Help Me Understand Some Things..

[Gearstix]

Okay.. theres a few things about car audio I don't understand.

First off is dual voice coil subs. I've only ever owned SVC subs.. so DVC is something new to me. Do they just have two windings on one tube or something?

these are the two wiring options for my two SPL-12s. I'm not sure how to wire them. if somebody had a photo of a DVC sub wired up it would help me alot. I just cannot grasp the wiring diagram fully.

I've also never done a stereo with more than the stock battery in a car.

I'm planning on running a dedicated alternator for the stereo system. how would I go about hooking the batteries together and then wiring them to the amp?

If I'm doing a dedicated alternator, could I just use a alternator like comes with the engine, or just use something like a GM 1 wire... I've never dealt with alts much either.

Any help would be great. I do have a mechanic father and electrician cousin ..

Even though I've never dealt with most of this, I'm sure that with the help of you guys I'll be able to do it. I'm not worried.

Please don't flame me I'm here to learn.

[MickyMcD]

No reason to flame man, you've come about this the right way. Dual voice coil drivers have two windings of coil on the one former, usually on top of each other when built with an overhang. Think of those terminals as two separate speakers, each with it's own resistance, inductance etc. So, just like wiring up two single voice coil speakers in parallel or series, wire up each terminal as such. So, your Mach5's have two 2 ohm coils. Wire them up in parallel to have something close to one ohm, or in series for something closer to four ohm.

Then you can parallel or series each driver itself. So say you did wire both woofers in series so each driver has a one ohm impedance, then wiring both woofers in parallel gives you an impedance close to half an ohm. In series gives you something close to two ohms again.

In your case, I reckon two amplifiers is the way to go. Wire each driver in parallel to have a one ohm load ( or close to) then drive each speaker with a smaller, separate amplifier.

Cheers,

Mick

[Gearstix]

No reason to flame man, you've come about this the right way. Dual voice coil drivers have two windings of coil on the one former, usually on top of each other when built with an overhang. Think of those terminals as two separate speakers, each with it's own resistance, inductance etc. So, just like wiring up two single voice coil speakers in parallel or series, wire up each terminal as such. So, your Mach5's have two 2 ohm coils. Wire them up in parallel to have something close to one ohm, or in series for something closer to four ohm.

Then you can parallel or series each driver itself. So say you did wire both woofers in series so each driver has a one ohm impedance, then wiring both woofers in parallel gives you an impedance close to half an ohm. In series gives you something close to two ohms again.

In your case, I reckon two amplifiers is the way to go. Wire each driver in parallel to have a one ohm load ( or close to) then drive each speaker with a smaller, separate amplifier.

Cheers,

Mick

Thats what I'm thinking aswell in regards to an amplifier.

I'm still not understanding you wire the two coils together..

Is each coil linked together? How many wires would come off the sub? 2? 4?

[Gearstix]

Okay I'm kinda starting to understand this. However the diagram shows one power and one ground coming off the amplifier, and the same wire of each (power and ground) goes to all the subs. I think this is whats messing me up. How do you use one wire to connect all the voice coils, for both power and ground (oblivously), in the right arrangement to get the desired ohm load.

[MickyMcD]

Ah dude, now I get where you are coming from.

Assuming you have two amplifiers and you want to wire up your drivers to one ohm. Run a hot line from the hot terminal of the amplifier into the hot terminal of the loudspeaker. Usually the terminals will allow for two wire entries, so get another piece of wire and go from the hot terminal you just stuck the hot line into and go to the hot terminal on the other side of the woofer. Same deal with cold, and bam. Done.

Easier if your amplifier has two hot terminals and two cold terminals in parallel already, for instance the AP15001D from Audiopipe, although there are many others. Just make two hot lines from both hot terminals, one per hot terminal on each side of the loudspeaker and the same with cold lines.

Cheers,

Mick

[Gearstix]

Ah dude, now I get where you are coming from.

Assuming you have two amplifiers and you want to wire up your drivers to one ohm. Run a hot line from the hot terminal of the amplifier into the hot terminal of the loudspeaker. Usually the terminals will allow for two wire entries, so get another piece of wire and go from the hot terminal you just stuck the hot line into and go to the hot terminal on the other side of the woofer. Same deal with cold, and bam. Done.

Easier if your amplifier has two hot terminals and two cold terminals in parallel already, for instance the AP15001D from Audiopipe, although there are many others. Just make two hot lines from both hot terminals, one per hot terminal on each side of the loudspeaker and the same with cold lines.

Cheers,

Mick

Ahhhhh....

I'm going to look @ my SPL-12 and see what I can figure.

[Gearstix]

Uhh looks like the SPL-12s have a terminal where you can unscrew it and put the wire in and screw it down again... looks like theres only one "port"...

[MickyMcD]

Well, the simplest way to do this would be strip up the wiring enough to feed the copper into the terminal, do the same for your jumper wire to go from one side of the woofer to the other and....well, twist them together. It's not the most professional method, but it will work. Or, if there is room, lay both wires on top of each other and tighten the compression screw. It will mesh them together enough to get good conductance.

Cheers,

Mick

[Gearstix]

Well, the simplest way to do this would be strip up the wiring enough to feed the copper into the terminal, do the same for your jumper wire to go from one side of the woofer to the other and....well, twist them together. It's not the most professional method, but it will work. Or, if there is room, lay both wires on top of each other and tighten the compression screw. It will mesh them together enough to get good conductance.

Cheers,

Mick

Ahh this is what I figured would be done...

So power from amp goes to power on coil one,then wire goes from power on coil one to power on coil two? same for negative? that would give me 1 ohm right?