Dual voice coil VS 2 Singles
 

Simple question. Which one would give me louder bass?

1 Dual voice coil woofer OR
2 Single voice coil woofers

of equivalent size.

That's like asking would a dual filament bulb be brighter than a single. There is no answer without more information. You need to know more specs like:

Speaker efficiency
Power of amp driving it
Enclosure size and type

Dual voice coil is used to handle two channels, not more power. You can only get so much current in a coil that fits in the magnetic gap near the magnet in a speaker. Two coils don't increase that, just share it.

OK more specs..

for example ..i guess,

2 JL 10w0 vs 1 JL 10w6

same amp used for both
driving 350 watts rms
sealed enclosure, jl recomended size

Likely the 2 - 10" because they have double cone area to move more air, even though watts is the same. Mistook your 1,2 for a list in 1st post. Better yet they would also run cooler, last longer, produce much less distortion (with 1/2 the power to each). Space/cost would be the only down side.

But if you have say two 4 ohm coils and you wire them in parallel, your amp sees 2 ohms, and makes more power, no? I realize the original question was comparing two speakers to one, but in a one-to-one case, the dual voice coil speaker wired in parallel DOES make more power doesn't it?

jds

Well, not sure about that, exactly. Your last sentence wording is wrong, speakers do not make power. Amps produce power. Speakers consume power and produce heat and movement. I know you knew that :) !

Two 4 ohm vc in parallel might have a 2 ohm resistance (let's not get into impedance which varies with frequency), and therefore the amp may ultimately be able to deliver more power into that load, but unless you run steady state sine waves at amp clipping level, you would only notice any power (and perhaps sound level) difference as the amp reaches that power limit on spikes.

All else being equal (construction make a big difference), if you have a pair of single-voice-coil (SVC) subs being fed with the same power as an equivalent dual-voice-coil (DVC) sub, the pair of SVC subs will definitely outperform the lone DVC sub. Simply because two cones move more air than one.

When you have a DVC sub rated at 4 ohms, then that means each voice coil is rated at 4 ohms. You can either wire it in series, the amp sees 8 ohms, if you wire it in parallel, the amp sees 2 ohms. You have the same wiring options for a pair of SVC subs rated at 4 ohms each. Normally, your options are the same for a pair of SVC subs vs. a lone DVC sub.

An amp that is capable of running stable at 2 ohms, will normally put out more power at 2 ohms than a 4 ohms. But, with very few exceptions, the power output will not be double at 2 ohms, and the signal will be clearer and smoother at 4 ohms, due to things like what Spin9k mentioned.

---jps

Ok im convinced that i should go with 2 single voice coil woofers.As i said earlier, the amp will be feeding them 350W RMS Total, so i basically need subs that put out 200-250Watts each for optimal performance. Whats my best choice when it comes to subs in the $100 range (Anything but JL), my budget is $200 or so for both.

UMM how about 2 rockford punch s1 or s2's?how are those?

DOH!!! :-D Heh, you got me there.

jds

you dont like rockford?!what about audiobahn?alpine?diamond?pickoneanyone
.....which one?