Single vs Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer - Which is BEST? Wiring Explained!

When you are choosing a subwoofer for a car audio system you will need to choose either a single or dual voice coil subwoofer. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do you wire a dual or single voice coil subwoofer? Should you use series or parallel wiring? Let's discuss!

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Car Audio Fabrication – Master Car Audio – Design, Build, Install

[sjgoff]

As someone who used to run a car audio shop, the main benefit was carrying less inventory :)

[nectros]

Glad you broke this subject down for the new folks, and us old guys too who needed a reminder.

[jayj]

I'm back in the bass scene after 23+ years, and the audio shop has been bringing me up to speed on all the advance changes. What a difference from the 90s. I've been convinced to wire my brand new never used 2x12" Pioneer IMPP (From.1998) subs @ 450w max @ 4 ohm in parallel to run on 1000w 1 ch amp to 2 ohm. Can't wait to hear this.

[JayRaystruck]

In my truck, I am running 2 - 12” subs that are both single voice coil but are hooked up in parallel. In my daughter’s truck, we are running 1 - 12” dual voice coil subwoofer hooked the coils in parallel. Both sound good.

[djmr.patterson]

I run Cerwin Vegas because they have dual voice coil subs that let you select the impedance by rotating a jumper terminal on the speaker and there are only two speaker terminals you have to deal with.

[jmurillo]

Great Explanation! You are always able to explain complex audio concepts in a manner easy for the average noob (like myself) to comprehend. Well Done!

[mykial]

I had a 2 dual voice coil 2 ohm subs wired in series and parallel to get me to my final of 2 ohms. Worked amazing sure miss that system 😢

[cheeseballs]

Nice explanation of everything. I've had a couple systems. Always single voice coil. I didn't even know how to do the ohm calculations, until seeing this.

[jerichotm]

Well, I've bought a dual voice coil subwoofer, because I have two amplifiers, both of them having 4 outputs! The rear amplifier would be used to power a pair of rear speakers, and other two outputs will power the subwoofer! So, I have two channels separately powering each voice coil of the subwoofer! luckily, the amplifier supports 2 Ohm load! :)

[zwoodworks]

1 DVC 10". It's what fits in my truck and it sounds really good.

[tmack]

Good stuff my man, i appreciate all you guys for teaching us these things especially when were trying to get our car audio together. 👌

[donyates]

Outstanding knowledge I’m 44 and still thumping 1500 watt 12, hearing is not the same😅 but always been a give and take relationship. No rear view mirror is safe with me, normally shaking the mirrors of the car in front of me, Pinellas co. Florida

[donbenney]

Mark, just so you and your viewers know that's the complex way of figuring parallel resistance. As long as the 2 individual components are the same value.. say 2 single coil subs@ 4ohms each, you can simply take the ohms of 1 speaker and divide by the number of speakers. But this only works when the value is the same.

[larrymontgomery]

Bro i dont care what anybody says i truly appreciate your videos u explain things in a simple way not assuming people are stupid

[CasualGaming]

Got a 10 inch kicker that was a dual voice coil subwoofer and it was a little bit of a scare to see when I pulled it out of the box not realizing all I had to do was throw a jumper wire on the second voice coil. It’s not as scary any more and it is fun to learn this audio stuff slowly over time.

[YusufGinnah]

I'm in the market for a single sub (10"/12") and enclosure.
And I've noticed that the Pioneer 'Champion Series' 12" is offered in SVC and DVC versions.
Both have a max output of 1600w and an RMS of 500w.
😎👍🏼

[quitmanlott]

I have a couple of Skar DDX15-D2s I installed in set of vintage Pioneer HPM 1100 speakers. To drive these, I had to bi-amp them. I let the Onkyo theater amp’s front speaker terminals handle the top set of speakers, and its front speaker pre-amp outs go to a Crown XLS 2502 pro-amp, which handles the bottom 15-inch subwoofers. I did try one single coil on each speaker, as the Crown pro amp pushes this 2Ω load at a 1200-watt (RMS) potential per channel. Then I connected my Skar's 15-inch woofer's dual coils in series. the Crown pro amp pushes this 4Ω load at 775-watt (RMS) potential per channel. The bass is a bit tighter at 4Ωs, but it's not quite as loud. I do prefer a naturel well balanced sound. In this system, you can feel the bass a lot more so than hear it.
I do the math a little differently from you. With a two-impedance load, times two if it is wired in series, and times One-half if it is wired in parallel. With a three-impedance load, times three if it is wired in series, and times One-third if it is wired in parallel. Do this for each step of combining loads.

[jamespperry]

Or single 1 ohm coil as well. My T2S1-16 comes with a single coil at one or two ohms. Just adding that to your video I personally liked single coil, much more simplified, but people could avoid the load confusion if they just preplanned their builds better. Love your stuff keep it up man.

[larrymontgomery]

O and Mark..bro please make some videos with those svc subwoofers u use all the time lately i haven't been able to find any videos of them in action

[johngillies]

Glad I watched, very new at this, had the understanding that a dual vc sounded better