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Wiring of an old cabinet with 2 odd speakers


bennifer
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Hey, just trying to work out impedance with two different speakers im putting into an old 2x12 cabinet.

At the moment its got one speaker in it, from a Fender guitar amp. This speaker is 8ohms.

Just inherited an old combo that has a 16ohm Eminence driver in it. Im not too fussed that theyre unmatching, and it might sound a bit rubbish, as im just using it as a basic cabinet for bedroom practise, but i'd like to have the 2 drivers in it rather than its sorry 1 driver situation as of the moment.

What options do I have for it, if I wire in parallel or series? I would run the calculator thats on the wiki, but thats in excel format, and I dont have excel nor a use for it at any other time...

To summarise, what are my options regarding overall ohm rating of the cab, combining an 8 and 16 ohm speaker?

Cheers for any help

Ben.

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Yep, but i'm useless at performing mathematical calculations myself, I kind of dropped that after GCSE Maths and am not sure quite how to apply the equations correctly anymore. Like I said, I did look at the link to the calculator program, but its Excel based, which I do not have...

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[size=3]Hi Ben,

Basically your wiring speakers options are :-

1. Series i.e 8+16 = 24 Ohms

2. Parallel i.e 8x16/8+16 = 5.33 Ohms


Watch your wiring to avoid phase errors and check out below for speaker wiring diagrams (on the drop down menus in Dr.Decibels secrets)


[url="http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/features/drdecibel/index.asp"]http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/f...cibel/index.asp[/url]


Most amps would drive a 5.33 Ohm fine, but mixing different impedance speaker isn't good practice.


To quote Celestion:-

[i]'It isn't advisable to mix speakers of different impedances in one cabinet. This is because power will not be shared evenly between the speakers and it can cause frequency dependent shifts in the power balance. This will sound terrible, can affect the amplifier and may damage the speakers. It is always best to use speakers of the same nominal impedance in one cabinet. (Similarly, it is also advisable to have extension cabs with speakers that have matching impedances)'[/i]


Hope that helps

Neil [/size]

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Ok, cheers guys. I'll give it a go at 5.3Ohms in parallel, and see how it sounds. I'd assume that the speaker receiving 66% of the power will be the 8 ohm one, with the 16 getting 33% ?

If its awful, i'll just go back to it being a 1 speaker cab until I can grab another 8 or 16 driver.

Cheers,
Ben

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