Speaker wiring and Ohm's

[JumpMarine]

Can someone explain to me how to safely wire up a speaker cab, both a 2x12 and 4x12 to end up with an 8 ohm load? Correct me if I am wrong, but running 2, 16 ohm speakers in parallel would still be a 16 ohm load? And 2, 16's in serial would be an 8 ohm load? I don't know why this confuses me so much, but it does.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Speaker wiring and Ohm's

Parallel: divide the impedence of the speaker by the number of speakers

4 eight ohm speakers connected in parallel are eight ohms divded by 4 = 2 ohms

2 eight ohm speakers connected in parallel are eight ohms divided by 2 = 4 ohms


Series: multiply the impedence of the speaker by the number of speakers

4 eight ohm speakers in series are eight ohms multipled by 4 = 32 ohms
2 eight ohm speakers in series are eight ohms multiplied by 2 = 16 ohms

Series/Parallel: usually four speakers; two pair in series and then each pair connected to each pair in parallel.

2 sixteen ohm speakers in series are sixteen ohms multipled by 2 = 32 ohms for each pair.

Then one pair is connected to the other pair in parallel: 32 ohms divided by 2 = 16 ohms for the combined impedence of all four...as in most Marshall cabs.

Lew

 

[garublador]

Re: Speaker wiring and Ohm's

Here are the general formulas too if you're the math-type:

Series:

R(total) = R1 + R2 +...+ Rn

Parallel:

1/R(total) = 1/R1 + 1/R2 +...+1/Rn

Note that the R(total) in the parallel formula is in the denominator.

Just a little extra information for anyone who's interested.