Home > References > Speakers parallel vs series wiring subs

Speakers parallel vs series wiring subs

The ohm is a measurement of the electric resistance between two points. In a speaker, the ohm is a bad thing. The lower the ohms the less energy it takes to drive the speaker. The less energy, the more you get out of your amps.

===

We are searching data for your request:

Schemes, reference books, datasheets:
Price lists, prices:
Discussions, articles, manuals:
Wait the end of the search in all databases.
Upon completion, a link will appear to access the found materials.
Content:
WATCH RELATED VIDEO: Wiring Your DVC 4 Ohm Subwoofer - 2 Ohm Parallel vs 8 Ohm Series Wiring

Woofer Wiring Wizard


The ohm is a measurement of the electric resistance between two points. In a speaker, the ohm is a bad thing. The lower the ohms the less energy it takes to drive the speaker. The less energy, the more you get out of your amps. An 8 ohm speaker requires more amperage to run than a 4 ohm speaker.

You need to know the ohms of all of your speakers if you want to calculate the load your amp is taking and to compensate for it. In a car audio you should always run your equipment at the lowest possible Ohm load that an amplifier, head unit or speaker can safely handle. All amplifiers will feature a rating which will usually look something like this. Now this is really important when purchasing equipment. The same applies the other way around.

You would not want to run this amplifier lower than a 2 Ohm load otherwise you can potentially burn it up since it would be running at twice the recommended power rating and capabilities. Most amplifiers have a thermal protection circuit however, it is still possible to damage the amplifier. Now if you look at my diagram above you can really see how it works.

The larger pipe above would represent a 2 Ohm load whereas the smaller pipe would be 4 Ohm. Every time an Ohm load is divided by 2 the current will double in amperage. Every time an Ohm load is multiplied by 2 the current will be cut by half. Next we will look at subwoofers and how to wire them properly to the amplifier. Using the same amplifier ratings from above we now know that we want to wire the amp at a 2 Ohm load.

So how do we do that? This is where things tend to get a little trickier however it is not as hard as it may seem. There are two terms that you will need to know when wiring subs or speakers, Parallel and Series. Lets look at each example before we figure out exactly how to wire our amplifier example from above. So an example of a series circuit can be viewed below. When wiring in series you are increasing the Ohm load by hopping from one voice coil to the next.

So as you can see pictured the positive hops to negative on the opposite voice coil. To add this up you take the 4 Ohm load of each coil and add them together. Moving on, an example of a parallel circuit can be seen below:. When wiring in parallel you are decreasing the Ohm load and wiring the voice coils together. So you would run a lead from the positive voice coil on each sub to the opposite voice coil.

In essence all the positives are connected on a single wire conductor and the same for the negatives. So if wiring two Single 4 Ohm subs you would take 4 Ohm and divide it by the number of voice coils. So 4 Ohm divided by two voice coils will equal a 2 Ohm load.

Okay now as you saw above the single 4 Ohm subs wired in a parallel resulted in a 2 Ohm load, just what we needed for the amplifier example from above. You will normally have to use a combination of series and parallel to achieve the correct Ohm load. That amplifier will need to run at a 2 Ohm load to achieve maximum power.

So if you decide you wanted to run two subwoofers on that amplifier you would need to run either two single 4 Ohm subwoofers or two dual 2 Ohm subwoofers.

The two single 4 Ohm subs are easy to wire and you can see that in the diagram above. However, the dual 2 Ohm subs will use a combination: first we wire each subwoofer in a series and then wire them together in parallel at the amplifier.

How do we do that? Lets go over this in a diagram. Think of it as a two step process this will make it easier to figure out. So first you would take the subs and wire them in series like below. Ok so that is first step. So now you have two Dual 2 Ohm subs wired in series. This increases the Ohm load to 4 Ohm at each sub. Now we need to wire them in parallel at the amplifier. Check out the diagram below. As you can see we now used a combination of first wiring each sub in series, and then we wired the subwoofers in parallel at the amplifier.

This would be a typical installation and can be found in many installs. These are just a few examples but once you have the basics down you can figure out much more complex systems using the same methods.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Skip to content. Moving on, an example of a parallel circuit can be seen below: When wiring in parallel you are decreasing the Ohm load and wiring the voice coils together. Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment.


Wiring Subwoofers & Speakers To Change Ohm’s

Below are the available wiring diagrams for the speaker configuration you selected. The resulting impedance ohm load is considered the "Nominal Impedance" seen by the amplifier. Note : One or all of the wiring options shown in this application may not be compatible with your amplifier because of low impedance loads. Please check your amplifier owner's manual to determine the best wiring option and verify the overall impedance load is compatible with your amplifier before making any connections. Close Menu.

channels into 4 ohms and can drive a min. impedance of 4 ohms. The subs are rated at. 4 ohms each. ○ Wire each pair of speakers in series, bringing the.

Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams


One thing I learned pretty early in life is that speakers are not meant to be wired together in a haphazard manner. In fact, whenever you plan to connect more than two speakers to a two-channel amplifier — or more than four speakers to a four-channel amp — there are a few things to consider, not the least of which is the amps ability to handle low-impedance loads. Ignoring the basics is like playing Russian roulette with your amplifier: If youre lucky, itll drive the speakers without incident; if youre not, the amp will fry. The great thing about a multiple-speaker hookup is that once you master only two basic wiring procedures — "series" and "parallel" — the world is yours to conquer. When you know how many speakers youre going to use and the impedance driving capability of your amplifier, youll be able to select a wiring scheme that will deliver the best sonic and electrical results. In some cases, it may not be one procedure or the other but a combination of the two that works best. The essence of series wiring is really quite simple: When speakers are connected in this fashion, load impedance increases — the more speakers, the higher the impedance. The most common reason for wanting to raise impedance is to lower acoustical output, as in the case of rear-fill or center-channel speakers.

Are Speakers Louder In Series or Parallel?

speakers parallel vs series wiring subs

People who are crazy about their car maintenance do not compromise on amplifier and subwoofer specs. It is a puzzle for some people to understand the basic terminologies about the speaker like what is meant by impedance? Why is it so important? And the most important one, What hits harder 1 ohm or 4 ohms?

Unfortunately, getting it right goes beyond the speakers you choose: You also have to wire them correctly.

What Hits Harder 1 Ohm or 4 Ohm? Detailed Guide


Enter the impedance of the speakers that are connected in parallel starting at the top. Data Input: Speaker one's impedance? Impedance of each voice coil? Number of Speakers? Actual Mono load:. Email Home Page.

Is parallel or series better for subs?

Home » Audio Repair » Series vs parallel speaker wiring. The speakers are used to create the extra sound effects, in this case, you have to know how to make them more effective in producing the sound. You have to know how possibly you can maximize the sound effects in your speakers, one of the best ways to maximize your speaker sound is through providing effective wiring. As you think it is not that toughest task to accomplish you grasp the idea on a few of the basic things you can provide the optimal resistive load to your speakers. Even though there are several ways to wire up your speakers it is better to go with the common methodology that is either series or parallel.

To match ohm loads to the amp? Also, do speakers wired in series or parallel still output a discrete signal to each channel? Are they in stereo.

Series Wiring - For speakers in series you add the impedances of the speakers together. To determine the wattage you add the wattage of the speakers together. If you were using 2 8 ohm speakers you'd have a 16 ohm cabinet.

One of the things people have the most trouble with is wiring multiple subs or dual voice coil subs to an amp. Series wiring for speakers means you are connecting the speakers like a chain. The positive terminal from one speaker connects to the negative terminal of the next speaker, then the positive of that speaker connects to the negative of the next speaker. You can do this with an infinite number of speakers. In this arrangement, if one part of the circuit is removed, nothing will work. Series wiring will add the impedance of each speaker together, so for example: if you had three 2 Ohm speakers wired in series, the total impedance would be 6 Ohms.

The speaker ohm rating is an indication of the speaker's AC impedance, which varies with the frequency of the input signal. This variation of the speaker's impedance can be seen on the speaker's spec sheet impedance curve.

Click to see full answer. Thereof, is it better to run subs in series or parallel? While series wiring of multiple subs increases the total effective impedance, parallel wiring of multiple loads lowers the total effective impedance. With subwoofers rated at equal impedances, the system impedance is equal to the impedance of one sub voice coil divided by the number of subs. One may also ask, are 2 or 4 ohm subs better?

Often people are wanting to add speakers to their amplifier to increase power. However, in most cases, adding speakers will reduce the power in any one speaker. This article looks at how multiple speakers share power from the amplifier, whether they are wired in series, parallel or series and parallel. As in most articles, we are going to talk about speakers connected to one amplifier.




Comments: 3
Thanks! Your comment will appear after verification.
Add a comment

  1. Kigazilkree

    Excuse for that I interfere... I understand this question. Is ready to help.

  2. Arlin

    I think, that you are mistaken. Let's discuss it. Write to me in PM, we will talk.

  3. Wyne

    the very entertaining thought