6 ohm

Ok I am relatively new to installing things on my own.  Im tired of paying high prices for stuff I can myself. But anyway.

I bought a pair of audiobahn alum 10q which are 3 ohm or 6 ohm.  Is there anyway to wire these to be either 2 ohm or 4 ohm, preferrably 2 ohm.

A pair of 3-ohm SVC speakers can be wired at either 1.5 ohms (parallel) or 6 ohms (series).  The reason for using two 3-ohm speakers is so you can wire them at 1.5 ohms and run them off an amp that is rated at 1-ohm stable without stressing it to the max.  Or sometimes you can use them on a 2-ohm stable amp and it will hang in there.

OK now, to answer the questions above concerning "why" and if it's "pointless" or not...  wow, where to begin.  Manufacturers design their loudspeakers with specific target voice coil resistances for specific reasons.  8-ohms is the defacto standard for home use and 4-ohms is the defacto standard for car audio.  IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE TO THE AMPLIFIER. 

Basic electricity.  Let me say that again, the amplifier will NOT CARE how many ohms are connected to it.  It will deliver current into that load following Ohm's Law and Kirchoff's Theory: standard electricity laws that ANYONE who decides to play around with car audio had better understand.  That's why Ohm's Law is one of the first links under "BASICS" on this site.  And it is called a "Law" because it cannot be changed.  It ALWAYS applies to electricity, and car audio is manipulation of electricity.

Ohms are a measure of electrical resistance (in audio it's called impedence since it is an AC signal.)  More impedence = less current flow at a set voltage.  Amplifiers generate voltage.  Current gets pumped through due to the resistance connected to that voltage.  Power = current times voltage, so if an amplifier generates a set voltage the lower the resistance (ohms) the higher the current flow, and thus the higher the effective power that you hear.  So in general, lower Ohms-rated loudspeakers will be louder at a set amplifier voltage than ones with higher impedence (ohms.) 

The only difference any of it makes is if the total impedence (load) is TOO LOW, then the amplifier will have too much CURRENT drawn out of it.  This will overload the transisters inside, and smoke and silence is the result.  But the amplifier did not care, it did its job of producing voltage just fine, right up to the point where it smoked.

The reson for different ohm ratings on speakers is for INSTALLATION and SYSTEM DESIGN flexibility.  There is NO inherant advantage or disadvantage to a voice coil rated at 2-ohms, 3-ohms, 4-ohms, 8-ohms or 16-ohms.  It ONLY matters to the system designer who is trying to create a certain audio space.

Most brain-dead (or soon to be) car audio subwoofer SPL guys want nothing but LOUD.  Fine, they should go for low ohm numbers and use amps that can handle the load.  Low impedence systems tend to be louder and also noisier and have far lower SQ than higher impedence systems.  If you want high SQ, use your speakers at 6-ohms (series) and get an amplifier that can deliver the kind of power they need into a 6-ohm load.  If all you want is loud, wire them at 1.5 ohms and get an amp that can handle that load.

It's simple if you understand basic electricity.

WOW! All of a sudden I think I gained 10 if not 20 points on my IQ....LOL! Thanks for the lesson DYohn!

Razorbacx

Ok I have an MA  audio amp HK-797.  800x1 @ 4 ohm.  Is it possible to wire the subs to this amp and how would I do it.  Remember these are 3 ohm speakers.  Thanks in advance.

Man I hate banging my head against a wall.  Did you read my earlier post, or did it just not make any sense to you?

Series.  3 + 3 = 6

I guess the universal gain of 20 points in IQ still leaves something to be desired?  Series wire it like this, and ignore the ohm ratings on this chart. Substitute 3 ohm driver for 4 ohm, thus 6 ohm for 8 ohm final load.

Wiring Option #2