# subwoofer wiring: series or parallel which is better?



## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

just curious as ive never really known which is better 

any ideas or opinions


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## jay (Sep 12, 2005)

same


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## sqkev (Mar 7, 2005)

It all comes down to the impedance that your amp see and can handle. Your amps work harder when it sees lower impedances. When you throw your sub in a box, the impedance might even drop lower. Generally, I'd keep everything wired at 4ohm. Transients in music is crazy.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

sqkev said:


> Generally, I'd keep everything wired at 4ohm. Transients in music is crazy.


Class D is typically a different animal though. Not only do they "like" low impedance loads, but the output filter circuitry is designed specifically for them -- so high impedance loads aren't really a great idea in that case.


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## sqkev (Mar 7, 2005)

Honestly, I've yet to own a class D. 

Do they have any headroom at all?


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

The good one does. The Celestra 6 kW amp I have feels quite powerful to me... 

I qoute Manville Smith of JL on the topic:

"Series wireing is evil!"

It is most defently not the same. In my book series wireing of a sub system slows down the transient responce and create a less tacktile, fatter bass.


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

as far as multiple subs themselves, parallel is best when possible imo. since the voice coil is an inductor, and an inductor causes a phase shift between the voltage and amperage. subs in series, will get further and further out of whack as they go down the line. but it all comes down to what you have to do to fit your application and if what you do degrades the sound too much.

series or parallel coils on a single sub.... 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. you get higher motor strength with coils in series, you get more efficiency with coils in parallel.

to the amp, give it some thought. if you're a dragger, parallel it down as much as it can go. if you're into sq, don't over do it. most amps are only going to put out so much power. as you parallel your load down and increase your continueus power, your available head room will usually shrink. some amps you can drop the bottom out of the ohm load it see's and it can still have ample head room.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2006)

nope ... subs in series will cause no more phase shift than subs in parallel. It's true that the voicecoil is an inductor, but the corner frequency of the resulting filter ... which determines phase shift at _any_ frequency ... is determined by inductance _and_ resistance. For subs in series, inductance increases but so does resistance, keeping the R/L ratio the same. For subs in parallel, inductance decreases but so does resistance, keeping the R/L ratio the same.


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

so you mean that when the signal enters sub A, breaks down and re-charges it's respective magnetic polar field, and exits with it's original amp and volt signals out of phase, then goes to sub B in an already out of phase state, and charges that inductive field, that you don't get another phase shift that occurs with inductors? i thought that every time you charged, and broke down each seperate magnetic field, that the nature of each coil took it's toll. same with capacitors causing shifts in the opposite lead/lag relationship.

thought that's another reason (of the many) why high end people prefered to stay away from 24db xover slopes.

i always had engineers say not to series if possible. that funky stuff started happening electrically. never went into detail about it. then when i had electrical classes in college, i learned more about inductive and capacitive phase shifts. just kind of figured they were implying that the shifts started compounding some along with some other factors. 

maybe i should break out the old books and refresh myself. from the sounds of what you're saying, the signal will see all the inductors as a "whole" in the circuit and not individually/wholly through the chain?


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2006)

In a series circuit, the _same_ current flows through each element.

Inductors add in series, but so do resistors. The cutoff (or corner) frequency will be R/L (divided by 2pi), and this frequency will determine the phase response as well as the magnitude response.

For subs in series, inductance increases ... but so does the resistance


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## tdgesq (Apr 16, 2006)

Parallel 99% of the time. Why did you buy that sub amp that was stable down into 1 ohm if it was otherwise?


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## toolfan91 (Dec 7, 2005)

Werewolf, I rarely post on ECA, but I have learned so much over the years from you  Thanks for the great posts you always make!


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