2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

[jakester10]

I'm working on building a 2x12 guitar cab and I know I want the cab to have 8-ohm impedance. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using 2 4-ohm speakers in series or 2 16-ohm speakers in parallel? Is there even a difference?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

[dave74]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

Do the 16ohm speakers for an 8ohm total.
many guitar speakers aren't even available in 4ohms.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

Do the 16ohm speakers for an 8ohm total.
many guitar speakers aren't even available in 4ohms.

This is how I have mine setup.
I'm not sure if advantages/disadvantages but works great for me.

 

[dave74]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

A 212 cab would be either a pair of 16 (8ohm total) or a pair of 8 (4ohm total),,,,,,,,but both would be parallel wired.
I guess you could also have a pair of 8 in series for a 16ohm total. (this could be paired with a marshall-type stereo/mono cab)

 

[Surgeon]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

I'm a big fan of parallell wiring for one reason: if a speaker blows up, you still have one speaker working and your amp still sees a load (double of what it originally was) instead of seeing no load at all and risk taking the output transformer with it...

 

[Darg1911]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

You can get a speaker dish that, with two 8 ohm speakers, allows 16 ohm mono, 4 ohm mono, or 8 ohm L and/or R. If you have to have an 8 ohm mono load with both speakers, then it's a waste. But the versatility is great if you have an amp with selectable output impedance.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/jack-plate-plug-and-play-monostereo

 

[Scott_F]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

You can get a speaker dish that, with two 8 ohm speakers, allows 16 ohm mono, 4 ohm mono, or 8 ohm L and/or R. If you have to have an 8 ohm mono load with both speakers, then it's a waste. But the versatility is great if you have an amp with selectable output impedance.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/jack-plate-plug-and-play-monostereo

This looks cool but gotta ask why? Running two heads into it for stereo?

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

This looks cool but gotta ask why? Running two heads into it for stereo?

My 1960A has been modified with two V30's in addition to two G12-T75's. The factory terminal cup does the same thing but uses a switch to go from mono to stereo. I use the stereo configuration to go between speaker types.

View attachment 82103

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

I'm a big fan of parallell wiring for one reason: if a speaker blows up, you still have one speaker working and your amp still sees a load (double of what it originally was) instead of seeing no load at all and risk taking the output transformer with it...

Seconded...

Given the choice I prefer parallel wiring in a 2x12 or 2X10 for this same reason & I think in some cases there's sonic benefits to doing it this way as well???

I ran into a similar situation when I recently converted a old S.S. Princeton Chorus into a 2X10 cabinet for my modded Little Giant 5W Class A head. The Princeton originally had two 8ohm drivers in it & that's what I bought when I was shopping for ALINCO replacements. So when it came time to wire it up I could either go with a 16ohm load in series or a 4ohm load in parallel. Since this cabinet was going to be used exclusively for the Little Giant, & since my Little Giant can be run at 4ohms, 8ohms, or 16ohms, I figured I'd try both options to see what I liked better.

Now had I been looking for versatility (to be able to use it with my other amp heads) I'd have gone with a 16ohm load without question because as stated above a lot of modern amplifiers don't even give you the option to run them at 4ohms. However in the case of this little 5W head it seems to hit the speakers a little harder when going into the parallel wired 4ohm cabinet vs the series wired 16ohm cabinet..

I suppose this could all just be in my head & it doesn't make a difference, but as Surgeon said it's nice to know that if I blow up a speaker there's another one in there to help spare my transformer???

 

[Darg1911]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

This looks cool but gotta ask why? Running two heads into it for stereo?

Sure, if you want to run two heads. Or running a single speaker or single pair. Or even compatibility for different heads if it fits the bill, either in regard to impedance or speakers. I have a 2x12 with an Alnico and a G12H30. It's even nice to be able to use one or the other if I don't want the combo running. They are two very different sounding speakers. It's just a versatile dish that doesn't cost a whole lot.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

My 1960A has been modified with two V30's in addition to two G12-T75's. The factory terminal cup does the same thing but uses a switch to go from mono to stereo. I use the stereo configuration to go between speaker types.

View attachment 82103

That I completely understand

 

[Scott_F]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

I have found most heads sound best at their highest impedance offering. Is that just my tired old ears? Phantom BS I've sold myself? I like two 8ohms wired as 16 for that matter.

If one of the speakers blows, my transformers are solid enough to be okay while I walk over and turn off the amp.

Leads to a question I've never asked, but how would a blown speaker completely cut off the circuit? Wouldn't it just sound like crap?

 

[Jacew]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

I have found most heads sound best at their highest impedance offering. Is that just my tired old ears? Phantom BS I've sold myself? I like two 8ohms wired as 16 for that matter.

If one of the speakers blows, my transformers are solid enough to be okay while I walk over and turn off the amp.

Leads to a question I've never asked, but how would a blown speaker completely cut off the circuit? Wouldn't it just sound like crap?

What I thought too, how likely it really is for a speaker to short out? Without starting to make concerning noises before.

Also, some have said it in favor of series wiring, that if speaker goes out in middle of gig etc... when you might not notice one speaker going out parallel, you will notice it in series and won't run your amp on higher load. Though it definitely wouldn't be as bad as going a moment without any load.

I really have no opinion about this matter, but I'm interested to hear others.

 

[jeremy]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

i have a 2x10 with one of those marshall plates. it lets me use the cab with a variety of amps.

ive only had one speaker blow that was wired in series and the amp stopped making noise. amp was fine but the speaker didnt pass sound

 

[Jacew]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

i have a 2x10 with one of those marshall plates. it lets me use the cab with a variety of amps.

ive only had one speaker blow that was wired in series and the amp stopped making noise. amp was fine but the speaker didnt pass sound

Did you measure the speakers dc resistance afterwards?

 

[jeremy]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

it was open. cooked voice coil on the v30

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

I have found most heads sound best at their highest impedance offering. Is that just my tired old ears? Phantom BS I've sold myself? I like two 8ohms wired as 16 for that matter.

If I understood him right, Bruce at Mission Amps said this is because the entire winding of the output tranny is being used when the 16 ohm output of a transformer is chosen.

 

[jeremy]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

thats correct but its a subtle difference at best

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

thats correct but its a subtle difference at best

A buddy has a Vox Night Train.

He uses it with a two 10" speaker cab.

Each speaker is an 8 ohm Jensen reissue.

He was using it with those two speakers in parallel for 4 ohms and plugging into the 4 ohm output on the amp.

I re wired them in series for 16 ohms and plugged into the 16 ohm output.

Definitely sounds bigger and ballsier that way.

Yeah it's subtle. But noticeable.

 

[jeremy]

Re: 2 4-ohm in series vs. 2 16-ohm in parallel?

i think two speakers in series sounds different compared to parallel too so theres a few factors at work