how to wire speakers when amps are straped

[jroshandtap]

i found my manual for my 2 orion 1200D amps and i am going to stap the two together. in my manual it has a detailed explanation on how exactly to stap these amps. in the diagram it shows the 2 amps and 1 speaker being powered by the 2 amps. my question is, how do i wire in more then 1 speaker? in the explanation is only talks about 1 speaker so im just a little confused. on both amps i have 2 pos. and 2 neg. the negs get wired together from amp to amp, then pos. from speaker goes to pos. on master amp, and neg from speaker goes to pos. of slave amp. well that gives me a pos. on both amps that is not being used, is that so i can wire in more subs. i have 4 subs total so i was going to wire 2 and 2 and use both the pos. on the amps as long as thats what im supose to do, cause i dont see how i would get 4 stands of speaker wire in one terminal lol please let me know if what if what i plan on doing is right or not, and if not, how do i wire them

[fecupe2001]

I don´t know much about those amps, but i´m pretty sure that you are talking about multiple speaker inputs on those amps, they are just for wiring subs easily, for your description, i can see that those amps strap just like my hifonics, if that´s the case and you only have 1 pos and 1 neg coming from the subs, then just wire them like that, 1 jumper wire from 1 neg of the master to 1 neg of the slave, pos from subs to 1 pos of the master, neg from the subs to 1 pos of the slave...

[jroshandtap]

so wire all the voice coils together, then run one main wire from the subs to the amp and wire it accordingly? meaning the positive speaker lead to master and negative leade to the slave... i would think that would make the ohm rating too low? becuse the subs are dual 4 ohm subs, that would make a .5 ohm rating and i just didnt know if the amps would except that or not.

I don´t know much about those amps, but i´m pretty sure that you are talking about multiple speaker inputs on those amps, they are just for wiring subs easily, for your description, i can see that those amps strap just like my hifonics, if that´s the case and you only have 1 pos and 1 neg coming from the subs, then just wire them like that, 1 jumper wire from 1 neg of the master to 1 neg of the slave, pos from subs to 1 pos of the master, neg from the subs to 1 pos of the slave...

[jroshandtap]

if i wire the subs in series ill get a 2 ohm load, is that how i should wire the subs?

[HHR Ed]

Your amps are mono , 1 channel each. The extra terminals you speak of are just for convenience of connection and are the same channel internally.

Before you go and start plugging in more woofers to those terminals, be aware of your impedance. It will connect those woofers in parallel.

When strapped, your amps may be only 2 ohm stable, maybe 1ohm at the least.

So what impedance are your woofers? How many voice coils each? How many woofers?

-Do you have 4) D4ohm woofers?

If so, that would be .5ohms strapped and dangerously low for that setup.

You will be better off doing 2 woofers in parallel per amp and leave the amps separate. It would more reliable and more efficient that way anyway.

[jroshandtap]

ok thats what i thought and have it wired right now, but people have been telling me i need to strap the amps because i guess the amps i have when straped are very productive. but when i have the seperate like i do now, i now im not getting all the power out of them. somewhere along the lines i am losing power or signal. each amp is has a 4 gauge power and ground. the power wires both come from the battery, i did that cause i dont really like dis. blocks. i hate cutting the connection of wires. i like to run solid uninterrupted wires to everything. i think one issue i do have tho is i have not done the big 3 upgrade. i do have a yellow top optima, 750 cca. i do have a new 130 amp, alt i had to get before i installed the system. so i can see where i might be losing power. i cant see where i would be losing signal, i have great monster rca's. head unit to the master amp input then rca from master output to slave input. so i dont know, i mean it hits good, but i have to max out the amps to get them to hit. when i just had 2 of the same 12's with same amp, same head unit, it was almost as loud as it is with 4 12's and 2 amps.

[HHR Ed]

ok thats what i thought and have it wired right now, but people have been telling me i need to strap the amps because i guess the amps i have when straped are very productive. but when i have the seperate like i do now, i now im not getting all the power out of them. somewhere along the lines i am losing power or signal. each amp is has a 4 gauge power and ground. the power wires both come from the battery, i did that cause i dont really like dis. blocks. i hate cutting the connection of wires. i like to run solid uninterrupted wires to everything. i think one issue i do have tho is i have not done the big 3 upgrade. i do have a yellow top optima, 750 cca. i do have a new 130 amp, alt i had to get before i installed the system. so i can see where i might be losing power. i cant see where i would be losing signal, i have great monster rca's. head unit to the master amp input then rca from master output to slave input. so i dont know, i mean it hits good, but i have to max out the amps to get them to hit. when i just had 2 of the same 12's with same amp, same head unit, it was almost as loud as it is with 4 12's and 2 amps.

Well, firstly, the way you have it wired now, and running it strapped would yield the same amount of power.

But

To run it correctly strapped, youd have to wire some coils in series. This is where you would suffer. I explain this in my vid here.

Also, any variance in amplifier output would create less than optimal performance.

Rule of thumb- Only strap amps when you have to.

Power wire may be good. You can always use more and beef up grounds on the alt and batt.

How about your enclosure though? That is the biggest factor in sound and intensity. What kind of car? And pics of the box in the car?

[jroshandtap]

I re-wired the amps lastnight and I just don't get it. I ran my rca from head unit to master amp, then piggybacked the 2nd amp using output of master. Set the phase switch to slave or copy. My subs are wired parallel down to one ohm on each amp. When music first comes on the subs hit very well, but the louder I turn up the volume, the more the bass begins to level off and actually decreases. If I lower the volume the bass response goes back up. I don't understand, im so fed up with these amps, im about to just go back to my 2 12