I just installed a Phoenix Gold 300.2 amp some MB Quarts 10" speakers. I was told by the store I bought the box at to wire them in Series/Parallel but was told by the store that sold me the amp and speakers to wire them Parallel? From what I understand Parallel is "louder" while Series/Parallel is more conservative? Can someone explain the difference? Which is better?

what are the ohm rating on the speakers, also if you know what is the power for the different ratings on the amp? ex 300x2 @2ohms etc. the manual should tell you. need to know that before we can help

Here is a link to the specs on my subs (DWE 254's):
http://www.mbquart.com/2003/en_US/products/prod_detail.asp?isArchive=&cat=auto&series=discus%20series&strt=1&model=DWE+254


Here is a link to my amp specs (it is the 300.2):

http://www.phoenixgold.com/2004/tantrumamps.html


Thanks for your help.

I think you're going to have to run series/parallel which will give you a 4ohm mono load. If you run parallel, you'll be running a 1ohm mono load and it doesn't appear that your amp can't handle this (it will pull more amps and run hot). Still you'll be hitting each sub with 150w each which is about perfect for those subs. I believe the safe rule of thumb is to hit each sub with 60% of it's rated rms power (.60 x 250w = 150w).

The wiring (parallel, series, series/parallel) really just helps you adjust your ohm load to your amp's capability. One method does not necessarily provide better results than the other. It all depends on the ratings of your amp and subs.

Well, it sounds pretty good wired as it is right now, (series/parallel) and I have the amp turned pretty much all the way down right now. Unless it changes the "sound" (ie, makes the bass deeper) of the speakers, I wouldn't even think about doing it, because it has plenty of power right now.

Each speaker has a certain amount of resistance, measured in Ohms, and each amp has a minimum resistance it needs to "see" from the speakers in order to function properly. When speakers are wired in series the resistance add together because the elec. had to flow through each speaker, i.e.(2) 4 ohm speakers in series would add up to 8 ohms that the amp would see. Those same two speakers wired in parrallel would equal two ohms because when in parrallel the elec has two paths to go through and half goes through each speaker...= 4/2 = 2 ohms. And so on and so on. The idea is to get a speaker combination that takes full advantage of the lowest Ohm rating the amp can run at. My amps are stable to one ohm and produce the max output at that level. As the ohms increase the amount of electricity that can flow is reduced thus reducing the wattage an amp puts out.....It can get kind of complicated because some resistance is needed to move the speakers and different types of enclosures like more or less resistance to get the most out of the speakers.....blah blah blah Anyway if yours sound good and the amp is staying cool you should be ok.

Some speakers also have dual voice coils. For example, I had some that had dual 4 ohm voice coils. Wiring the voice coils in series increased my impedance per speaker to 8 ohms so that I could wire the speakers in parallel and drop back down to 4. Actually, it was more like 2 because I had 4 subs, but my amp was stable that low.

So aren't my speakers dual 4ohm voice coil speakers? (I am totally audio illiterate)

Look at the paperwork that came with them to determine the impedance. If you have dual voice coils, you'll have two sets of terminals on the speaker. In other words, 2 (+) terminals, and 2 (-) terminals.

I thought you might be able to tell what they were by looking at the link to the speaker's spec's that I posted above.


I can definitely tell you I have two sets of terminals on each speaker, (aka a positive and negative terminal on one side, and another positive and negative terminal on the other side). From what I remember it says something like "2x4" and "Dual Voice Coil" on the back of the speaker.

Thanks.

Sorry, I didn't look at the link before, but I just did! :D

Yep, its dual voice coil. So, you wired the + on one side to the - on the other for each speaker? If so, then you wired the voice coils in series (doubled the impedance). Then all you have to do is channel wiring off your amp.

Looks like, from what you posted, you got it right.

Yeah, on one side of each speaker I have the wires coming from the amp (after passing through the box) going to the positive and negative terminals. Then on the other side of the speaker I have one wire making a "loop" from the positive back to the negative on that same side.

The stereo shop where I originally got the speakers, amp, and the original sub box in my old truck had the speakers wired using the parallel method, with wires connecting the positives on one side of the speaker to the positive on the other side of the speaker and the negative on one side of the speaker connected to the negative on the other side of the speaker. So does it look like they had it wrong?

there isnt a "better" way too wire your subs. series, parallel, it wont make a difference on how the subs sound. the difference is if you amp can handle the load(the final ohms). for the most part, wiring in parallel will be "louder", but thats only because most amps put out more power at a lower ohm, if the amp can handle the lower ohm.

anyways, it sounds like you wired it properly.

you can take a fluke and meter the wires before they go into the amp to see what ohm you are at as well.

WD21 is correct. Sounds like your previous shop just wired it in parallel. Nothing wrong with it either way as long as your amp can handle it. In your amps specs, it should state somewhere that it is stable down to a ? ohm load. You can load it down to that impedance safely, but going below it, you'll probably blow it.
Hey, I made a rhyme! :rolleyes: