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Should I run 2 ohm or 8 ohm for a 4 ohm DVC

4731 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by OscarJr, Sep 7, 2019

tjcinnamon

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2019

I have a Crown XLS 2002 which can handle 2 and 8 ohms. I have a Dayton reference HO with a 4 ohm DVC where my wiring options are 8 and 2 ohms respectively.

Given I can go either way, which should I do? What I’ve read is that lower impedance simply requires more power to get the same impact at lower power on a higher impedance.

Of course it doesn’t model that way... so I’m uncertain of what impedance to wire it to.

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Chris Popovich

· #2 · Sep 5, 2019

If you're running the crown bridged, definitely 8 ohms. If you're running just one channel of it to the dayton, either is fine as far as the amplifier is concerned.

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tjcinnamon

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 5, 2019

Chris Popovich said:
If you're running the crown bridged, definitely 8 ohms. If you're running just one channel of it to the dayton, either is fine as far as the amplifier is concerned.

Both will result in the same SPL?

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aktiondan

· #4 · Sep 5, 2019

The amp is rated at 1300W into 8 ohms bridged or 650W into 4 ohms for two channels or 1050W into 2 ohms for two channels. So for either the bridged 8 ohm or stereo 4 ohm wiring configurations, both coils will be driven to 650W and the output stage of the amplifier will see a 4 ohm load in either configuration. So yes, it will result in the same SPL, same power to the driver and same load at the amp, for either of those wiring configurations.

But if you drive just one channel at 1050W to the coils in parallel, 2 ohms, you'll only be driving each coil with 525W, which will result in ~1 dB lower SPL, and you'll have an unused channel and therefore not maximizing the total available power. So wire in series to 8 ohms in bridged mode or at 4 ohms in stereo mode but do not wire them in parallel to just one channel. Unless you can buy another HO to take advantage of that unused channel.

And it probably goes without saying, but don't attempt to drive just one coil or bridge the amp into 2 ohms.

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tjcinnamon

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 5, 2019

aktiondan said:
The amp is rated at 1300W into 8 ohms bridged or 650W into 4 ohms for two channels or 1050W into 2 ohms for two channels. So for either the bridged 8 ohm or stereo 4 ohm wiring configurations, both coils will be driven to 650W and the output stage of the amplifier will see a 4 ohm load in either configuration. So yes, it will result in the same SPL, same power to the driver and same load at the amp, for either of those wiring configurations.

But if you drive just one channel at 1050W to the coils in parallel, 2 ohms, you'll only be driving each coil with 525W, which will result in ~1 dB lower SPL, and you'll have an unused channel and therefore not maximizing the total available power. So wire in series to 8 ohms in bridged mode or at 4 ohms in stereo mode but do not wire them in parallel to just one channel. Unless you can buy another HO to take advantage of that unused channel. /forum/images/smilies/wink.gif And it probably goes without saying, but don't attempt to drive just one coil or bridge the amp into 2 ohms.

Ha! I actually have 2 of these in different boxes so I won’t be running them bridged. But if I run them at 2 ohm or 8 ohm, despite the output of the amp (rated watts at impedance) I’ll get the same SPL irrespective of wiring?

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aktiondan

· #6 · Sep 6, 2019

The impedance, and therefore the SPL, is certainly not irrespective of the wiring. The available power in terms of watts that is delivered to the driver(s) is a function of the impedance presented at the output of the amplifier. Present a lower impedance = get more power. If you wire the coils in series, 8 ohms, you present a higher impedance to the amplifier and therefore less power is delivered to the driver. Less power = lower SPL. All other things being equal.

So to achieve maximum SPL given your setup, basically 4x4, you can either run each driver with the coils in parallel to present a 2 ohm load to each channel for 1050W to each driver (stereo configuration), or you can bridge the amp and run the coils in parallel but the drivers in series which will present the same load to the amp (4 ohms bridged or 2 ohms to each channel in mono), and therefore the same power as above to the drivers. Or you could wire the coils in series and then the drivers in parallel and bridge the amp to get the same power again. Any option other than this will result in less power to the drivers or too low of an impedance at the amp to be practical. But you have the ideal setup in terms of amp/load matching I believe.

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JohnDean

· #7 · Sep 6, 2019

I'm confused. The reference HO as far as I can tell is single voice coil.

Nevertheless, are your cabinets sealed or ported? I ask because I've noticed on my Crown's that running 2ohm stereo with no HPF "can" make it go into protection if driven hard with content below 15hz(just a guess on that freq.)

If you keep your distance from clipping, it won't matter.

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OscarJr

· #8 · Sep 7, 2019

JohnDean said:
I'm confused. The reference HO as far as I can tell is single voice coil.

Yup, they have two models. There is one model that is the Reference HO D4.

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