Wiring Eclipse Aluminum 15"(3 Ohm)
 

Aight people, I really need help before i spend some dough on an amp I can't use. I have a 15" Eclipse Aluminum sub. Dual Voice Coil, 1000 watts RMS(500 to each voice coil I'm assuming). The amp I'm looking at is an MTX Thunder 81000D, 1000 watts RMS @ 2 Ohms, 500 watts @ 4 Ohms. My sub has dual 3 Ohm voice coils. I am assuming that at 3 Ohms this amp will put out 750 watts RMS but how can I wire this so that I get 375 watts to each voice coil at 3 Ohms? Sorry if that sounds confusing. I just need to know if its possible to run 375 watts RMS @ 3 Ohms to two voice coils from this single channel amp. I really hope it is cuz my friend is getting all alpine amps and is selling his MTX to me for 225$, a hell of deal me thinks.

More Questions
 

1. By "wire the positives and negatives together" you mean the positive from the amp to both positives on the sub and same for the the negatives(pallel)?

1-1. This will give me a 1.5 ohm load so if the amp i choose(not necessarily the MTX) is 1 ohm stable will it also be stable at 1.5 Ohms?

2. What kind of power would I get if I wired it at 6 Ohms and would this mean wiring the voice coils in series?

Sorry about having so many questions, i'm a noob at the car audio thing, i normally just change the volume on my portable cd player while twisting the cord a certain way to make both ears on my headphones work.
Thanks.

Ooops, sorry
 

It seems all my quesioning was for nothing as I visite the Eclipse web site today(should have done it first) and found out that my sub has dual 4 ohm voice coils which i plan to run parallel to the MTX. Am I right in assuming that this will yield a 2 ohm load? Hey look at that, another question, oh well. Thanks for the advice yall. While I'm at it, is it possible to buy another sub, 8" to hit the higher base notes? Could I set the x-over on the MTX low and go from the preamp outps to another amp with a higher crossover setting, daisy chaining i think its called? If so, what kind of X-over settings should I use?

you are correct, the amp you end up getting should handle the 2 ohm load. you want to wire the sub in parallel for the most power.

yes you can add another aub/amp if your main amp has the "pass-through" to allow the "daisy chaining".

you have the right idea.

and...
 

Does anybody know about the X-over idea? I'm sure someone has done it, maybe not on this board, but would it work or be worth it, i hear that 15"s dont hit high bass real tight so that's my reason for wanting to add an 8". Is that actually true about 15"s?

Mixing sub sizes can cause weird cancelation. A fifteen is going to hit the mids just as tight as an 8". One 12" or one 15" sub matched to a nice set of 6.5" components is all you should need for a complete system.

good deal, new question
 

that is sounding really good to me chuyler because i am finding that i'll have less money to spend on my system. Either way, I have a new question. I've picked up a jbl bp1200.1 amp for only 275 dollars. It is rated 600 watts @ 4 Ohms and 1200 @ 2. My sub has dual 4 Ohm voice coils so I plan to wire the amp in parallel giving me 600 watts per voice coil. I've heard the eclipse aluminum 15s can take upwards of 1000 watts RMS but it is only rated at 500 so is it safe to run this into a sub that hasn't been broken in? I really don't want to blow my sub, can I jus turn the gain way down on the amp until the sub is broken in?

You *can* run that sub from that amp, but you'll need to keep the gain on the amp WAY down. You are going to be pushing a 500 watt RMS sub with over 1200 watts. The 500 RMS on the sub is NOT per coil, it is total. And the JBL 1200.1 puts out around 1350 watts max.

You might run into trouble, and blow the sub. If you keep the gains WAY down on the amp - maybe you'll be okay. But right now, you've got too much amp for that sub.

A better choice would have been the JBL600.1. Would power that sub nicely.

If you can return the 1200 and get a 600, I'd recommend it.

OR - you could buy a second sub, and wire everything parallel (both positives on both subs to the pos on the amp, etc). This would give you a 1 ohm total load, which the JBL can handle just fine. It will still put out the same 1300+ watts, meaning 600+ to each sub, and lotsa boom for you!

Running just the one 15 at over twice the recommended RMS wattage could very well be a disaster waiting to happen.

~HH