Running One VC on a DVC Sub

I'd stick to around 50%, if I had to make a guess at it!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."

Did you read the comments in this thread?  We already discussed the fact that the parameters would change.  Read the entire thread then you will see.

midnightdenizen wrote: I disagree with the notion that it is ok to wire a DVC sub with only 1 coil hooked up. Vance Dickason explains this clearly in his book entitled "The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook". The problem here is that BOTH voice coils are wound around the same voice coil former. One of the T/S parameters refers to the actual weight of the voice coil itself............. Therefore, if you wire only one coil.........that coil has to support the "dead" weight of the 2nd coil and alters the parameters of the speaker as well as putting additional strain on the coil that is hooked up due to the extra weight of the 2nd coil.

Disagree all you'd like, but putting ALL of your faith in a book that is FIRST AND FOREMOST aimed at the amateur loudspeaker designer (a fledgeling in the industry, as it were) that book (I have a copy myself, actually. EVERY major version, somewhere in my house, truth be known...) is not, and also says so within it's pages, never was meant to be, an exhaustive reference. It's really a slightly deeper than skin-deep overview. And while TLDC is a very good reference, useful for MANY aspects of loudspeaker SYSTEM designs, involving enclosures, crossovers, driver selection, etc., it is nowhere NEAR the end-all, be-all of loudspeaker DRIVER building and implementation. Good try, though.   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."

Hi, Thanks for all the info. But am slightly confused. Would appreciate if somone could help me. I have Pioneer ICE: DEH-5900MP Head Unit - http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/121/61/DEH-P5900MP/index.html GM-5300T Amplifier - http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/29/182/GM-5300T/index.html TS-W2501D4 10 Inch Subwoofer - http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/25/130/201/TS-W2501D4/index.html I'd like to know which would be the best way to connect the sub and amp please. What would be better: 1. Wiring the DVC in series for an 8Ohm load that is bridged on the amp? Or will this result in lost power? or 2. Wiring each voice coil to each channel, so left amp output would go to voice coil 1 and then the right amp output to the second voice coil? Would this create a 2Ohm load for each channel? Would this be 190WRMS each, so 380WRMS going to the sub? Is this what they call parallel? Thanks For Your Time, Jon

You seem to be in a bit of a spot on this one. The amp does not match the rated power of the subwoofer. Either of the methods you mentioned above will return about the same amount of power. The only difference between the two would be: both coils in series (8 ohms) bridged to the amp = mono ouput, or wiring each coil to a channel of the amplifier that would result in a stereo output. It would likely be easier for you to wire the sub and series and brige it to the amp, so that is what I would recommend for you in this case. If you want the sub to respond according to manufacturers specs, do not wire only a single coil bridged. You can consult the manu recommendations, and you will not find any wiring schemes that include this type of setup. ( Despite what some of the geniuses in this thread have said above.) If they had intended for the sub to play with only 1 coil, I'm sure they would have included this information in their specs....................Good Luck !Billy Smith

Thanks mate :-) Yea the amp ain't as powerful, was just given this equipment. The Pioneer instructions say the same too - do not wire only one VC. Sorry I'm new to all this, will the power still be 1 x 380W RMS at 8ohms? It's just that I came across another webpage saying something about the higher the ohms, the less power is outputted? Cheers, Jon

midnightdenizen wrote: ( Despite what some of the geniuses in this thread have said above.) If they had intended for the sub to play with only 1 coil, I'm sure they would have included this information in their specs....................Good Luck !

And you need a reality check, my friend. That kind of talk won't make you any friends around here, and in a VERY big hurry. It just so happens that there are MANY people here with FAR more information available to them that you would believe. None of us ever said we were geniuses (but I can assure you, that SOME of us truly are), but we do know to what we refer, and from where we speak, and none of us are likely to spew BS. My suggestion would be to read some of our bios... I'm 40 years old, and I have quite POSSIBLY had more stereo systems (between car and home) than you are years old!

jonspurs wrote: The Pioneer instructions say the same too - do not wire only one VC.

The reason Pioneer doesn't specifically suggest such a situation, is because they don't want to warranty all the woofers that they would inevitably be required to, because so many people are not aware of the T/S parameter differences, (meaning additional R&D for Pioneer for proper enclosure volume suggestions - more cost in the woofer, i.e. lower profit margin) as well as the reduced power handling. They have enough trouble keeping up with the required RMA load as it is... (They aren't fantastic woofers...) That being said, midnight is correct... either way you wire it will be safe; series VC and bridged, or one coil to each amp channel, and the power output will be the same, as well as the load per channel. Otherwise, it is PERFECTLY SAFE to utilize one voice coil, should you decide you wanted to! I'll tell you this right now: If you wire one voice coil, and you observe the proper power reduction, and if you blow it, BECAUSE it is only using one voice coil, I will buy you a replacement woofer, AND ship it to you. All I would ask is that you provide me with the blown one first, so I can see that you aren't just yanking my chain. This I will do for you, I am SO confident that I am right in this. Period. Let's see midnightdenizen put his money where his mouth is, eh?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."

Awsome thread!! I read the whole thing and feel prety good about the one vc and shorting out the other.  I just completed my summer time car stereo upgrade by installing kenwood execon 6 by 9's in the back and 7 inch rounds in the doors.  also got a nice kenwood 400 by 4 amp to power the mids. just 40 rms per channel but sounds so much better than just the deck power.  heres where it gets nasty.  I had the exelon kac-521 1000 max 2 channel amp stable at 4 ohms bridged. it was good although stable at 4 ohms it would overheat pushing my two Cerwin Vega V-Max 600 rms DVC subs in a sealed sub zero box.  The upgrade came when I sold the kac-521 and bought the      kac-X1R.  the X1R is the top of the line kenwood excelon amp of 07'.  It clames 1ohm stability, class d, 600 rms at 4, 1200 rms at 2 and over 1000 at 1ohm.  2400 watt max output between 3-25 amp fuses on the face.  it was going to be the perfect match. my vegas are 4ohm per vc and are dvc's.  I naturally wired it at 1 ohm.  it pounds so hard.... it peked at 150.2 db at the local audio source in vancouver, washington.  the vegas take the beating all day long every day.  I have pounded the vegas for two years now.  the problem is at 1 ohm even though the amp clames stability the amp overheats and  cuts off in two minuts of hard core pounding.  dont get me wrong it blows me away but is an imberassment at a signal when it cuts.  I feel if I brought it up from 1 ohm to two ohms it would be more stable and  put out 200 more watts rms.  but after reading the entire thread I worry about the 20 prcent loss in the woofers rms if I run only one of the vc per sub to obtain the two ohms.  I just did my first competition, it was a shame the amp kept blowing the 3-25 amp fuses and wasnt even able to get to the 150db I know it is capable of.  It did 139.6 and took 2nd place in the 0-600 rms at 4ohms class.  they classified you by your amps rateing at 4 ohms not at what you were at because I was a 1 ohm.  so I guess I wonder if there was a resistor I could wire in to add just 1 simple ohm without dissconnecting two of my 4 vc?  Or mabe an old woofers coil or something.I dont have room for any more woofers much less the spare electricity in the charging system to power more woofers.  this is all in my 04' pontiac grand am. Im to the point where I replaced the the  3-25 amp fuses with 3-30 amp fuses and am thinking about doing something drastic to this dissapiontment of an amplifier like takeing it apart and pulling out the dang temprature govener or adding more fans.  to replace the woofers would cost 400 bucks and for that much I could get another kac-X1R.  Im tired of spending money on this system but I demand the best.  I have a 460 big block that need some tlc too.  so at this point I am ready to try anything to raise the ohm load up to two ohms.  I think it would be wiser to potentaly destroy the woofers rather than the brand new amp i got.  Just wanted to let u all know where Im coming from.  I will try the svc and short out the unused vc raise the load to two and push them hard.  I just hope Cerwin Vega rates there watts lower that Kenwood execlon.  I will let u all know how it goes. get back to me if you see a soulution to this small yet large problemNo Guts No Glory