Hordsak

I had 2 10' JL speakers in my car. One crapped on me the other day, so I decided to put in my 2 12' Audio Bahn speakers that are in a bandpass box. I have a 600 watt 4 channel amp. Now, these speakers, so I've heard are dual voice coil. They have 2 inputs for wires on each sub. Now, right now I'm running each sub at 300watts bridged on my amp. If I were to hook up the speakers to utilize the dual voice coil connections, would it sound any different? They pound pretty good right now, but I'm curious. If I should hook them up, should I un-bridge the connection's and use all 4 channels on my amp. (IE, 2 set's of wires going to each sub) Thanks for reading.

Hordsak

I have search around for information, but there are very few people in my situation, with 2 subs running on a 4 channel amp. I found this information on the internet, and would like to know what some of you guys think.

Independent: You can wire each voice coil to a separate channel of your amplifier, if you prefer not to bridge your amp. Independent wiring is a nice option if you're wiring two DVC subs to a 4-channel amplifier — one voice coil per channel.

If I hooked them up as it says above, would I see any benefits over running each sub bridged? Thank.

97FormulaWS-6

Are you saying that you only have 1 VC hooked up on each speaker???

If so, then I hope you don't care about those speakers, because that will BLOW them.. you can NOT run just 1 of the VC's on a DVC sub, you have to run both!!!!!!

What ohms are the Audiobahn VCs? and what amp are you running them off of?

I need this info to tell you the best advise on how to wire this properly, such that you don't screw up your equipment.

Hordsak

The speakers are 4 OHMS each. I'm running them off a Targa 600watt 4 channell amp. I've heard that you don't have to have both voice coils hooked up for normal operation. I've read the only reason they're there are for different wire configurations. But I'll halt on using them till I find out for sure. Thanks for the heads up.

97FormulaWS-6

With DVC's what are the VC's impedance? 4 ohms each VC? I'm assuming that's what you mean.

Wherever you got the info for running a DVC on 1 VC is ok, NEVER trust that site again...

With the setup that you have you are going to need to run each VC off of a channel on that amp.

Most 4 channel amps are not 2 ohm stable when bridged down to 2 channels. If you wire your speakers in Parallel, and bridge the amp, you will be presenting a 2 ohm load, thus exceeding the rating of the amp, and most likely blowing it.

I would either replace your subs with 2ohm DVC units, 4 ohm SVC (Single Voice-Coil), or replace your amp with a good 2-channel unit.

LS1 RULZ

You will NOT blow a DVC subwoofer by only connecting one of the VC's. The sub will be less efficient and the T/S parameters used for building the box will no longer be accurate. This is due to the added mass of the undriven VC. Other than that there will be no damage done to the sub. If that were the case you wouldn't be able to build servo controlled subwoofers that use the second VC to monitor the cone's motion. It isn't used to drive the cone at all in this type of design.

97FormulaWS-6

hmm.... I guess my information source was inaccurate, I never thought of that...

does make sence though.....

Guess I was wrong, now that I really sit back and think about it... It just screws up performance due to the added mass, and electromotive forces involved.

Hordsak

So, will my subs sound better if I hook up each voice coil to a channel each, instead of running them bridged? I'll hook it up that way after work and see how it sounds. Thanks.

97FormulaWS-6

*Shrugs*... you can either wire up both VC's, one to each channel, or 1 VC wired to a bridged channel...

Can't tell you which way will sound better... I've never run a DVC off 1 VC before...

Hordsak

Ok, I'll write out a quick break-down of what I did today. I ran the subs paralell on the VC's, bridged on 2 channels for an effective 1 ohm load (I believe or is it 2) at the amp on both subs. After a few mins of bass, the amp cut out. Sure enough, I killed the amp =) Thinking about getting a new amp, but wondering if I could fix my old one first I took it out, and low and behold, I found a solder joint that had melted, and the contact with the circuit board became disconnected. I re-soldered it, and it's working fine again. But this time, I hooked up each voice coil ( 4 all together, 2 on each sub) to each channel on the amp (4 alltogether) . And I must say that it sounds better that way, than one VC hooked up bridged. I'm a maniac =) I still think a higher quality 2 channel amp would better suit me.

I hope this makes sence.. my brain hurts just reading it.

LS1 RULZ

You do NOT bridge subwoofers. Bridging is an amplifier function. Subs get wired together in series, parallel or series/parallel.

If you had the sub's VCs in parallel and each VC is 4ohms you made each sub a 2ohm load. If you bridged your 4 channel amp (making it a now 2 channel amp) you cannot connect 2ohm loads to it. That is why the amp shuts down. It is going into protection mode so that it doesn't burn itself up.

If you are going to use your amp as a 2 channel you need to connect at least a 4ohm load to each channel. You cannot do that with the subs you currently have. You would need them to have dual 8ohm VCs to do that.

Hordsak

If you can't bridge a DVC sub, then explain to me the parallel wire configuration on the JL audio site found here

JL Audo sub wiring configurations

LS1 RULZ

The top diagram shows the VCs wired in parallel.

The second diagram shows the VCs wired in series.

The third diagram shows the VCs wired to their own dedicated channel of the amp.

This diagram shows the VCs wired in series/parallel. The VCs are wired in series and the subs are then wired in parallel.
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/wir...C_Series_2.gif

Like I said before, bridging (also called "strapping") is an amplifier function.