Let me try to help.. This will be way more info than you need, but I'd like for you (or anyone) to understand what's actually happening.
First off, volts=current*resistance. (current is your "amps" and resistance in "ohms") Power=voltage*current. And you can substitute into the two equations, so Power=voltage^2/resistance ...
So when people say they have "400 watts into a 4 ohm load", it means the amp is placing 40W across the sub's terminals.
Now to your real question, series and parallel. Current (what makes your sub move) finds the path of the least resistance. Keep that in mind and you'll see the difference...
Series:
It's basically a "break" in the circuit. Say that you have a rope that's too short to reach someone in the water, so to make it longer, you cut the rope and grab both ends. You are now "wired" in series with the rope. In the electric world, it'd look like this...
Power source + ________- +you- +________- power source
In a series wiring, resistance is simply added. For instance..
Amp + ____ +2 Ohm JLW3- ____ +2Ohm JLW3 - ____ -Amp is a 4 ohm load.
Parallel:
A little harder concept, but the same rules apply. To use the rope example, if you were to "wire yourself in parallel", you'd be jumping rope. You would be in contact with both ends. Circuit wise, it looks like this...
Power Source + ___________________
+ +
JLW3 JLW3
- -
Power Source - _____________________
Now in parallel wiring, the total resistance gets more tricky. Most people think you simply half the resistance which is not true. The formula is..
1/Total Resistance=1/Resistance 1+1/Resistance 2+1/Resistance3.... +1/Resistance N
Let's say you hooked two 3 ohm subs in parallel...
1/Total=1/3+1/3=2/3, then flip it, 3/2 ohms.
3, 3ohm subs...
1/Total=1/3+1/3+1/3= 1 ohm.
2 Subs with dual 4 ohm voice coils. Voice coils in series, subs in parallel...
Sub Resistance=4+4=8 ohms, then into parallel--> 1/T=1/8+1/8=2/8-->4 ohms.
So let's take the W3s. You said they are "two ohm subs." What we really need to know is what ohm the voice coils are since they're dual voice coil subs. We'll assume they're two ohm voice coils. Depending on your amp, you'd probably want a 2 ohm total impedence.. Run the voice coils in series and the subs in parallel. So...
(Now I'm going to answer your question, lol)
Sub 1
Amp+ to L1+
L1- to R1+
R1- to Amp-
Sub 2
Sub 1 L2+ to L1+
L1- to R1+
Sub 1 R2- to R1-
Clear as mud?
Yeagy said:
okay i tried to draw it out with +'s and -'s and .......to be the wire but the forum messed it all up..so im going to type it out..
(1+ is just a reference same as 2- and so on)
left side of sub has this (L1+)(L2+) (L1-)(L2-)
Right side of sub has this (R1+)(R2+) (R1-)(R2-)
i connected (L 1+) to (R 1+)
Then connected (L 1-) to (R 1-)
This leaves open the whole 2 series of +'s and -'s
now i put the power wire from the amp to (L 2+) and (L 2-) Right?
this is to parrall them...leaving open on the non-amp-power side (R2+) and (R2-)..
thanks
yeagy