil - 4ohm woofer. This sub connected to the amp will
draw only 500watts of power. You will want to find a SVC 4ohm sub
with 500-600 power rating. It is wise to go more than what the amp puts
out.

2) SVC - 4ohm woofer (x2) These subs will drop the ohms to 2. A 2ohm load on the amp will put out 900watts of power. Since you now have 2 subs, each sub will receive 450watts of power. you will want to find subwoofers with at least 450watts of handling power. These subs can also be wired to put out 8ohms. This we do not want, as it will drop the amps power to 250watts shared by 2 subwoofers.

3) SVC - 4ohm woofer (x4) We dont go to three woofers, it changed the ohms into thirds. This makes it difficult. So the next step is 4 subwoofers. These subs can be wired for 1ohm load, or 4 ohm load. Wiring them in parallel, will net a 1ohm load. (All positives to + on amp) If we look at our amp ratings, we know that a 1ohm load will supply 1800w of power! So, we need to find subwoofers with a minimum rating of 450w each. As the amp supplys 1800w, each woofer will recieve 450watts of power.

4) Dual Voice Coil - 4ohm. (x1) These subs can get confusing. They are (DVC). Which means, there are 2 +'s and 2 -'s. This type of sub offers alot of wiring methods. If you have one DVC 4ohm sub, it can be ran at 2ohms or 8ohms. At a 2ohm load, we know the amp puts out 900watts of power. Your sub will need to be a minimum of 900watts of handling power.

5) DVC - 4ohm. (x2) These subs can be wired for a 1ohm or 4ohm. At a 1ohm load, your subs will need to be 900watts each. As the 1ohm load will deliver 1800watts of power. At a 4ohm load, each sub needs to be a min. of 250watts.

6) DVC - 4ohm (x4) These can be wired for 2ohm or 8ohm. With a 2ohm load, your subs need to be at least 225w each.

7) DVC - 2ohm (x1) This sub can be wired for 1ohm or 4ohm. If 1ohm is desired, this sub needs to be atleast 1800watts. If 4ohm, at least 500watts.

8) DVC - 2ohm (x2) These subs can achieve .5ohm, 2ohm or 8ohm. the 2ohm method is most likely here. Since they will draw 900watts, each sub needs to be 450w.

9) DVC - 2ohm (x4) 4 of these subs can be wired for 1ohm or 4ohm. At 1ohm, each sub needs to be atleast 450watts.


Now, lets look at a smaller amp. 300w Class AB 2-channel.

300wx1 @ 4ohms

200wx2 @ 2ohms

Lets look at the best option for this amp. Since this amp is 2-channel it can be "bridged" This is taking the left and right channels and putting them together. This is only good if you have one subwoofer. It would be pointless if you had 2 woofers, as you would be joining power just to divide it again.

So, if we want 300 wants to our 1 woofer, we would look for a SVC 4ohm sub rated at a min. of 3oowatts. Or, a DVC - 2ohm sub with 300w of power.

If we ran 2 woofers to this amp, we would look for (2) DVC - 4ohm subs with a min. rating of 200watts.

It would be pointless to bridge this amp with 2 subs. With 1 sub to each channel, that sub gets 200watts. If bridged, 300watts would go to both subs, only netting 150watts to each.

some pics of the most common wiring. ***Not all methods above are in the pics***

__________________
'99 4.0 Auto. 4x4 .................. '96 4.0 5spd. 4x4
Ext Cab. XLT ........................ Ext Cab. STX
4.10's Aussie locker /.............. 3.73's. L/S in Rear
L/S in rear. / .........................6'8 Sno-Way plow
HD Diff cover / ..................... OHC/Stang Dome

pooleo

I should add. These figures are "on paper" Real life wiring may not net the exact amount. For example, on my 4 DVC 2ohm subs I had a measured 1.03 ohms at the subs. On paper, I should have had 1ohm. So take it for what it is.

__________________
'99 4.0 Auto. 4x4 .................. '96 4.0 5spd. 4x4
Ext Cab. XLT ........................ Ext Cab. STX
4.10's Aussie locker /.............. 3.73's. L/S in Rear
L/S in rear. / .........................6'8 Sno-Way plow
HD Diff cover / ..................... OHC/Stang Dome