Unorthadox configurations

[JoeGags]

Wanted to ask a few questions that I think are a little goofy, but what the heck right?
I bought my son an Orange Micro Dark amp. Because it is so small, I thought it might look cool set on a flat-top triangular/pyramid shaped amp cabinet. Looking to have 3 speakers with 2 at the base and 1 at the apex. The output jack on the Micro Dark says "min 8 ohms" - does this mean I can have three 4 ohm speakers, wired in seres for a total of 12 ohms, or do amp cabs have to be 4, 8, or 16 ohms? If this is possible, what are your opinions about unique (maybe stupid?) size combos like two 8 inch speakers and one 12 inch? Or two 10s and one 15 inch (or any other 2 and 1 size combo)? Just thinking about possibly doing something fun and unique, but don't what to spend the time and money on something that may be impossible to do or sound like garbage for some fundamental reason I know nothing about.

Thanks for any input - Gags

 

[wall_of_sleep]

I'm not an authority on the micro dark. Solid power amps behave consistently across the board in that you'll lower output power going above your nominal speaker impedance. Lowering the impedance will put stress on the amp.

Anything below a 2:1 mismatch to my ears will not have any noticeable effect on the performance qualities of an amplifier.

 

[Steppin' Wolfe]

The literature on that amp says that it can be used with an 8 ohm or 16 ohm load. I take this to mean that one should never use less than 8 ohms. Solid state output sections have a minimum design for the load....below that will risk taking the output section out. As you note, Joe, this info is on the back panel of the amp. 8 ohms will give you more power than will a 16 ohm load. Your amp will work with that 12 ohm load, but it will have less output than it would at 8 ohms.
Another aspect is that series wiring will yield a dead speaker cab if one speaker goes out whereas in parallel circuits the failure of one speaker does not kill the cab. Imho, the triad of speakers is not ideal in your situation. A 2x16 ohm parallel circuit gives you an 8 ohm load that will revert to a single speaker 16 ohm load if one speaker fails.

 

[Jeff Gehring]

Maybe you could still do a different looking trapezoidal cab, using one 12" speaker on the bottom, and a single 8" speaker on the (narrower) top? That would be 8 ohms exactly, wired with two 16 ohm speakers paralleled.

 

[gerrickreidenbach]

if you could squeeze four speakers into the cab you could wire series/parallel or parallel/series. all of your speakers should have the same impedance, i.e. four 8 ohm speakers for a total 8 ohm load or four 16 ohm speakers for a total 16 ohm load. you could still implement the different size configuration as long as the impedance of all the speakers match, with an ideal power handling rating across the four.

 

[Baelzebeard]

I run (two sometimes) 2x12,+1x15 cabs. I have them configured with 16 ohm 12's in parallel, and then in parallel with an 8 ohm 15, for a total load of 4 ohms. It sends half the power to the 15, and half the power to the pair of 12's,(25% each, just like a 4x12). They sound great.

As long as you balance the impedance of the drivers you'll be fine if you are dead set on three drivers.

 

[Tron Pesto]

At risk of being lazy and just throwing it out there without checking, but I'm pretty sure Weber and other mfgs have 24 ohm impedance speakers available exactly to provide an 8 ohm impedance when three speakers are wired in parallel.