Speaker wiring : series or parallel ?

[Mario C.]

Hello folks,

My cabs are getting a makeover so I'm getting some new speakers to install, who has tried series vs parallel wiring ? what's your experience ? is one better than the other ? anyone heard the difference between 16 ohm series (two 8 ohm speakers in series) vs 8 ohms parallel (two 16 ohm speakers in parallel) ?

thanks.

[GrungeMan]

The only reason I use parallel wiring is;
If a speaker blows there is still a load on the OT, in series wiring if a speaker blows there is not, say bye bye to other costly components. :omg

I use so many different combinations of speakers I don't think I could tell the difference if a cab is wired series or parallel. :huh

This is just a generalization.
Parallel wiring with two or more speakers dampens or evens out the tone. Series wiring is more harmonically rich, it allows each speakers uniqueness to add to the tone.

Best thing to do is try it for your self because it's all subjective to ones taste.

Grungy :D

[ked]

Some folks can hear a difference, I can't, so I wire mine in parallel. The reason being, if one speaker goes down, there is still a load on the output transformer.

Ken

[SatelliteAmps]

The safety factor depends on the amp. Some are wired up to protect the amp in case of a speaker failure (or a flyback voltage) some aren't. Having a mismatched load when one speaker goes down can also cause damage too (wrong load isn't that much worse than no load in some circumstances). With series, you know immediately and can shut everything down, hopefully saving the rest of the components. With parallel, you may not notice it until something else goes with it, which would be too late.

Sonically, there is a difference. It's best heard than explained, and is very easy to do. You may want to wire a switch up so you can switch back and forth rather quickly to hear the difference.

[Mario C.]

great info, thanks everyone :o