Wiring questions

[Magnum375 Jr]

Ok so next week my new subwoofers will be arriving...and i have a 1200 Watt sony xplod amp. I will have 4 10 inch subs....each having 4 ohm resistance. My amp has 2 channels. Each channel at 4 ohms will give 200 Watts. The subs can handle a max of 300 W and RMS value of 150....My channels give out 200 per channel....i believe....and that is for 2 ohms....so what i am thinking is if i connect all 4 subs in parallel....that will give me a resistance of 2 ohms...and if i connect them like that it will give me a 2 ohm load and on one channel 200 W.....i think.....would it be stronger doing it like that...or just putting 2 per channel....connected in series...which would be like 100 W to each sub....i believe. I'm looking for my amp booklet...but cannot find it anywhere.

Im afraid that with them all in parallel on one channel...it will give them a load of 2 ohms....and 400 W per sub...which will blow them......if i put 2 on each channel....in series...each will get 100 watts...and i know they wont blow. Now could i possibly put 2 subs together in parallel....giving me a possible 2 ohm load...and 200 Watts each....or maybe....it would be a 4 ohm load at 200 Watts. If that were the case...the latter of the 2 of course....i would be have the best of both worlds....safe speaker life and strong clear bass. Please lemme know before next week.

[MagnumRT05]

2 on each channel FTW.

Cant you sell that amp and get a better amp for the same price aka a mono???

[Magnum375 Jr]

The amp is more then enough....its the speakers limit....thats my problem.

[MagnumRT05]

Well if you cant get a mono or cant afford it, then I would def run 2 on each channel. I think it will sound great. What is that amp rated at though? 14.4? We have some pretty good electrical, so if its rated at lower than 14.4, then you could possibly see more outa that amp, which I always like

[herbs]

2 in parallel esch side is the way i would hook up what you have...

[JamminWagon]

In THEORY, if you use 2 150w subs the circuit can handle 300w. Remember each speaker acts a load and since they are the same ohmage they will drop equal power.

Remeber that when the speaker are rated at 4 ohms NOMINAL it is measure with the cone at rest. If you hook an ohmmeter meter to a coil and push on the cone you will see your reading change. In the cheap line of speakers (name withheld to protect the innocent) I have seen readings of almost 1 ohm between 2 speakers. Some times you will hear the term "matched set", all this is some one has taken speakers and "matched" readings. Enough of that hahah.

All you need to do is take 2 speakers at 4 ohms, parallel them for 2 ohms for one channel and do the same for the other.

Just thought of something, Are the speakers DUAL 4 ohm voice coils or a single 4 ohm voice coil.

(for each channel)If they are dual 4s then you need to parallel the voice coils for 2ohm per speaker then series the 2 speakers for a 4 ohm total load. Or series the voice coils for 8 ohms and parallel the 2 speakers for 4 ohms again.

You DO NOT want to series the voice coils for 2 ohms and parallel the 2 speakers, this will give you a 1 ohm load. This will overheat your amp if not rated for 1 ohm and probably ruin the amp.

If you series the voice coils(8 ohms) and series the speakers this will give you 16 ohms, which will effectivly take your amp to 50w per channel.

I always use a meter to check the load of the speakers before hooking the 2 leads to the amp to make sure I didnt wire anything wrong. You can get a lil meter at Radioshack usualy around $10. Always better to be safe than sorry.

I had a friend who thought the he bought dual 4's and actually a dual 2 sub was sent to him and wondered why the amp was always shutting down.

Isnt speaker math fun. Just remember when using equal ohmage speakers, series add the speakers and when parallel divide by 2

[Magnum375 Jr]

I get all of that.....dayum...your good....one last question then....what will the power being put to each of the subs when i put 2 parallel to a channel and then another set parallel to the other channel.....like what is the watts and ohmage....if i remember correctly....for resistance...for parralell...Rtotal= (R1xR2)/(R1+R2)....so...2 ohms...for each channel...but what happens to the 200W at 4 ohms....when i go down to 2 ohms....i get what....double the power? If so...does it split between the 2 speakers....becuase if it does....im safe at 200W per sub. If it doesnt split...i get 400 W to each sub and booooommmm.....they are fried.

[JamminWagon]

I get all of that.....dayum...your good....one last question then....what will the power being put to each of the subs when i put 2 parallel to a channel and then another set parallel to the other channel.....like what is the watts and ohmage....if i remember correctly....for resistance...for parralell...Rtotal= (R1xR2)/(R1+R2)....so...2 ohms...for each channel...but what happens to the 200W at 4 ohms....when i go down to 2 ohms....i get what....double the power? If so...does it split between the 2 speakers....becuase if it does....im safe at 200W per sub. If it doesnt split...i get 400 W to each sub and booooommmm.....they are fried.

Ok I got a headache now hahah. You can treat each channel as a seperate amp. The amp rating, per the manual, is rated at per channel. ie. 200wRMS @ 2 ohms. So however you hook up the speakers to EACH CHANNEL is what the wattage will be. If I remember right, the amp is rated at 200w @ 2 ohms 100w @ 4 ohms. So if you hook up 2 2 ohm loads you will get a total of 400w(200w channel 1 + 200w channel 2). With each set of speakers in the theroticaly 300w(150+150) handling, you will be safe.

I hope this makes sense, I am running on hour 20 being awake haha.

The most fun I had was hooking up 32 speakers for a 2 ohm load haha.

[herbs]

you cant ask for anymore info then that...great info JW......