How To Wire Subwoofers

First we should say there are many ways of wiring speakers when it comes to multiple speaker setups. It all can be quite confusing to the novice. But in decades of selling subwoofers it is a fact that 99% of buyers start out with either single sub or dual sub setups. It also is a fact that the old standard of the single voice coil subwoofer has given way to the dual voice coil or DVC subwoofer as the most popular.

With this in mind we've tried to simplify the installation step of wiring your subwoofers to your amplifier. The first step is to ensure your amplifier's power is matched to your sub or subs. You can be using a mono amp, a stereo amp bridged mono or a four channel amp with two channels bridged mono. In all cases you'll have a positive and negative connection from your sub/subs to the amp as shown in the illustrations below.

The illustrations here are using a mono amp which we have found over 75% of today's users employ for subwoofers.

Example: You may have a Dual 2 ohm sub and need to power it with a mono amp which is only 4 ohm capable.  Thus, a dual 2 Ohm sub could be matched to a mono 4 Ohm amp.

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Example: You may have a Dual 4 Ohm sub and want to power it with a 2 Ohm stable amp.  Or you might have a Dual 2 Ohm sub and want to match it to a 1 Ohm stable amp which provides many benefits.

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Example: You may have Dual 2 or Dual 4 Ohm subs and want to match them to a corresponding amp.  In this configuration a Two Dual 2 Ohm subs will show the amp a 2 Ohm resistance, Two 4 Ohm subs will show a 4 Ohm resistance. This gives you the ability to use the common mono amps at 2 Ohms or 4 Ohms.  All inexpensive mono amps are capable of 4 Ohms.

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Example: This allows you to power your subs as efficiently as possible.  Just be sure your amp is capable of 1 Ohm operation in the case of Dual 4 Ohm subs and 0.5 Ohm in the case of Dual 2 Ohm subs.

You can easily search the web and find all sorts of opinions and tons of confusing diagrams on this subject.  Yes, we could show multiple diagrams for 3,4,5 and more subwoofers.  We are also well aware that some will use stereo amplifiers  or multi-channel amps bridged to power subwoofers.  In all cases the basics shown above plus your supplied instructions should be ample guide to your installation.  Remember once you bridge your 2 channel amp into one channel, the wiring basics are the same as shown above. 

Another popular install for more powerful stereo amps might be to use one channel for one sub and the second channel for a second sub.  Guess what?  You can still use the basic instructions shown above thinking of one channel of the amp as a mono connection in the diagrams.  Don't over-think your install.

We provide this information as a general guide to help you in the "buying stage".  Each subwoofer and amplifier is packaged with the manufacturer's installation instructions.  Please read that carefully before doing your install.  But don't let the 'techies' overwhelm you, most anyone with some familiarity with electricity and auto electrical systems can do-it-themselves by following instructions.

We do recommend purchasing an amp install kit.  This simplifies your install by providing all the wires and connections you'll need.