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watts difference

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=116876
Printed Date: October 31, 2024 at 6:26 PM


Topic: watts difference

Posted By: spmpdr
Subject: watts difference
Date Posted: October 11, 2009 at 11:42 AM

I am thinking of upgrading my amp. i currently have a memphis 500 watt rms monoblock powering 2 12" re audio 4 ohm dvc subs 6oo watts rms. I have them wired as if they were svc 4 ohm to give them a 2 ohm load. My question is this : If i upgraded my amp to a 1000 watt rms stable at 1 ohm would I hear a noticeable difference or should i just be happy with what i got?Also if the thermal power rating is 300 watts is that per coil?

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-



Replies:

Posted By: whiterob
Date Posted: October 11, 2009 at 2:19 PM
spmpdr wrote:

I am thinking of upgrading my amp. i currently have a memphis 500 watt rms monoblock powering 2 12" re audio 4 ohm dvc subs 6oo watts rms. I have them wired as if they were svc 4 ohm to give them a 2 ohm load. My question is this : If i upgraded my amp to a 1000 watt rms stable at 1 ohm would I hear a noticeable difference or should i just be happy with what i got?Also if the thermal power rating is 300 watts is that per coil?


If the thermal power rating of the subs is 300w RMS then that means the sub will handle 300w RMS total. That means using a 500w RMS amp is going to be close to fully powering them and you should probably not upgrade to a 1000w RMS amp.

Every time you double the power you gain 3 decibels. That is a theoretical value so the actual gain is going to be less. That means you will barely notice any difference when going from 500w RMS to 1000w RMS.

Running a single voice coil on a DVC sub is not a recommended method. Yes you can do it but you must know what will happen when you do this. First, the power handling is decreased. It is not decreased by half but by about 15-30% of the rated value.

The other difference is that when you are running one voice coil the T/S parameters of the sub changes. This is important because that will change the type of enclosure that should be used with your subs. The thing is, manufacturers don't give you the specs per voice coil so you would not know what enclosure to use unless you were able to measure the T/S parameters of the sub.

I don't know if you knew these things about running a single voice coil before but if you didn't you may figure out something you were doing wrong previously.




Posted By: icearrow6
Date Posted: October 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Where did u get the 300W RMS per coil? which model subs do u have?


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Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: October 11, 2009 at 5:40 PM
icearrow6 wrote:

Where did u get the 300W RMS per coil? which model subs do u have?



I run the sr series 12s they say they are rated 300 watts rms,I didnt know if that was per coil or not.I run them svc with a true at least 250 rms and they sound fantastic it doesnt seem to be hurting them.

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-




Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: October 11, 2009 at 5:49 PM
If they are a 300 watt woofer, they can handle 300 watts TOTAL. That is running 300 watts into the voice coil former, using both coils. If you run one voice coil only, short the other one with a piece of wire, this will bring your T/S parameters back to closer to what the manufacturer specifies.

In addition to this step, your power handling for one coils WILL be less than both of them combined, but as stated, not a full 50%. One coil will be probably pretty safe at 250 watts.

One more thing... If you wire the voice coils in series for 8-ohms, then parallel the woofers for a 4-ohm load to the amplifier, you will have EXACTLY the same output as you have right now, plus, you will not be compromising the capabilities of the woofer at all, you'll be able to use the specified T/S parameters, and you will be running your amplifier in a more linear output range, for lower distortion. Use all the voice coils, dude... Try it, I bet it sounds better!

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."




Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: October 12, 2009 at 9:30 AM
haemphyst wrote:

If they are a 300 watt woofer, they can handle 300 watts TOTAL. That is running 300 watts into the voice coil former, using both coils. If you run one voice coil only, short the other one with a piece of wire, this will bring your T/S parameters back to closer to what the manufacturer specifies.

In addition to this step, your power handling for one coils WILL be less than both of them combined, but as stated, not a full 50%. One coil will be probably pretty safe at 250 watts.

One more thing... If you wire the voice coils in series for 8-ohms, then parallel the woofers for a 4-ohm load to the amplifier, you will have EXACTLY the same output as you have right now, plus, you will not be compromising the capabilities of the woofer at all, you'll be able to use the specified T/S parameters, and you will be running your amplifier in a more linear output range, for lower distortion. Use all the voice coils, dude... Try it, I bet it sounds better!


thanks haemphyst, I found the wiring diagram for 2 4 ohm dvc wired to 8 ohm in series but how do i paralell them for a 4 ohm load to the amp?

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-




Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: October 12, 2009 at 12:06 PM
spmpdr wrote:

thanks haemphyst, I found the wiring diagram for 2 4 ohm dvc wired to 8 ohm in series but how do i paralell them for a 4 ohm load to the amp?

Here... Use the second diagram...

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."




Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: October 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM
thanks again

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-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-





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