Last Question.. I promise.. Parallel vs. Series

[MudFrog]

Which is better? Parallel is supposed to be harder on the amp, and series has a loss in power. Could I get a more powerful amp then my subs were meant to have and then wire the subs in a series and everything balance out in the end?

 

[88Silverado]

The amps are designed to work into a particular impedance (load)Usually 4 Ohm or 8 Ohm. When you wire the speakers in parallel, this halves or drops the load value (2 8 Ohm speakers in parallel = 4 Ohms) This lowers the impedance and increases the current thereby driving the amp harder but will sound louder but may have lower quality. When wiring in series, they add up (2 8 Ohm speakers in series = 16 Ohms) This is a lighter load on the amp but audio level is reduced but audio quality will usually increase.
You can wire multiple speakers in Parallel and Series to balance it out. (2 speakers in parallel connected to 2 speakers in series). Dont parallel everything together where the load becomes so low the amp is trying to drive a virtual short circuit. It will kick out or burn up.
Most amps will specify the maximum minimum load they can safely drive. I would say to try and balance it out.

 

[Blue85]

Do you have some specific equipment that you are trying to use or are you starting from scratch? Most automotive subs are 4 ohm. Some amps are rated for use at 2 ohms, which means you can run two 4 ohm subs in parallel. If you have 2 subs and a stereo amp, just wire one to each channel. Running two subs in series is rarely desireable unless you have four powered by a mono amp. Then you can make the parallel combination of two sets of subs in series, giving you 4 ohms again.

The real formulas for impedance are as follows:

series: Z= Z1 + Z2

Parallel: Z = 1/(1/Z1 + 1/Z2)

However, you really only want to parallel subs that are identical, so you can just use *2 and /2 to get the impedance of the combination.

I'll stop there to avoid giving too much information...

 

[Dale fan]

Try this site. It will show you the different ways of wiring and the resulting impedance loads on your amp.
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/wiringwizard/