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Installed Subs/Amp today...

Old Oct 2, 2004
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Installed Subs/Amp today...

Ok, as you can see by my profile I have two subs and a 4CH amp. The two subs are DVC 4ohm each. Since I have 4CH amp I used channel 1 and 2 for my front speakers and just ran my subs to channel 3 and 4, not bridged. I didn't bridge them because my amp is only 2ohm stable in stereo mode, not bridged. Bridged mode states 4-8ohms. So, although my subs sound pretty good even running them 8ohm, I was wondering if I should run them in a series and then bridge them to still give me 4ohms to the amp.

I've been told I can do this but I am not sure how to wire it this way.

I think it goes like this...

Run a wire from Sub "A" - to Sub "B" +
Then, wire them to the box terminals like normal
After that, run both + from Sub "A" and "B" to CH3 + on the amp
Next, run both - from Sub "A" and "B" to CH4 - on the amp

Is this correct?

Anyone?

I want to achieve 4ohms and bridge my subs. Again, they are DVC 4ohms. My amp is bridgeable to 4-8 ohms.
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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Um, you just run a wire from the + to the - terminal on the opposite voice coil on sub "a" and then take the remaining terminals to the respective bridged terminals on the amp. then do the same for sub "b". you will have 4 wires to the amp. thats the easiest way to me. 4 ohm load on channels 3 + 4. i cant really imagine that half of a 4 channel amp is really enough power for 2 subs though, but i guess i dont know what you have.
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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Originally Posted by bzrollin
Um, you just run a wire from the + to the - terminal on the opposite voice coil on sub "a" and then take the remaining terminals to the respective bridged terminals on the amp. then do the same for sub "b".
Huh? Sorry man, I don't understand that...

Ok, I have Sub "A" and Sub "B". Each has only one + and -
So, I run a wire from + of Sub "B" to the - of Sub "A"? Then just wire them to the bridged channel 3 and 4? Or does it matter which Sub I start with? I guess you just have to run a wire from the + of one Sub to the - of the other, right?

Doh! I'll get it for sure next time once you confirm this one more time!



Oh, I know. My amp is not the greatest but I have to work with what I have until I get a 2Ch or Mono amp for my Subs. For what's it's worth, they don't sound all that bad now! Those Pioneer Premiers are awesome.
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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then you only have single voice coil subs, not dvc, and its not possible to get 4 ohms out of 2 4 ohm subs, either run them in series and bridge the amp, or run them in stereo
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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No, I do have 2 DVC Subs. So, do I run them in a series and then bridge them to the amp? If so, this is what I can't figure out... How to wire them.

If you don't mind, explain in detail what I do with each wire. My Subs are DVC but there is only one + and - on each Sub. The magnets are stacked. I do not see a separate terminal for each coil. Does this make sense? Anyway, those Pioneer's are DVC.

Are we havin' fun yet!?
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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you said you only have one + and one - terminal on each sub, thats means they are SINGLE voice coil.
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...etailComponent

Check em out... I know I'm not crazy. Unless I am missing that damn terminal someplace.
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Old Oct 2, 2004
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Well for some reason i cant d/l the manual, but they are dvc. I suspect if you only see one + and one - that they are already bridged and you will have to treat them like a svc woofer. im not at all familiar with pioneer's line, so i dont know specificly
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Old Oct 3, 2004
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THis is how you would do it if you had two terminals...i'm not sure how that would work without two. ::

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Old Oct 3, 2004
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hm, yeah, i had to turn off my popup blocking in SP2 to be able to see the manual.

According to the manual, there are terminals on both sides of the subwoofer. Try take a look at the manual, it gives directions on how to wire it up.

Your amplifier probably makes approximately the same power for 2 ohms stereo and 4 ohms mono bridged. I head stereo bass can sometimes be bad, that mono is better. To do that, wire it up like shown in the above picture, and connect it to the bridged connections for channel 3 and 4.

gl!
Ed
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Old Oct 3, 2004
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Originally Posted by Ed
According to the manual, there are terminals on both sides of the subwoofer...
No sheet? I swear I only noticed the one set of terminals. That's ok, I'll pull them back out and take another look. No wonder this never made any sense before when someone tried to explain hooking it up this way! I was always looking at it with only one set of terminals.

Thanks guys. I'll let ya know what I find.

Oh yea, anyone want to take a stab at how to correctly tune them too! To be more precise, what settings do you normally keep your Subs at? I have controls both on my HU and amp to play with. All I am looking for is some guidelines. When I mess around with the controls all I can tell is that it increases the bass a little but that's about all. Is there any way to set them to make them more "punchy" vs "loose"? Probably not much because they are 12" and are designed to be loose right?
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Old Oct 3, 2004
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Um, there were two terminals on the Subs. Doh! How I missed that is crazy. Anyway, now I understand the whole concept.

But, I have a slight problem...

I hooked them up the way we were talking about and the Subs sounded great! One problem though, my amp kept shutting down! I would have to turn the radio off and on to get sound again so I assume my amp can't handle my Subs! So, I had to hook up the subs to each channel using both + and - which I believe is back to an 8ohm hookup. This way my Subs lack performance and sound muddy. Damn amp... get what you pay for, I know.

So, now I have to get a QUALITY 2CH or Mono amp for just my Subs. Then they will pound. Until then, I live with what I have.

I will get a good Hifonics or something like that next time, don't worry! My poor Legacy 4CH amp just can't push them monster Subs. Grrrrrrrrr When I turn it up to a certain point I hear clipping and distortion. I didn't hear that when I bridged them though. But, too much for my amp even though it claims it can handle it. Yea, right.

Now, I assume it's my amp shutting down because I had no sound from anything. I would have to turn the radio off and on. I did not look in the trunk when it happened so I did not notice if the red disable light was on, or whatever you call it. I might try to bridge them again to see what happens look at my amp when it shuts off. This didn't happen for about 10 minutes but after the first shutdown it turned off right away. I assume it just took about 10 minutes to get warm?

Oh well, you live and learn....
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Old Oct 3, 2004
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Are you sure you didnt wire it for 1 ohm by accident?
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Old Oct 4, 2004
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Originally Posted by Mystic3030
Are you sure you didnt wire it for 1 ohm by accident?
Um, I don't think I did. Here is how I did it...

Ok, I have the two Subs which are DVC. So, I ran a line from the - of one coil to the + of the other coil on the SAME sub. I did this with both. From there they both have the + and - wires going to the box terminals. After that, I took the two + wires from both Subs and hooked them into the + on CH3. Then, took the two - wires and hooked into CH4. So the - on CH3 and the + on CH4 were not used.

When I hook them up this way it works for a while then just quits! Grrrrrrrrrr. It sounds amazing though and I can tell the Subs like it but the amp probably doesn't. So I scrapped that idea and now I have them hooked up to CH3 + and - and CH4 + and -. It doesn't shut off now but the Subs are crap this way, no power it seems like. Not even really enjoyable after hearing what they really should sound like.

I think I just need a quality 2CH amp and bridge them that way. Unless I am doing something wrong, I don't know. I just think my cheap 4CH $89 amp from Ebay isn't cutting it.

What else should I try? Do I have my Subs hooked up wrong you think? Again, they are DVC so it says to run a wire from the - to + on one terminal, then bridge them. That's what I did. Hmmmm....

Anyone?
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Old Oct 4, 2004
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Save some fund$ to get a Hifonics Brutus/Soudstream Tarantula/Boss Audio I3k1....
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Old Oct 4, 2004
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Originally Posted by PaCiFiKbAllA
Save some fund$ to get a Hifonics Brutus/Soudstream Tarantula/Boss Audio I3k1....
Oh, I totally agree. When I had more power going to those Subs they rocked. In fact, it was hard to even leave the volume up very long.



Thanks man for the advice on them. I am totally satisfied but do need more power to push em'. BTW, that box is very good quality too. Heavy!! hehe I had the wife help me carry it to the trunk. She wasn't pleased...
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Old Oct 4, 2004
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Originally Posted by PaCiFiKbAllA
Save some fund$ to get a Hifonics Brutus/Soudstream Tarantula/Boss Audio I3k1....
BTW, U think I should get a 2CH amp or Mono for those two Subs? I want at least 750Watts RMS per speaker keep in mind...

What would be the best way to go to produce the cleanest power?


Also man, which way to you point your Subs? To the rear or front? Just curious! I have the ported box.
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Old Oct 6, 2004
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I would obtain a Mono Amp...the Hifonics Brutus 1500D is 750RMS/1500 MAX....so it would be a pefect match for the subs....I am now a proud owner of a Boss Audio I3k1....which is a 3000 watt Mono amp...and it kicks...I have my amp wired down to 1 Ohm, but I'mma wire it back up to 4 Ohms...don't wanna blow my speakers ya know what i mean? Glad to hear u like the box and subs!
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Old Oct 6, 2004
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I re-wired my Subs and noticed I had them hooked up wrong. Now I have them running correctly in a series/parallel to my Amp and they sound much, much better. This is still a 4ohm connection but it's louder and cleaner once I discovered my mistake. What I had originally kept shutting off my amp. So I pulled my Subs and noticed the goof-up! I also added 10 gauge twisted pair wire from KnuKonceptz and ran that inside my box and to the Amp. That wire is difficult to work with but it's quality stuff.

Well, thanks for the advice on the Amp but now that it's all working correctly I can hold off on that for a while. I'll keep it in mind though!

http://knukonceptz.com/productMaster...Speaker%20Wire

Here is the speaker wire (10 AWG) I am using for my Subs. This stuff is huge! You can't tell by the picture. It barely fits my terminals. My fingers are still sore from working with it last night...

(that's what she said...) haha
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Old Oct 7, 2004
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Originally Posted by UltimateWarrior
Um, I don't think I did. Here is how I did it...

Ok, I have the two Subs which are DVC. So, I ran a line from the - of one coil to the + of the other coil on the SAME sub. I did this with both. From there they both have the + and - wires going to the box terminals. After that, I took the two + wires from both Subs and hooked them into the + on CH3. Then, took the two - wires and hooked into CH4. So the - on CH3 and the + on CH4 were not used.
From your description, you hooked up the voice coils in series which gave you an 8 ohm load. Then you hooked them up to the amp in parallel giving you a 4 ohm load. This would give you a bridged 4 ohm load.

RT = R1 + R2 + ... in Series wiring (+ to -)
RT = (R1 * R2 * ...) / (R1 + R2 +...) in Parallel wiring (+ to +, - to -)

Your subs have 4 ohm voice coils, which means they can either be wired as 8 ohm or 2 ohm. You stated your amp can only handle 4 or 8 ohm loads when bridged. Than means you want to wiring the voice coils on each sub in parallel, and then wire the subs in series to the amp. That will give you a 4 ohm load.


on subs: + to + and - to -
to amp: CH3+ to sub1 +, sub1 - to sub2 +, sub2 - to amp CH4-


Hope that helps.
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Old Oct 7, 2004
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how about some pics of the setup. PICs! Pics!
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Old Oct 12, 2004
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wah a+b=c?
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