What does it mean when a subwoofer has a dual 2 ohm operation or dual 4 ohm.?

Question

I am probably going to buy two of the Rockford Fosgate P312D2 or the Rockford Fosgate P312D4 subs. But i do not know what the difference is between Dual 2 and Dual 4 ohm from single 2ohm or 4ohm. Does it mean that if you wanted to that you could wire a Dual 2 ohm as a 4ohm sub and that you could wire a Dual 4 ohm sub as a 8ohm sub. What is the difference in wiring and any other difference that i would probably need to know?

Answer 1

nice and easy for you to wrap your brain around....

a dual voice coil sub with 2 2ohm coils you can get your ohms (resistance) down to 1 ohm, or up to 4 ohms.

a dual 4 you can get to 2 ohms, or up to 8 ohms.

alot is going to depend on what type of amp you are going to power them with.

find out how many ohms your amp will go down to. it really doesnt matter which sub you go with. it will simply come down to how you are going to wire the subs, but again that is going to depend on how stable your amp is. i am still running an old orion hcca 2-25 amp in my car. it is rated at 25 wattsx2 @ 4 ohms, but the amp is .25 ohm stable. i have two 12" dual 2 ohm subs wired in paralel. i am running it right around .5 ohms the amp is putting out some where in the area of 500 watts even though it is only rated to be a 50 watt amp (it is an old trick we used to play in sound offs) the power classes were much different back in the early-mid 90's then they are today.

bottom line find out what your amp can do then head down to the car stereo shop and tell them what you have for an amp, and ask them which sub to go with

Answer 2

Dual 2 Ohm Subwoofer

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What does it mean when a subwoofer has a dual 2 ohm operation or dual 4 ohm.?
I am probably going to buy two of the Rockford Fosgate P312D2 or the Rockford Fosgate P312D4 subs. But i do not know what the difference is between Dual 2 and Dual 4 ohm from single 2ohm or 4ohm. Does it mean that if you wanted to that you could wire a Dual 2 ohm as a 4ohm sub and that you could...

Answer 4

shakopcool forgot to mention that running an amp at 2 ohm loads will get hotter than if loaded with 4 ohms.

Here is the visual difference:

Imagine each speaker in the next two drawings as each coil (4 ohms) in the same sub. This is wiring in parallel. As long as the ohms are the same value, the value will be cut in half using this wiring method (from 4 to 2 ohm):

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/sparky3489/PARALLEL.jpg

Here is how to wire in series. The value will be added. Dual 4 ohms becomes 8 ohms:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/sparky3489/SERIES.jpg

This is how you would wire two DVC (4 ohm) to get a 4 ohm impedance. This would be for bridging an amp with a 4 ohm load:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/sparky3489/PARALLEL-SERIES.jpg

Here is the same wiring method using four SVC subs. Each sub is 4 ohms, the resulting impedance is 4 ohms::

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/sparky3489/SERIES-PARALLEL.jpg

If you want to calculate:

ohms in series. Z is the total impedance (ohms), and sub# is each sub(or coil).

Z = sub1 + sub2 + sub3 + ... for as many as you have.

ohms in parallel is a little tricky.

Z = 1 / (1/sub1 + 1/sub2 + 1/sub3 + ...) for as many as you have.

You can mix or match these equations to fit the needs of the amp by comparing them with the diagrams above.

Here is some info on boxes(and other tips):

http://spkrbox1.spaces.live.com

Go here for basic car audio research:

http://www.bcae1.com

Answer 5

Dual voice coil subwoofers are becoming a popular choice among car audio enthusiasts who want more flexibility in wiring their sound systems. While typical subwoofers have a single voice coil, dual voice coil (DVC) subwoofers use two separate voice coils, each with its own connections, mounted on one cylinder, connected to a common cone.

The key difference between single and dual voice coil subwoofers is the multiple wiring options DVC subs offer:
Parallel: A dual 4-ohm voice coil subwoofer with its coils wired in parallel presents a 2-ohm load to your amplifier. Since an amplifier produces more wattage at a lower impedance, the parallel connection ensures you'll get the most output from your amp. In the same fashion, if you have a stereo amplifier and two DVC subs, wire both subs for 2-ohm impedance (one per channel) for maximum output.

Series: Series wiring lets you configure multiple woofers to one amplifier at an acceptable impedance. Wire both coils in series for an 8-ohm impedance, and then wire two 8-ohm subs together in parallel for 4-ohm total impedance (perfect for most 2-channel amps bridged to mono operation). Another example: if you have a high-powered 2-channel amplifier, wire four 8-ohm subs per channel (each channel sees a 2-ohm load).

Independent: You can wire each voice coil to a separate channel of your amplifier, if you prefer not to bridge your amp. Independent wiring is a nice option if you're wiring two DVC subs to a 4-channel amplifier — one voice coil per channel.

Answer 6

you can wire the 2ohm as a 4ohm or a 1ohm sub.you can wire the the 4ohm can be wired as a 2ohm (best)or wire it at 8ohm (best if you have more than one.)