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Is this sub-woofer comparable with 2004 ML system?
Sorry guys........I am all jacked up on coffee and have grown impatient with reading through stickies etc..........Im not good with understanding Ohms etc.........so I am hoping a audiophile can throw me a bone and just answer my quick question.......
It's my understanding that the OEM ML sub is 16 ohm (high resistance). The Pioneer sub in your link is 4 ohm (low resistance). Low resistance draws more power out of the amp, in your case by a factor of 4 x. The 4 ohm sub is likely the cause of your blown amp. You can get a 8 ohm dual voice coil (non-OEM) sub and wire it in series to achieve a 16 ohm equivalent (8 + 8 = 16 ohms).
If you going with an OEM amp I would go with an OEM sub. Why not find a cheap used one and just have it re-coned. The re-conning kit is only $20 on eBay. They also pop up on eBay for a decent price here and there. I think I paid about $220 but I could of easily had it re-coned instead. I was just lazy.
Well....I kind of have 2 threads going right now regarding this issue. One answer on the other thread was that just about any sub will work w the amp as long as it operates within the range of the amp..................then the answer on this thread by Tom is that 4ohms is too low and will over work the amp hence boom! .....
I have no issue w re gluing or coning a ML sub.......I will check for one on ebay. But it would be nice to buy an inexpensive modern technology that wont blow up my amp. I had to re glue a front speaker...it was easy and worked perfectly. Given my lack of knowledge in this arena Lavs suggestion might be the easy way out......just go back to stock.
I have read people are using a Polk sub but not sure if its with a 2004 model.....
A used or repaired amp will cost me at least $450......A ML sub new would cost me $300.......thats a darn big smack in the mouth
I wonder what a radio shop could do for me for $750 to $1000.....not being a negative nanny but I am not impressed at all with the ML system......that being said ..it is very possible my system is not sounding as it should.
Yes as I stated in your other thread any sub will work as long as its impedance is in the operational range of the amp. In our case the ML system (amps and speakers) are designed around a 12ohm nominal load. So anything below a 12ohm speaker will put additional load (and stress) on the amp. Do you have Nav or is your car a Non Nav ML?
For ML system, the door speakers are rated for 8 ohms and the woofer is rated for 14.5 ohms...
Interesting as my 01 ML with Nav subwoofer measured differently after I tore it apart to get the correct DCR of the coil. But I guess I could see them rating its nominal load higher.
My car is an 04 with Nav............I have been reading for hours and hours.......first of all its like reading a foreign language trying to understand all of this ohm wired in series chatter. Secondly, I have read 30 different opinions and i am certain several of thos opinions caused expensive blown amps. It looks like RKW has the numbers right out of the service manual at 14 something.....whatever that means. It also appears that my 04 is diff then the 01-to 03 models.
Honestly with so many of these cars affected by this issue I would think that a solid aftermarket fix would have surfaced by now. Obviously as Lav said I could just bite the bullet and spent the 7 hundo and get back to stock.
I just want my tunes back!
Just get a sub that will work free air and is dual 8 ohm. Wire it in series so the amp sees a 16ohm load. An aftermarket speaker will not damage the amp. If you're not running a lower than recommended impedance the amp will work and last as designed.
The only thing I have ever wired in series is the trolling motor batteries for my boat. As for speakers in cars I usually plug the pos to the pos and the neg to the neg.........When I peaked at my sub today it appeared to only have two wires coming off of it.........I may be hopeless but would u care to explain wire in series????
If I didn't have the OEM ML sub to re-foam, I'd install this Polk 8" sub wired in series to get 16 ohm (speaker resistance higher than the rated 14.5 ohm is acceptable; significantly lower than 14 ohm enters into blowing the amp range). It fits the stock opening. After-market speakers are not available in 14.5 ohm.
Tom.....I will drop a $100 all day long to get me back in the game regarding the sub........most reviews on your link are for 01 to 03 LS430 but I assume this will work for mine. They also noted this was not a direct fit and had to make cut outs w dremel.......I did a little reading on one of the reviews regarding wiring in series......Im getting closer..........Now all I need is a couple of people to agree with you so I can move forward.
A dual voice cone woofer is designed to accept both left and right signals. When you wire the two terminals in series, that is, the positive from your amplifier goes to one of the positives on the speaker. The negative of that signal pair goes to the positive of the second signal pair. Finally, the negative of the second signal pair goes back to the negative of the amplifier. This "series" wiring scheme will add the resistances together, so for the 4-ohms dual voice cone speaker pictured below, we can made it work like a 8 ohms speaker when wired in series as shown below. Polarity of the signal pairs are identified on the speaker (see blue arrows).
For the 04 LS430, you would need to find a dual voice cone 8 ohms speaker, as Tom suggested.
Nice diagram....eeazy peeezy......similar to batteries on a boat. Now that I see this diagram I have to ask a couple of stupid questions........
most speakers I have ever wired the + - or pos and neg were on the same side of the speaker on a simple tab. In this diagram this speaker has two sets of + - or pos neg tabs????? Is that correct? Hence dual voice cone?
Come to think of it...when I looked at my sub today it seemed to have one wire coming off of each side of the speaker vs right next to each other like I am used to. Note.....I have not removed the sub yet....it is possible that it is wired in series........I am learning a lot from u guys
If it is wired in series it is still to low......it is 4ohm...so in series is 8ohm....still no good.
I will remove my sub tomorrow to be able to provide more details
Thanks for everyones patience .......I can turn a wrench and do most DIYs but electrical gadgetry is not my thing
10-24-15, 11:02 AM
Is this sub-woofer comparable with 2004 ML system?
