Stereo's 101 for DUMMIES

[chpthril]

Sweet!

That is how I have them wired currently, however my speakers do not have two positive and negative terminal connections on them (only one set of pos and neg). I suspect that Polk wired the voice coils together and only has one set of terminals for each speaker. Or did I get the wrong subs and these are only single coil?????

Thanks for all of your help!!! Your explinations really do rock!

That sounds like single voice coil subs. I wouldnt call them "the wrong subs" just, If they are 4ohm svc subs, wire the parallel (+ to +, - to -) and that will give you a 2 ohm load on the amp, which is perfect!

[rpaxton]

Okay,

I checked Polk's website which is now working correctly, but was not when I made this purchase. apparently I do have the single voice coils instead of the dual that I wanted. How much of a difference do the DVC make??

R

[chpthril]

Okay,

I checked Polk's website which is now working correctly, but was not when I made this purchase. apparently I do have the single voice coils instead of the dual that I wanted. How much of a difference do the DVC make??

R

I will let Phil describe the pro's/con's of DVC and SVC subs, but in your case, it will make no difference on the output of the amp, so each sup will be getting 300 watts rms each. Your 2 4ohm subs will be wired in parallel so the amp "sees" a 2ohm load. Now, I may need to double check, but the SVC subs may have a lower RMS requirement. If so, this would move you from the slightly under powered side to the slightly over powered side, which is a good thing.

[philwsailz]

There is no real pro or con, it has to do with flexibility. For either Single or dual voice coils, you still have to purchase the speaker with the total number of speakers in mind, the amp in mind, and then make the determination which impedance you need to go with.

In your situation, the 4-ohm speaker is the proper choice, so someone did it right. Think of a single voice-coil, 4-ohm speaker as a dual 2-ohm speaker, wired in series... The woofers were chosen with the knowledge that that amp was 2-ohms stable so it is a good configuration; leave it the way it is; you will not damage anything. You are putting 300 watts RMS into a 350 watt speaker. You could do a little more, but what you have is not bad.

There is no way to wire the subs differently to get more power out of the amp.

I say, if it rattles the boat you are good to go!

Phil

[rpaxton]

There is no real pro or con, it has to do with flexibility. For either Single or dual voice coils, you still have to purchase the speaker with the total number of speakers in mind, the amp in mind, and then make the determination which impedance you need to go with.

In your situation, the 4-ohm speaker is the proper choice, so someone did it right. Think of a single voice-coil, 4-ohm speaker as a dual 2-ohm speaker, wired in series... The woofers were chosen with the knowledge that that amp was 2-ohms stable so it is a good configuration; leave it the way it is; you will not damage anything. You are putting 300 watts RMS into a 350 watt speaker. You could do a little more, but what you have is not bad.

There is no way to wire the subs differently to get more power out of the amp.

I say, if it rattles the boat you are good to go!

Phil

Then I will leave it as it is! I was the one making the purchases, I guess I just got lucky; especially with my limited knowledge of ohms. Thanks for all of the advice guys! Now I just need to mount this MC10 remote somewhere by the driver's seat (hopefully this one will not burn its self out).........

[rpaxton]

Hey Chp,

One more question about stereo amps. The two subs are connected to an Alpine pdx-1.600m mono amp. The other day I noticed that when I really cranked up the base the amp played for a few minutes then shut down (due to being overheated is my guess). Do I have an amp problem or am I trying to push too much with too little amp?

Also, don't forget you were going to get me some info on LED courtsey lights.

Thanks

Rodg

[chpthril]

Hey Chp,

One more question about stereo amps. The two subs are connected to an Alpine pdx-1.600m mono amp. The other day I noticed that when I really cranked up the base the amp played for a few minutes then shut down (due to being overheated is my guess). Do I have an amp problem or am I trying to push too much with too little amp?

Also, don't forget you were going to get me some info on LED courtsey lights.

Thanks

Rodg

When you say "when I really cranked up the base", are you using the bass on the head unit? If so, then that could be the cause. The best thing to do is set the amp up correctly i.e gain and x-over frequency (in Hz's), with the head units EQ zero'd out, flat. Then use the H/U's treble and bass controls mildly to fine tune the sound to your liking. Does the amp have a remote bass control knob?

I email that to ya on Fri, did ya not get it? I check to make sure it went and didnt bounce back. I'll copy/paste it to a PM.

[rpaxton]

He he he he!

Sorry Chp I did get your email, just wasn't looking for your real name... OOOppppss!

I will take a look at those tonight and let you know. Right now I am about to go load the boat and run out to the lake for a few sets!

On the amp, that is what I did. Zeroed out all of the bass and set my cross overs and gain. The Alpine stereo unit has a bass/treble, loudness, and a "sub volume" control. I think that I can purchase a seperate sub control for this unit, not sure though, but obviously I dont have that installed right now. When I turn up the bass and sub volume controls is when it plays for a few minutes then shuts down (glow turns from a pretty blue to an ugly red!)

I may have to call Alpine tech support to figure this one out.......

On another note, do you know of anyone who has built their own boat tower??

[chpthril]

Ok, Bass and treble on the H/U, turn both to "0". "Loudness" off, and "sub volume" all the way up. Now, if you are having to add more then a click or 2 of bass at the head unit to get the thump you want, then you maybe need to go back to the amp and check the x-over setting, what's it set on. Try about 50hz's. The other thing is that those may not be a "free-air" (infinite baffle) sub. The lack of an enclosure will have an effect on the output

Not too familiar with the Alpine stuff.....guess I need to, now that i'm officially a dealer for them now.