Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer Watt Ratings????????

[jstenger]

I understand the whole 2 ohm and 4 ohm rating, but I do not understand the watt rating for DVC subwoofers. If a DVC subwoofer is rated at 600 watts, does that mean that each coil is 300 watts? I am looking at the Kicker CVX10 which comes in both 2 ohm DVC and 4 ohm DVC and is rated at 600 watts. Thanks.

[nitrodude24]

Kinda but actually you match the wattage to you amp and dual voice coils allow you more flexibility with your ohm loads. Im running the cvx10 dual 4 ohm coils wired parallel to a 2 ohm load on a kicker dx1000.1 so im putting 1000 watts to the speaker and it has been handling it great its good and loud. For reference I m running it in a waves and wheels 10" vented marine enclosure

[valleywine]

Make sure you use an amp which can handle the ohm load. Some amps are not rated for 2 ohms or lower and will likely get fried if you wire a 4 ohm DVD parallel making 2 ohms to the amp. I'm using a soundstream sub amp which is stable down to 1 ohm so it can handle the 2 ohm load. Also, the lower ohm load you use, the more power you will get out of the amp. For example my amp is rated as follows: 600W @ 4 ohms; 900W @ 2 ohms; 1200W @ 1 ohm. Conversely, if you wire that same 4 ohm DVD in series it will make 8 ohms to the amp which means it will be safe but you won't get the power out of your amp. It would typically make half the power rating of a 4 ohm amp. A good amp will make all the difference.

[David Analog]

I understand the whole 2 ohm and 4 ohm rating, but I do not understand the watt rating for DVC subwoofers. If a DVC subwoofer is rated at 600 watts, does that mean that each coil is 300 watts? I am looking at the Kicker CVX10 which comes in both 2 ohm DVC and 4 ohm DVC and is rated at 600 watts. Thanks.

Yes, 600 watts total whether you wire the voice coils in series or parallel. Either route is fine in order to get the best match with a particular amplifier. The only thing you should not do is use only one voice coil and leave the other open.
Most contemporary amplifiers will handle 2-ohms if a monoblock, or 4-ohms if a bridged stereo model, or 2-ohms on each channel if running a stereo amplifier with a channel per voice coil.

[philwsailz]

^^^^what David said^^^^


Phil
Kicker

[jstenger]

So which setup is better? The 2 ohm DVC wired in series so the amp sees 4 ohms, or the 4 ohm DVC wired in parallel so the amp sees 2 ohms? The amp is rated 500 watts at 4 ohm and 800 watts at 2 ohm. Same Kicker CVX10 sub.

[nitrodude24]

To get the most power out of your amp the 2 ohm load with pull more than the 4 ohm load. A dual 2ohm vc is a 4 or 1 ohm load. A dual 4 ohm voice coil is either a 2 ohm or 8 ohm. The dvc 2ohm will pull 500 watts from your amp and the dual 4 ohm will pull 800 watts. Both will sound good in the right box. But if you want to talk efficiency and power with your amp the dual 4 has the potential to be louder and will allow you amp to operate at the top of its range.

[David Analog]

The dual 4-ohm voice coil in parallel (net 2-ohm) on a monoblock amplifier is the right choice.

Nothing sounds better than a subwoofer where the power nor driver is over-taxed. The rest is up to building a really quality enclosure, loading it in the right location, and tuning it right.