Subs question
Subs question Tomorrow I am going to be installing two 8" Rockford Fosgate subs in the sail panels of my Z28. I was bored tonight and was reading the papers that came with the subs and something crossed my mind when I saw a wiring diagram.... as of right now, I will be powering the subs with my 4 channel amp, which isn't going to be supplying the subs with anywhere close to their full potential in power so I got to thinking- would it be retarded to wire my subs in parallel so that they are a 2 ohm load?? (they are 4 ohm single voice coil). I know that the fader/balance feature would be off on them, but they would sound better right?? Also, I have an alpine h/u with 3 RCA outputs, one of which is designated specifically for a subwoofer. What if I plugged my RCA cables into that RCA output instead of the rear channel- would that solve the fader/balance? (i assume if I hooked it up through the subwoofer output on the h/u then nothing would change with the subs if I did adjust fader/balance) Help me out guys. Give me any feedback because I wanna get this done soon tomorrow (Sunday)
Sweet, i love to see people do different ****. just keep in mind, unless those subs are meant for free air, they're not really in an enclosure. unless you're dynomatting the whole area to create your own little enclosure. so it's not gonig to sound like "10's in a stealth box" bla bla. but if you put enough power to them, not maxing them out. i think you'll be happy with the sound you get. i wouldn't recommend pushing them to their peak. i would just keep them around their RMS.
I know they won't sound as good as they could, but thats okay because I tested one real quick and they already sound better than the stockers running off the monsoon. I will eventually dynamat the area, just not right now because I need to get my car put back together and I wanted to replace my blown sail panel speaker. Oh, and I never even notice the "peak watts" on a speaker, I stick with the RMS.
So does anyone think I should wire them in parallel???
So does anyone think I should wire them in parallel???
We need to know more about the amp that your going to be using. Is it bridgeable? Stable down to 2 ohms?
More than likely being a 4 channel amp it will be 2 ohm stable and will put out its max power at 2 ohms. Wiring your subs in parallel would give you a 2 ohm load but to keep that 2 ohm load you would only be able to use one channel of your amp. If you "bridge" 2 of the channels with the subs wired in parallel then each channel will be seeing 1 ohm. This is not good.
To get full power from your amp you need to bridge the front 2 channels to one sub then bridge the rear 2 channels to the other sub. That way you have each 4 ohm load being shared by 2 channels for 2 ohms per channel.
You mentioned your HU has sub RCA outputs. Run those to the amp and use a splitter at the amp so all 4 channels run off of the sub RCA. Sub preouts are not effected by the fader. Most HU's with sub outputs have a section just for the sub's that allow you to adjust them.
More than likely being a 4 channel amp it will be 2 ohm stable and will put out its max power at 2 ohms. Wiring your subs in parallel would give you a 2 ohm load but to keep that 2 ohm load you would only be able to use one channel of your amp. If you "bridge" 2 of the channels with the subs wired in parallel then each channel will be seeing 1 ohm. This is not good.
To get full power from your amp you need to bridge the front 2 channels to one sub then bridge the rear 2 channels to the other sub. That way you have each 4 ohm load being shared by 2 channels for 2 ohms per channel.
You mentioned your HU has sub RCA outputs. Run those to the amp and use a splitter at the amp so all 4 channels run off of the sub RCA. Sub preouts are not effected by the fader. Most HU's with sub outputs have a section just for the sub's that allow you to adjust them.
I just said "f" it and wired the subs on the rear channel, not bridged. They definately sound way better than stock and hit pretty good. I'll bet they sound really good when I shoot them another 100 watts a piece. I love my new system, it sounds good and is really stealth with the subs in the sails and the amp back on the shelf where the 12 disk changer usually is. I'll try to get some pics up sometime soon.
