A Dual Voice-Coil Wiring Tutorial  

Several of TREO Engineering's loudspeakers feature Dual Voice-Coils (DVC).  The presence of multiple voice-coils on one loudspeaker offers a great advantage in wiring flexibility, but requires slightly more attention to detail to configure properly.

The voice-coils of a DVC woofer can be wired in three different configurations: in parallel, in series, or independently.

When the coils of a DVC woofer are wired in parallel the amplifier will see half the impedance of a single voice-coil.  If a speaker with dual 4 Ohm voice-coils is wired in parallel, the amplifier will see the speaker as a single 2 ohm load.  Similarly, if a speaker with dual 2 Ohm voice coils is wired in parallel the amplifier will see a single 1 Ohm load.  Wiring voice-coils in parallel can be very useful for presenting a low impedance load to a high current amplifier.

A dual 2 Ohm woofer acts like a single 1 Ohm woofer in this configuration.

A dual 4 Ohm woofer acts like a single 2 Ohm woofer in this configuration.

When the coils are wired in series the amplifier will see double the impedance of a single voice-coil.  If a speaker with dual 4 Ohm voice coils is wired in series, the amplifier will see the speaker as a single 8 Ohm load.  Similarly, if a speaker with dual 2 Ohm voice-coils is wired in series the amplifier will see a single 4 Ohm load.  Wiring voice-coils in series can be useful for presenting high impedance loads to amplifiers designed for higher impedance loads.

A dual 2 Ohm woofer acts like a single 4 Ohm woofer in this configuration.

A dual 4 Ohm woofer acts like a single 8 Ohm woofer in this configuration.

The coils can also be wired independently.  This is useful for bridging a four channel amplifier down to two channels to drive one speaker.  It can also be used to power a single speaker with multiple amplifiers.  Please use extreme caution when powering one speaker with multiple amplifiers.  If the input from the amplifiers is different in any way, it can cause grave harm to the speaker.  Damage caused by the incorrect wiring of speakers is not covered under TREO Engineering's limited warranty.  TREO Engineering does not recommend the use of an independent wiring scheme in a daily driving setup.  This wiring configuration should only be used in an SPL competition environment.

A dual 2 Ohm woofer acts like two single 2 Ohm woofers in this configuration.

A dual 4 Ohm woofer acts like two single 4 Ohm woofers in this configuration.