Can D-Class Mono Block Run Two Woofers?
 

First I want to thank you for taking the time to read this and help me out, next I want to tell you that I haven't yet purchased the amplifier for my woofers, I'm in the process of finding a good one to use, now let me jump right into the specifications for my subs.

I have 2 Pioneer TS-W258D4 subwoofers
Duel 4 ohms - 350 Watts RMS Each (Going to run them at a 2 ohm load)

My question is, if I purchase a 700 watt RMS @ 2 ohm D-Class mono block amplifier, is it ok to hook it up to both woofers in series? Or would I need a 350 watt RMS @ 2 ohm mono block amplifier hooked up in parallel?

I'm pretty good with understanding everything but still don't consider myself a pro so just curious.

If I get a 700 watt mono block and run it in series, would it distribute 350 watts to each woofer or 700 watts to each?

Or if I hooked that same 700 watt mono block up in parallel would it distribute 350 watts to each woofer or 700 watts to each?

EDIT: Additionally if I have a 350 watt rms mono block at 2 ohm amp could that distribute 350 watts to each woofer or does it cut it in half when running two woofers off one mono block?

Any advice or help would be awesome, Thanks.

what you want to do is get an amp that is rated at 1 OHM. that will be best.

the amp in you example is a wrong amp for your application since it's 2 ohm rated. also, you are thinking wrong by saying "series". you would actually wire everything in parallel, not series.

power gets devided in half.

Yeah I haven't bought an amp yet, I'm just tossing some numbers around to get a better idea of what I'm going for before I make the purchase.

I do however think you are incorrect when you say that they are 1 ohm or 4 ohm woofers, if you look here at the Pioneer manual specs - pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Manuals/Car/TS-W258D2_InstallationManual0312.pdf

It shows that my subwoofers can be hooked up to support either 2 ohms or 8 ohms, unless you got those numbers based upon how you wired the woofers. I know DVC is just a way to provide you with more flexible wiring options.

But these subs cannot handle a 1 ohm load, I'd rather stick to specifications rather then try and be careful at a 1 ohm load, I'll just be safe and not test my luck, mainly because the last time I tried playing around I blew up the cheap ass amp I was using haha.

^^no...yuli is right...remember you have two dual 4 ohm subs that are going to be wired to 2 ohms each...so when you parallel those you will get a 1 ohm final load. As he stated, get a 1 ohm rated amp to best drive the subs, you can get a 4 ohm rated amp that delivers 700 watts rms (if you wire the subs in series) but it will be a lot more expensive.

Yeah just looking at some wiring diagrams and noticed that I was wrong by saying that in the previous post.

So this now begs the question I'll wire them up in parallel with an amplifier that can handle a 1 ohm load but should I get a 350 watt rms @ 1 ohm or a 700 watt @ 1 ohm. I'm guessing by saying I need a 350 Watt rms @ 1 ohm because since they are wired in Parallel each woofer will receive 350 watts rms (Which is what I need).

Is that correct?

no You will want an amp that has an RMS rating double the RMS rating of 1 of the subs.

So you are looking for an amp rated at 700 RMS at 1 ohm

Ok thanks, so basically the right amplifier for me is the Rockford Fosgate P700-1BD or something similar.

I don't want to be a pain in the ass but lets say I run it in series/parallel which would give me 4 ohms instead of 1 ohm, would I then still need the 700 watt or would I need the 350 or more then 700? I would assume more power because of the higher impedance.

Just want to keep my shopping options open as wide as possible, it all comes down to the amp I buy but I'd like to price out several at 1 ohm and some at 4 ohms.

with the subs wired to a 4 ohm load, you would then be looking for an amp that does 700 RMS @ 4 ohms.....

Ok thats what I thought but just wanted to make sure.

Thanks for all the help guys, now I got to keep searching to find an amp but at least I'm a little more on the right course.

You never said if you were on a budget or not, but Hifonics new line of brutus amps are getting good reviews and are cheap for the power they output. I suggest reading up on them.

Yeah I'm on a little bit of a smaller budget but I'll go over budget in order to do it correctly.

But thanks for the suggestion I'll check some of their lineup out.

P.S. If anyone is wondering I'm putting these in a 2 seater 2003 Dodge Dakota, building a custom center console for them to go into, maybe I'll toss up some pictures when its all said and done.

As important as power is box design. Make sure you have correct air space in your box and its tuned right. Even great equipment will sound like poo in the wrong box. Good luck. Def post pics.

and while your at it.....to eliminate confusion.....wire to 1ohm load and look for an amp stable to 1 ohm, at 1000 watts rms.......i always find more power is better

The reason your cheap ass amp blew up is because it was a cheap ass amp being played outside of it's capabilities.

Yuli is a lot of things but wrong is usually not one of them.

Get a 1 ohm stable amp that runs about 800 RMS wire your positives to your positives and your negatives to your negatives in a nice big daisy chain and you're down the road banging away.

Don't make things more complicated than they need to be.

2xD4 = 1 Ohm Final or 4 Ohm Final those are your only two options. 4 is too high for monoblocks, you won't get any juice out of it, unless you get an amp that does like 1500 at 1 then you'd probably get about the 800 you need at 4.

I agree. Which is why I suggest the Hifonics Brutus line. Tones of power at a great price.

As stupid as this may sound my box building experience far outweigh's my amplifier experience and yeah I know all about air space, ect... I've spent over a month designing the box, even fine tunned it up with WinISD to get an idea of the frequency responses, cone exertion, ect...

Only real issue I'm facing with box design at the moment (before its 100% designed) is the fact that I'm building it out of 1/2" MDF (Fiberglass on outside for re-enforcement and so I can make it look pretty later lol) but my goal is to flush mount both subs or inset them 1/4", but the lips of the sub are 3/4" so I need to figure something else out for that aspect, but other then that its ready to be built. I'm fiberglassing the front part of the original center console so I can have my cup holders and so it looks a little more like the box is stock for the truck then going to fiberglass into the box to put it all together into one nice piece, one sub will point to the passenger side and the other to the drivers side (Offset one towards the back, one closer to he front).

LoL actually your 100% correct, I know exactly why my amplifier blew up, it was because I bridged it down to 1 ohm and used it on woofers that required a lot more power then it could handle, not to mention it was no where near stable at 1 ohm but that was my experimenting and messing around, I have no intentions of messing around with my new woofers.

Which is why I've asked so many questions here, even ones I thought were stupid, with new subs on the way I'm doing everything correctly this time around, which means research, research, research, and asking lots of question I'm not 100% sure about myself.

I'll post up some pictures of the box, ect... in a few weeks when its all done up, should be a pretty sweet project once its all said and done.

If your box building skills are as good as you say, why would you build the box out of 1/2 as opposed to 3/4 mdf? WinISD??? Now there's a real joke. Don't take what that program tells you literally.:smokin:

Look for a used JBL 1200.1
750+ at 4 ohms
1200 at 2 ohms
stable at 1 ohm

Mainly because of space restrictions, with 1/2" I'm at 1.598 cubit feet, minus the displacement of the woofers I'll be sitting at 0.741 Cubic feet for each woofer, woofer recommended volumes are between 0.65 and 1.25 cubic feet each.

Its a little restricted as it is now and by using 3/4" it'll be even more restricted. The main reason why you use 3/4" is so your box doesn't break apart on you under the pressure and also because you don't want to loose any bass. Actually MDF isn't even the perfect material for building subwoofer boxes but it is a damn good cheap alternative.

Additionally I know what lots of people will say that the 2 10" will probably break the 1/2" MDF box apart and If it is built poorly then yeah I can easily see that happening, but it has a nice angle to it, plus going to be re-enforced on the outside with Fiberglass. I may also put in some re-enforcement on the inside depending on how flexible the walls seem during the building process.

No I don't take the numbers of WinISD 100% seriously but I do use it as a generalized guideline in the design process, I tweak not 100% based on the program once its all built.

Basically nothing is set in stone, something always changes, if I think it's going to be too weak when I start building, I'll re-run a few numbers and re-enforce the box so it won't break apart when I'm pounding the woofers.

As for that statement I don't want you to get confused, I'm not saying I'm a professional box builder, I've never once over the years told anyone I'm a professional anything when it comes to car audio but I am much better at building and understanding box requirements then I am at understanding how amplifiers work.

I bet though once I start getting some pictures up and start showing you my design and once things start coming together you'll get a better idea of what I'm aiming for, I'm in limbo right now, still need to wait for the weather to warm up so I can finish fiberglassing the front part of my original center console, once that's done, then I can begin building the rest of the box that is going to mold into the front piece.

Additionally I could just build the entire thing out of Fiberglass but to be honest I've heard lots of bad things about the way Fiberglass boxes sound and I've heard lots of great things about how they sound, but I would just rather stick with what I know sounds good based upon past experiences.

And my outlook on it has always been this. If I build a box I think will do great and it turns out to sound like , I'll just take it out and build a different one, but at least I tried the idea out and gave it some time to test how it sounds in an everyday work environment.

you made me blush like a school girl :lol_hitti