Im using one amp and 2 12's . The 12s have 4ohms resistance each. the amp can handle eiher a 1-2 ohm or4 ohm load. What way should I wire it for max power?

 

Do the subs have single or dual voice coils?

If they are single voice coil subs then wire them in parallel for a 2ohm load.

If they have dual 4ohm voice coils you can either wire the voice coils in series and the subs in parallel for a 4ohm load or you can wire the voice coils in parallel and subs in parallel for a final 1ohm load. The 1ohm load will draw the most power from the amp.

 

A 1ohm load will give you maximum power. I would suggest using a 2ohm load, even tho your amp can handle it, it will be working really hard and may cause it to heat up really bad. Unless you have a nice amp and a warrenty, I would use a 2ohm load.

What amp and subs are you using?

 

yeah depending on your warranty i would and what amp you have. if it doesnt matter if it blows go ahead and wire it to 1 ohm but if it doesnt have a warranty that will cover dont.

 

Running an amp into a 1ohm load is VERY stresfull on the amp's outputs. The harder the amp has to work, the hotter it will get. Heat is the worst enemy of electronic equipment. The hotter it gets the shorter the lifespan of your amp is likely to be.

 

thanks! im using a mediocre system for my second car. I have 2 MTX 5000 12s in a sealed box. (single voice coil) and I have a sony amp 150X2 or a MTX 302 amp I can use. the MTX is more powerfull, but the subs suck pretty bad, they sound about the same with either amp. thanks for the advice!

 

Just to make sure.... parallel wiring is to go pos from sub and neg of sub to pos on amp and neg on amp only using 1 channel of amp for one sub. then same for other sub on other channel..right. and using 4 ohm subs makes this a 2 ohm load. so if I bridge the two subs does it turn into a 1 ohm load?? would this be a good idea or bad? thanks for the help

 

Parallel wiring means all the +'s on the subs get connected together and all the -'s on the subs get connected together. Parallel and series wiring are ways of connecting speakers together. The amp doesn't have anything to do with parallel or series wiring. What you described is normal stereo speaker connections to a 2 channel amp.

In order to get a 2ohm load with two SVC 4 ohm subs you have to connect the VC's in parallel. Go to
JL Audio and read their tutorials on how to connect speakers together in series, parallel and series/parallel.

You do NOT bridge subs together. Bridging is an amplifier function.

 

hey thanks alot, that clears it up for me