Components run in parallel

[flashlight_65]

I was at my local Car Toys to check out alarm install prices and started talking to one of the guys there and he seemed to know what he was talking about (not to say I'm an expert by any means) but I started talking to him about my plans for my front stage and he said "why don't you run the components in parallel to drop it to a 2 ohm load and it will save you the rear channels for something else in the future" my mind was blown. I asked if that was possible to connect the passive cross overs in parallel without them getting all fuckered up he said yes but a little voice in my head said "nah, muh fucka don't do it. It's a trap"

Is this possible? I feel so boot (noob) asking this but this is the place to ask.

[flashlight_65]

I did some google searching and couldn't find any info. Is this really possible or would the magic smoke fairy come by and ultimate punch me in the coin purse

[mrd6]

I was at my local Car Toys to check out alarm install prices and started talking to one of the guys there and he seemed to know what he was talking about (not to say I'm an expert by any means) but I started talking to him about my plans for my front stage and he said "why don't you run the components in parallel to drop it to a 2 ohm load and it will save you the rear channels for something else in the future" my mind was blown. I asked if that was possible to connect the passive cross overs in parallel without them getting all fuckered up he said yes but a little voice in my head said "nah, muh fucka don't do it. It's a trap"

Is this possible? I feel so boot (noob) asking this but this is the place to ask.

If you mean you're thinking about running the left set in parallel with the right then that's definitely possible but you would lose stereo left to right.

But i think you are talking about wiring the tweeter parallel to your midrange...and in that case i'm pretty sure you had it right above. As far as i know, there's no way to wire them to that load while they are still using the passive crossover and all that. Its an interesting idea though i'm not sure why no one else has chimed in

[fr34kout]

Like the above poster said, you could wire them in parallel but you will lose your left / right. I've heard wiring crossovers in parallel will mess with the crossover settings (double or half the settings) but I've never tried it out myself.

What he might of meant (or thought he meant) was bridging the 4 channel to your front stage. Basically if you run (varies by amp) channels 1 & 2 to the left component set and channels 3 & 4 to the right component set, the amp will see 4 ohms across each pair of channels effectively dropping the ohm load to 2 ohms per channel.

For example, my Sundown SAX-100.4 I was running bridged to the front speakers. Rating is 100x4 @ 4 ohms, 160x4 @ 2 ohms. I ran channels 1 & 2 to my left component set and channels 3 & 4 to my right component set. RMS was 320 watts per door (1 mid range, 1 tweeter) since the 4 ohm load was split between the 2 channels.

The way I wired the RCA's was to have channels 1 & 2 have the LF and LR signals, and 3 * 4 had the RF and RR signals. What I wanted to do was buy a y splitter ad run only the LF to channels 1 & 2 for the speaker and RF to channels 3 & 4 for the certain songs that play differently between the front and rear speakers. That way the front speakers wouldn't be playing what only the rears were supposed to play.

[flashlight_65]

Sorry, I was pretty vague. I mean a set of components 4 speakers for the left and 4 for the right. Running the 2 left crossovers in parallel to the left front channel and wire the 2 right crossovers in parallel to the right front channel. Hope I explained it in a little more detail

Edited March 1, 2011 by flashlight_65

[fr34kout]

Ok if that's what you meant, then like I said I've heard changing the ohm load on crossovers (ie running a 2 ohm speaker for a crossover meant for a 4 ohm speaker) will mess with the crossover points. But if you wire the 2 sets to each channel, they are independent of each other in my eyes. I wouldn't wire the crossovers to each other, instead I would run 2 positive wires and 2 negative wires from each channel, and just send 1 to each crossover. That way, they only meet each other at the amp terminals.

[flashlight_65]

Isn't it pretty much the same thing minus the extra wireusing a + jumper and - jumper to the crossovers?

[fr34kout]

Yea, but what size wire are you planning on running? You're going to run 12 ga if you want to run 2 crossovers to 1 channel. Someone may chime in with why you shouldn't even do this to begin with, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

[MrSkippyJ]

Changing the ohm load before the crossovers only affects (or effects) the amp. Changing the ohm after the crossovers will mess up the crossover points.

[flashlight_65]

Changing the ohm load before the crossovers only affects (or effects) the amp. Changing the ohm after the crossovers will mess up the crossover points.

Roger solid copy. I'm using 12g wire for all my components. So then running the jumper at the outs of the crossovers and one wire per front channel is ok sending a 2ohm load to the amp? Or sending a wire from each crossover to one channel still creating a 2ohm load. It just seems like the same thing except one uses less wire and I wouldnt have to try and stuff 2- 12g wires in each front channel.