Wiring 2 Dual Voice Coil Subs To 2 Amps

[BEAN27]

I HAVE 2 AUDIOBAHN AW1200N DUAL 4-OHM VOICE COIL SUBS, THEY ARE 1400 W MAX EACH. I ALSO HAVE 2 PIONEER GM-X862 AMPS WICH ARE 760 W MAX EACH. IS THE BEST WAY TO WIRE THE SUBS--PARALLEL TO ONE AMP? AND CAN I BRIDGE THE AMP? IF I WIRE PARRALLEL IT WOULD WIND UP IN A 2-OHM LOAD. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO...

[Perry Babin]

You asked for the best way to wire them. How do you define 'best'?

If you define best as most reliable, wire one coil per channel (using both amps). The amps won't produce full power but they will run cool and the speakers will likely survive any abuse that you can put to them.

If you define best as highest SPL, you could bridge one coil of each speaker to each amp (using only one coil of each speaker). This will allow each amp to produce full power but they will run hotter. Using only one coil will reduce the power handling of the speakers by as much as half. If the speakers are not accurately rated or if you run the amp into hard clipping, the speakers may not survive.