Is my sub a DVC at 8 Ohms?

[talltigeguy]

So I was farting around with the DVM I bought at Wal-mart. Yes, it is a cheapo.

I was checking the resistance on each of my speaker setups to see how it looked and just to see how the DVM works. My Sub came in right at 4.0 Ohms on the button when I measure the resistance at the amplifier. I found that strange since the sub is a DVC and is wired in parallel. I always thought that as a general rule, running in Parallel will decrease the resistance by 1/2. I was expecting it to be 2 Ohms, thinking the sub had 4 Ohm voice coils.

I bought the sub 3-4 years ago from Mikeski on Wakeworld who organized a group buy. The sub did not come in the original box or even have any stickers on it. Mikeski said they were old, but unused and would not come with original packaging...but who knows, it might be stolen.

But for $100, it has performed marvelously. It is supposed to be a JL 12w3.

So this is the question...does my sub have 8 Ohm voice coils?

[chpthril]

Sounds like a 2ohm DVC wired in series.

[Timmy!]

It must be 2 8 ohm coils if it's wired in parallel and reading 4 ohms. Parallel = ++, -- and series is a positive from one coil wired to the negative of the other.

[philwsailz]

So I was farting around with the DVM I bought at Wal-mart. Yes, it is a cheapo.

I was checking the resistance on each of my speaker setups to see how it looked and just to see how the DVM works. My Sub came in right at 4.0 Ohms on the button when I measure the resistance at the amplifier. I found that strange since the sub is a DVC and is wired in parallel. I always thought that as a general rule, running in Parallel will decrease the resistance by 1/2. I was expecting it to be 2 Ohms, thinking the sub had 4 Ohm voice coils.

I bought the sub 3-4 years ago from Mikeski on Wakeworld who organized a group buy. The sub did not come in the original box or even have any stickers on it. Mikeski said they were old, but unused and would not come with original packaging...but who knows, it might be stolen.

But for $100, it has performed marvelously. It is supposed to be a JL 12w3.

So this is the question...does my sub have 8 Ohm voice coils?

Can you get to the back of the woofer to the speaker terminals? If so, measure there, and see what you got. Then tell us

[talltigeguy]

Can you get to the back of the woofer to the speaker terminals? If so, measure there, and see what you got. Then tell us

I should have mentioned that. I would like to, but now that it is in a box, I can't do so easily. I would have to unscrew the sub from the wall. I went with the cheap approcach and just drilled a small hole in the box and passed the wire through it, then it splits to each voice coil.

[Timmy!]

Well, measure each pair of wires individually then or did you?

[philwsailz]

Which arrangement below best describes how you wired it?

[chpthril]

I wonder if it's wired like this with 2 speaker leads running from sub to amp. If so, and Tall only ohm's 1 set of leads, then he would have a 4ohm DVC sub. Odd way to do it tho.

[philwsailz]

well, they made a 12w3.8....

[philwsailz]

I like the sig CHP....

[chpthril]

I like the sig CHP....

thanks

[Timmy!]

Do you have 2 sets of wires running out of it or one? If you have 2 and you aren't sure which is positive and negative on a pair, you can use a 9 volt or cordless drill battery and if the woofer goes outward that is correct + and -, if it goes inward it's reverse.

[talltigeguy]

This is how I did it. There is just one wire until it enters the sub box, then I split it into two once it gets inside.

Isn't that the same as what you show in your diagram, CHP?

[chpthril]

This is how I did it. There is just one wire until it enters the sub box, then I split it into two once it gets inside.

Isn't that the same as what you show in your diagram, CHP?

Electrically........yes. I was really reaching there that the installer (didn't know if you wire the whole system or not) may have been kinda out there and ran 2 set of speaker wires, and then had the 2 sub coils paralleled at the amp instead of the sub.

[philwsailz]

well taa dah... I believe we have a winner. The woofer has dual 8-ohm coils.