A quick question about DVC subwooferS?

A quick question about DVC subwooferS?

Can DVC (Dual Voice Coil Subwoofers) work as SVC subwoofers working with one voice coil only?

Or DVC must be using with both voice coil to achieve best sound?

WIre the two coils in series.

So you meant both voice coils MUST be used, right?

They don't have to be, wouldn't do any damage if they weren't, unless you somehow shorted the leads on the unused one.

You just get more "control" with one big coil (two little in series) than you do with one little one. Control meaning the more coil immersed in the mag field, the quicker acceleration of the cone, and more "braking" power to stop the cone when it's supposed to.

Is your concern the X amount of watts at 4 ohms, versus half that at 8 ohms?

Still confused.......

It will be easier if I lay out my system first.

One 4ohm DVC sub
250-300RMS

2CH Amp
2 x 60 Watts @ 4 Ohm Stereo
2 x 120 Watts @ 2 Ohm Stereo
1 x 240 Watts @ 4 Ohm Mono (In this mode, below 4 ohm is NOT recommanded)

Currently I am bridging 2 channel wiring only 1 set of coils, given 240 watts @ 4ohm Mono to 1 set of coils.

I have two more options,

1. In parallel This way, dual 4ohm will result in a nominal 2 ohm load, which is not recommanded in bridge mode.



2. In series This way, dual 4ohm will result in a nominal 8 ohm load, which means amp will output half of its full power??? Therefore I am getting only 120watts?



Should I stick with my current setup or what? Please help!!! And thanks in advance[/b]

Because you've doubled the load in series mode, your amp will put out (appx) half the wattage. But you have to take into account you've now got TWICE the voice coil sitting in the magnetic field. So it will be just as loud as a 4-ohm with half the coil sitting in the field.

If you want to keep your present setup and just run one coil it will be fine too. Just make sure you don't accidently short the unused coil's terminals. Dual-coil speakers are rated power-wise for both coils handling together, so just half the rating of 250-300, or 125-150 watts, and don't feed it more than that on a continuous basis. That shouldn't be a problem since I suspect the wattage ratings you're quoting for your amp are PEAK ratings. Find the RMS rating at the 1x240, I'd bet it's a lot lower.

03ToyMan you reply fast!!! Are you jobless like me checking new posts in the forums as well?? :shock:

Just kidding

I just found an article on JL Audio. It basically says that DVC should NOT be wired as SVC. Failure to account for the different parameters of a dual voice coil speaker with only one coil powered can result in very poor performance.

Source: http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/dvc/howWired.html

Also, 240w is in bridge Mono mode. I am sure it's RMS power according to the manual.


So, I am thinking, that for my setup with only one sub and 2ch amp (Actually I am using 4ch amp, but 2 ch is used for front speakers already. To make it easy I just say I got 2ch amp for the sub), using DVC actually have disadvantage over SVC. Since with 4ohm SVC, the amp can output 240w in bridge mono mode and the single coils recieve the full power. But when I wire 4ohm DVC in series (result in 8ohm total), amp only outputs half of the wattage and two voice coils only get 120w totally.
In short, DVC sub will recieve half power compared with SVC in my setup.

Am I right?

Nope, I'm Systems Manager where I work, part of my job is to sit at the computer all day, so I keep this Website open and watch for new posts.

Like I said, your amp will put out half the wattage at 8 ohms that it will feeding 4 ohms, but you've got twice the coil saturated in the mag feild, so the sub would get just as loud. Only reason to keep it running at 4 ohms (if you decided to do that) would be bragging rights...my car has XXX watts and your's only has XX watts.

If you've actually got two channels available to drive your sub, why not use a RCA 'Y" cable on the INPUT side, and let each channel drive one coil on the sub?

It's a little confusing for me here.

You are comparing a 4ohm DVC to a REAL 4ohm SVC?

Or you are comparing a 4ohm DVC to a 4ohm DVC but with one set of coil used as SVC, like my current faulty wiring?

Do I still have a Y cable if the amp is already switched to Mono mode? The right and left channels should be identical in Mono mode, but I'll check again. One more reason I don't want to do it is because that way I need to mount another terminal on the enclosure. It's not hard but it wll take some time.

You could still use a single voice coil, depending on the box you are using. What are the driver parameters? What's the internal volume of the box and what type (sealed, ported, bandpass, passive radiator...)

Could you not return the driver you have and get a 8 ohm DVC instead?