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bassahaulic

Parallel wiring vs Series wiring

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Well as it sits my subs were wired in series at the sub, then parallel at the amps which were strapped together. Putting each amp at .5ohm

Apparently, if I wire the subs to be parallel at the sub then wire each sub to it's own amp with each amp still at .5ohm. It will increase coil efficiency.

When wired in series you get double the amperage but half the voltage. Causing heat to build up and efficiency to be lost.

In parallel it does the opposite, you get half the amperage but double the voltage.

So you still get the same amount of power, it' s just with a higher voltage causing less heat build up and higher efficiency.

Which is where the gain comes from

Which makes sense, when I was at .25ohm on the M4a, I could play music all day. And subs never got to hot. they were in parallel.

Now with the D9's at .5ohm, I get about 2-3 minutes and they hot as hell. Even at the same volume as before, And are in series.

Any one have any experience with this, or any further information? I'll have some results soon from my own testing.

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Formula for voice coil heat is expressed as:

Q = I^2/Z

When Q = Heat, I = current and Z = impedance (source http://www.aes.org/t...121210/7059.pdf)

So, no matter how you wire, the current through the individual coil doesn't change for the same given power. What changes is the amount of current and voltage an amplifier produces for a given output power.

In other words, no matter how you wire up a group of coils, they heat up exactly the same with the same amount of overall power.

Do some basic searches on current and voltage in AC circuits and it will make more sense...

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By the way, the only thing that will effect the overall heat dissipation of the loudspeaker is to change the overall impedance. If you have a 4 ohm driver (single 4 ohm, 2 + 2 ohm, 1+1+1+1 ohm, etc) it will always dissipate the same amount of heat for a given power rating, no matter how you arrange the coils. If you have the same driver but at 8 ohms overall (single 8 ohm, 4 + 4 ohm, 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 ohm, etc) you will have less heat for the same given power due to less overall current flow, no matter how you arrange the coils.

I hope this makes sense to you...

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I watched this and thought what he said made perfect sense.

Edited by bassahaulic

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I didn't click your link to the youtube video, but let's just work out the math.

Let's say you have a 1kw amplifier at .5ohm (no idea what the power output of your amp is, and for this purpose doesn't really matter).

So sqrt(1000*.5) = 22.36V, and 1000w/22.36V = 44.72A. So your amplifier is outputting 22.36V and 44.72A

First, series-parallel wiring where the individual subs are in wired in series then the subs are paralleled together. Since in parallel wiring the voltage is the same and current is split, each sub would receive:

Voltage = 22.36V

Current = 44.72/2 = 22.36A

Power = 22.36 * 22.36 = 500w

Now, since the coils are in series, voltage is divided and current is the same. So each individual coil would receive:

Voltage = 22.36/2 = 11.18V

Current = 22.36A

Power = 11.18V * 22.36A = 250w

Now, let's look at parallel-series where each individual sub is wiring in parallel then the subs are wired in series together. In this case, since the drivers are in series voltage is divided and current stays the same. So each individual sub would receive:

Voltage = 22.36/2 = 11.18V

Current = 44.72A

Power = 11.18V * 44.72A = 500w

Each sub's coils are wired in parallel, so voltage is the same on each coil and current is divided, so the voltage and current for each coil is:

Voltage = 11.18V

Current = 44.72/2 = 22.36A

Power = 11.18V * 22.36A = 250w

As you can see, it doesn't matter whether you wire the subs in series-parallel or parallel-series, in the end each individual coil ends up receiving exactly the same voltage and current. This is basic Ohms Law, for a given load and given power there is one and only one way for the voltage and current to be delivered to the load. Impossible to change without changing the actual resistance of the load itself, which series-parallel and parallel-series does not do. In either case, each coil is going to end up with 11.18V and 22.36A

The difference, however, is that when wiring the subs in series it's possible for the subs to modulate the motion of the other sub, which is not a good thing. I've never seen any actual measurements of this effect, but it's a theoretical possibility that is easily avoided simply by wiring the subs together in parallel instead of series. If there's an easy route to avoid a potential problem like this, why not take the precautionary route?

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And after all of that, I don't think I read the thread correctly sigh.gif

I skimmed and thought you were talking about series-parallel or parallel-series wiring, re-read and realized you had talked about running the subs on two different amps. And now I don't have time to go back and fix my math but you can extrapolate out to your situation. But the moral of the story stays the same. If each driver is receiving 500w, the voltage and current seen by each coil will be the same regardless of whether the coils are wired in series or parallel, and hence heat dissipation by each coil will be the same.

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No, I think you understood it right. Alot of people get confused with this...

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I'm waiting for shizzzon to read this. :P

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Bah, nevermind. I fucked up the math in this post and not fixing it again. Just believe my earlier post smile.png

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As it sits, it will be there will now be NO series wiring at all.

Previously, each sub was Dual 1 coils wired series to 2ohm, then paralleled at the amps, which we're strapped together @1ohm, putting each amp at a final 1ohm.

Now, each sub will be on it's own amp with the Dual 1 coils paralleled into the amplifier at .5ohm.

Ed Lester did such a good job breaking down the math as to why it's less amps over the coils in parallel then it is in series, seemed legit.

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I'm waiting for shizzzon to read this. tongue.png

I've posted this same idea before and Nick helped me out on understanding it.

There is no advantage to wiring in series first or parallel first or strapping vs not strapping, it's all the same power in the end.

If we were to magically get less current by doing some exotic wiring, then ohms law would need to be revised.

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Ed Lester did such a good job breaking down the math as to why it's less amps over the coils in parallel then it is in series, seemed legit.

Unless you change coil impedance, this is false. Given the same overall power...

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As it sits, it will be there will now be NO series wiring at all.

Previously, each sub was Dual 1 coils wired series to 2ohm, then paralleled at the amps, which we're strapped together @1ohm, putting each amp at a final 1ohm.

Now, each sub will be on it's own amp with the Dual 1 coils paralleled into the amplifier at .5ohm.

There is no difference in what each coil will see either way. The parallel wiring will be less complicated overall, and not require strapping the amps, that is it...

Also, each strapped pair only sees 1/2 the overall load, so they see .5 ohm each, so they see the same load as when you have them operating individualy in your example...

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As it sits, it will be there will now be NO series wiring at all.

Previously, each sub was Dual 1 coils wired series to 2ohm, then paralleled at the amps, which we're strapped together @1ohm, putting each amp at a final 1ohm.

Now, each sub will be on it's own amp with the Dual 1 coils paralleled into the amplifier at .5ohm.

Ed Lester did such a good job breaking down the math as to why it's less amps over the coils in parallel then it is in series, seemed legit.

Ed Lester, really?

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Maybe the D9s are just making that much more power than the M4. That's why they are getting so hot.

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From what I understood it had nothing to do with changing what amps/volts the amplifier produced, which I know cannot change, it had to do with how the coils distributed the power between the two.

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From what I understood it had nothing to do with changing what amps/volts the amplifier produced, which I know cannot change, it had to do with how the coils distributed the power between the two.

Have you tried it ?

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From what I understood it had nothing to do with changing what amps/volts the amplifier produced, which I know cannot change, it had to do with how the coils distributed the power between the two.

Have you tried it ?

Soon as my new re-cone arrives I will be testing the theory.

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From what I understood it had nothing to do with changing what amps/volts the amplifier produced, which I know cannot change, it had to do with how the coils distributed the power between the two.

Have you tried it ?

Soon as my new re-cone arrives I will be testing the theory.

Cool it will be interesting to see the difference.

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in all honesty, Ramrod and i tried this on his astro with the 2 zcons. there wasn't any audible differences like that but the subs did stay cooler by wiring parallel at the sub and series to the amp. allowed him to demo all day without any issues

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If you can disprove Ohm's law you'll get a nobel prize. Amusingly, the math is rather easy. No calculus required, just basic algebra. V=I/R

There is really nothing to "try". It's a scientific fact. If it weren't all of E&M in Physics would fall apart.

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If you can disprove Ohm's law you'll get a Nobel prize. Amusingly, the math is rather easy. No calculus required, just basic algebra. V=I/R

There is really nothing to "try". It's a scientific fact. If it weren't all of E&M in Physics would fall apart.

As I have said twice now, the amount amperage and voltage being outputted from the amplifiers will not be changed just how the coils distribute everything is supposedly changed.

We will see if anything happens with this, if so good. If not oh well, maybe at least they will stay cooler while I play.

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If you find out otherwise, your testing is flawed...

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If you can disprove Ohm's law you'll get a Nobel prize. Amusingly, the math is rather easy. No calculus required, just basic algebra. V=I/R

There is really nothing to "try". It's a scientific fact. If it weren't all of E&M in Physics would fall apart.

As I have said twice now, the amount amperage and voltage being outputted from the amplifiers will not be changed just how the coils distribute everything is supposedly changed.

We will see if anything happens with this, if so good. If not oh well, maybe at least they will stay cooler while I play.

The coils are covered VERY well by V=I/R. So the only supposed change is confusion on your part.

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Well, we shall see.

I might probably see an SPL gain simply from having the amps not strapped together so the starting ohm load is lowered over all, which I could easily attest to changing the wiring.

But I know that there are a lot of variables.

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