Wiring for 2 12" Punch subs
Hi all....I'm new here but I'm no stranger to car audio by any means. My best system I ever had was back in 94 in a 94 Hyundai Excel hatchback with 3 10" Kicker subs and a MTX amp pushing 75X2. Sounds kind of low powered but 1 of the subs was a 8ohm speaker and the other 2 4ohm so they wired it a certain way to make a 4ohm load or close enough to it and they really hit hard!! Anyways, times have changed over the years with cars and subs and I just bought a new car (used but new to me), a 2003 Honda Civic Coupe. I use to have 1 10" kicker Comp in a sealed box with a oldschool PPI amp pushing 190 watts into a 4ohm load bridged. It took me a while but I got my car setup audio wise with a Kenwood MP4028 headunit, 6 disc Kenwood CD Changer, the stock tweeters in the front doors, 2 Kenwood 6 1/2's in the doors, 2 6X9 Kickers in the rear, and the 1 10" speaker powered by the PPI amp. Well, the 10" sounded ok for a while as I was just happy to get more sound in my car because the Kenwood MP4028 headunit I have is really a awesome stereo but it sucks by itself without a system or a sub...It's mainly made for a system. Anyways, I recently upgraded to 2 12" Punch Subs in a ported box from Crutchfield: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LzATAjru8XW/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?I=575pl1212&cc=01&wm=cl The speakers are 8ohms but wired in parallel they produce a 4ohm load so my amp is puching 190 watts into the 12's. Always been a Kicker fan since the old days but this was a great deal for $159.99 and yhey sound unbelievable!!
Now the wiring...In my old car I had the 10" going from the + of the amp to the - terminal and the - of the amp to the +. This created a great deal more of bass and I loved the way it sounded. One of the audio guys at a audio place by me said that I could get away with it in a small car like that and it doesn't hurt anything, it just produces a different kind of sound. I loved it like this and jammed to my music for 4 more years until I just recently got rid of the car cause it was too old and undependable. I tried the regular way with the 12" subs...+ to + and - to - and it hits pretty hard but I'm still missing that little extra bit of bass boost in the sound. My PPI amp doesn't have a bass boost in it but it does have a 100mhz crossover chip that came with it and it's always been in there. I have been trying to tweak my amp and get the gain set for the 12's now and I think I have the gain where I like it. I have gone back and forthe between the 2 setups of + to + and - to - to + to - and - to +. I just put it back to + to - and - to + this morning and the thing sounded so sweet. It's what I have been listening to but a lot louder of course and this is what I want.
I guess my question is...Is this a bad setup? I mean...It sounds weird wiring wise but as long as it sounds good to me and I enjoy it, is it really wrong? Will it hurt my speakers? I don't think it will cause a menu option on my headunit is for Phase control...I have that on reversed...The speakers are wired in parallel, but I just have the + wire from the speakers going to the - wire of the amp and the - wires going to the + of the amp in bridged mode. The box is ported and I have heard that with speakers wired this way, they are firing back into the box instead of out "Out of phase". Which to me, would make it sound better cause it's pushing more air out of the box and through the ports causing more bass. Does that sound right? I'm planning on leaving the setup like this for a couple days and listen to different cd's to see how it sounds and I might just leave like this from now on.
Sorry for the long post...but I wanted to make sure I explained evrything to get some good opinions
Thanks
Hi all....I'm new here but I'm no stranger to car audio by any means. My best system I ever had was back in 94 in a 94 Hyundai Excel hatchback with 3 10" Kicker subs and a MTX amp pushing 75X2. Sounds kind of low powered but 1 of the subs was a 8ohm speaker and the other 2 4ohm so they wired it a certain way to make a 4ohm load or close enough to it and they really hit hard!! Anyways, times have changed over the years with cars and subs and I just bought a new car (used but new to me), a 2003 Honda Civic Coupe. I use to have 1 10" kicker Comp in a sealed box with a oldschool PPI amp pushing 190 watts into a 4ohm load bridged. It took me a while but I got my car setup audio wise with a Kenwood MP4028 headunit, 6 disc Kenwood CD Changer, the stock tweeters in the front doors, 2 Kenwood 6 1/2's in the doors, 2 6X9 Kickers in the rear, and the 1 10" speaker powered by the PPI amp. Well, the 10" sounded ok for a while as I was just happy to get more sound in my car because the Kenwood MP4028 headunit I have is really a awesome stereo but it sucks by itself without a system or a sub...It's mainly made for a system. Anyways, I recently upgraded to 2 12" Punch Subs in a ported box from Crutchfield: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LzATAjru8XW/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?I=575pl1212&cc=01&wm=cl The speakers are 8ohms but wired in parallel they produce a 4ohm load so my amp is puching 190 watts into the 12's. Always been a Kicker fan since the old days but this was a great deal for $159.99 and yhey sound unbelievable!!
Now the wiring...In my old car I had the 10" going from the + of the amp to the - terminal and the - of the amp to the +. This created a great deal more of bass and I loved the way it sounded. One of the audio guys at a audio place by me said that I could get away with it in a small car like that and it doesn't hurt anything, it just produces a different kind of sound. I loved it like this and jammed to my music for 4 more years until I just recently got rid of the car cause it was too old and undependable. I tried the regular way with the 12" subs...+ to + and - to - and it hits pretty hard but I'm still missing that little extra bit of bass boost in the sound. My PPI amp doesn't have a bass boost in it but it does have a 100mhz crossover chip that came with it and it's always been in there. I have been trying to tweak my amp and get the gain set for the 12's now and I think I have the gain where I like it. I have gone back and forthe between the 2 setups of + to + and - to - to + to - and - to +. I just put it back to + to - and - to + this morning and the thing sounded so sweet. It's what I have been listening to but a lot louder of course and this is what I want.
I guess my question is...Is this a bad setup? I mean...It sounds weird wiring wise but as long as it sounds good to me and I enjoy it, is it really wrong? Will it hurt my speakers? I don't think it will cause a menu option on my headunit is for Phase control...I have that on reversed...The speakers are wired in parallel, but I just have the + wire from the speakers going to the - wire of the amp and the - wires going to the + of the amp in bridged mode. The box is ported and I have heard that with speakers wired this way, they are firing back into the box instead of out "Out of phase". Which to me, would make it sound better cause it's pushing more air out of the box and through the ports causing more bass. Does that sound right? I'm planning on leaving the setup like this for a couple days and listen to different cd's to see how it sounds and I might just leave like this from now on.
Sorry for the long post...but I wanted to make sure I explained evrything to get some good opinions
Thanks 
What you are fundamentally doing is reversing the polarity of your subs. It doesn't hurt it either way.
You mentioned you have the head unit's phase control on reversed, and also have the subs wired in reverse. That would make a positive polarity. Not the same as phase, which implies time delay.
At the end of the day, put your polarity in the position it sounds best. This is affected by car, placement of the sub, etc.
You mentioned you have the head unit's phase control on reversed, and also have the subs wired in reverse. That would make a positive polarity. Not the same as phase, which implies time delay.
At the end of the day, put your polarity in the position it sounds best. This is affected by car, placement of the sub, etc.
Thanks for the reply That sounds good to me I think it just sort of baffles me how the sound is coming through that way 
. You know...Bridged coming out of the amp but the + wire goes to the - and the - to the + of the speakers. I get the head unit phase menu and the speakers in parallel but usually when you have something like that, it's like you would think it would cancel itself out and you'd get no sound...but it just gives it a different sound is all. A lot of wiring options out there today....
Sorry for some of the misspellings and typos...I was at work and typing fast so I wouldn't get caught and I screwed up some stuff in my wording
That sounds good to me I think it just sort of baffles me how the sound is coming through that way . You know...Bridged coming out of the amp but the + wire goes to the - and the - to the + of the speakers. I get the head unit phase menu and the speakers in parallel but usually when you have something like that, it's like you would think it would cancel itself out and you'd get no sound...but it just gives it a different sound is all. A lot of wiring options out there today....Sorry for some of the misspellings and typos...I was at work and typing fast so I wouldn't get caught
and I screwed up some stuff in my wording - Status
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