[soundman98]

there isn't any solid evidence that using only one coil would cut the power handling.. the sub should be rated to sustain the same wattage through both voice coils-- nearly all mfg's spec parameters with the vc's in series, not parallel, which means that if a sub is rated for 400w rms, each vc would be capable of 400w rms flowing through it.

the closest i've come to ever finding any evidence of a possible reason to not run a single vc is a rough article posted on an audio forum that speculated that the unpowered vc 'might' offer something like a blanket effect to the powered vc, which 'might' heat it up further then anticipated, but was higly dependent with how the vc's were layered in the motor structure.

but then on the flip side, of that exact same argument, also depending on how everything is layered, the unpowered vc can act as a heatsink to the powered vc, which would raise the power handling capabilities of the powered vc, making it possible to exceed the recommended ratings...


there really isn't any hard evidence regarding powering a single vc that i've been able to find-- much of it is all theory.. there's a lot of people that will scream that ANY DVC SUB NEEDS BOTH COILS TO WORK, but then offer no explanation beyond that, which only exacerbates the problem..

but then many sq guys will come into the same debate and talk about how they run a single vc, and then add a variable resistor to the connection of the second vc-- which provides a method of tuning the subs output by mechanically dampening it.


personally, my last setup blew all of that garbage out of the window--by every aspect, i should have obliterated the sub(and i really wish i had, i wanted to replace it), but the sub still works as great as the day i bought it..

i ran a kicker 10" cvr-300w rms, off a 600w rms amp, used a single coil, in a 1 cu ft box with another 10" cvr used as passive radiator.. though i really did get a kick out of telling car audio "guru's" that i was running a dvc sub using only a single coil, and had a passive radiator-- one of the two of those things always confused the local shops...