Parallel wiring for speakers
Amplifiers are designed to power a specific "load", meaning a speaker or a set of speakers having a specific "AC impedance" measured in ohms. An impedance resists the flow of electric current and so the higher a speaker's impedance the less current the amplifier must supply. Conversely, the lower a speaker's impedance the more current the amp must supply. Hence, a low-impedance speaker is a big workload for your amp. And a high-impedance speaker is a small load.
===We are searching data for your request:
Wait the end of the search in all databases.
Upon completion, a link will appear to access the found materials.
Content:
Speaker Wiring / Many Speakers in a systems
By Barry Ferrell. Have you ever wondered which is a better method for wiring your surround speakers, and why? Some installers use Series-Parallel wiring schemes to conserve amp channels and raise load impedance on inferior amps.
But at QSC, we have always recommended parallel wiring for all surround speakers when multiple speakers are combined on an amp channel. Parallel connections sound better, are more reliable, provide more dynamic headroom, are easier to wire, and in some cases, make upgrading to 7.
When a loudspeaker is connected to an amplifier output, the amplifier provides better control of the speaker motion and the speaker has a flatter frequency response if the output impedance of the amplifier is a lot lower than the impedance of the speaker. If the amplifier has a damping factor of , the output impedance is 8 ohms divided by , or 0. With such a low output impedance, the frequency response of the voltage supplied to the speaker is very flat and the amplifier maintains good control over the cone motion at low frequencies.
If a second speaker is placed in series with the first speaker, each speaker is driven by the combined impedance of the amplifier plus the impedance of the other speaker. Instead of a damping factor of , it now drops to slightly less than 1, since the new impedance seen by each speaker is 8. It gets even lower when speaker cable resistance is added in. The frequency response is affected by any mismatch in the impedance curves of the two speakers. When two loads are connected in series, the voltage divides across them by the ratio of the load resistance.
If both loads are perfectly equal, then the voltage is split equally between the two loads. The problem is that speaker impedance varies greatly with frequency, and no two speakers are exactly the same. This results in unequal sharing of the total voltage, which causes variation in the frequency response of the two speakers. The problem is even more exaggerated in many cinemas when an 8 ohm resistor is used in place of a speaker, as in the case of an odd number of surround speakers, such as 5 speakers per channel.
We can see this in the graph below. The impedance of the SR surround loudspeaker is in blue and the orange line represents an 8 ohm load resistor. The SR impedance dips as low as 6. The peak at 2 kHz is just over 30 ohms. If this speaker is connected in series with an 8 ohm resistor, the voltage will only divide equally where the blue curve crosses the orange line at 8 ohms. With parallel-connected speakers, the same voltage is always applied to all speakers, resulting in better performance and uniform frequency response.
Series connected speakers act like the old Christmas lights where when one bulb fails, the entire string goes out. All speakers connected in series will fail if one of the speakers fails. Current cannot pass through a speaker if the speaker is blown or a protection fuse goes open. In a parallel connection, the other speakers continue to operate at the same level as before. It is common practice to use fewer channels and larger amplifiers for series-parallel connected surround speakers.
Assume a cinema uses a 2-channel amplifier to power 12 surround speakers, 6 on each channel. If we connect two speakers in series and then parallel three of these pairs on each channel, we will have three ohm loads in parallel and the amp will see a 5.
This wiring practice is popular when using amps that cannot handle low impedance loads. The DCA is the same price as the DCA , but having 4-channels gives us more options for configuring the surround speakers. If we want to match the 5. This is a 2. This configuration has the added benefit of allowing for level adjustments between the front and rear of the room if needed. Besides the performance benefits previously discussed, the DCA option provides greater dynamic power to the surround speakers.
Since cinema soundtracks, especially surround channels, have very low average power requirements, the limiting factor on performance is the maximum voltage that can be delivered to each speaker during short-term dynamic peaks in the soundtrack. Peak output voltage from an amplifier is limited by the DC voltage rails of the amplifier power supply, and these rails cannot be exceeded. At first glance, the DCA appears to have the advantage. However, this is not the case.
The voltage from the DCA is split across two series-connected speakers. The most each speaker could receive is a calculated peak of The speakers on the DCA are directly connected to the amplifiers full output voltage and could potentially receive the full 67 volts from the amp.
The 4-channel DCA can deliver peaks of watts to an 8-ohm speaker. The 2-channel DCA delivers only W to each speaker. The DCA with parallel loads is capable of reproducing peaks that are 2. If we change up the DCA connections a bit, we can have 4 surround channels for 7. The same peak voltage is applied to each speaker, but the side channels are loaded at 2-ohms, and the rear channels are loaded at 4 ohms.
Wiring surround speakers in parallel is easy and intuitive. All of the connections are made in the same polarity. There are many opportunities to get something wrong and have some surround speakers playing out of polarity from the rest.
With series-parallel, you also have to decide how to connect the speakers for the optimum load, which varies with the number of speakers. If you wired the DCA example with two strings of three speakers in parallel on each channel, you would get a 12 ohm load and reduce the peak power per speaker to only 64 watts. Terminal blocks like the one in the picture have jumpers available that make it very easy to connect many speakers to a single amp channel. If four speakers are wired in parallel, then the jumper is cut to length to parallel five terminals, one for each speaker and one for the amp channel.
Here are some examples of these terminal strips and jumpers. One last example of easier wiring: The DCA 2-channel amplifier is specially-designed for extreme low impedance operation and easily solves the odd speaker count problem. It is capable of driving up to five 8-ohm speakers per channel for a combined impedance of only 1. With the DCA , the solution is easy — simply wire five speakers in parallel on each channel.
As always, QSC Application Engineers are available to answer specific questions you may have about your system needs. If you have any concerns about your system configuration, it is always a good idea to check with us before ordering and installing amps and speakers. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. By Barry Ferrell Posted July 10, Let me explain: When a loudspeaker is connected to an amplifier output, the amplifier provides better control of the speaker motion and the speaker has a flatter frequency response if the output impedance of the amplifier is a lot lower than the impedance of the speaker.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Celestion Loudspeakers
There are several ways to wire up Speakers, the most common methods are Series and Parallel which are discussed here. Wiring up Speakers correctly to provide the best possible sound, requires some knowledge of Loading, Phase, and Impedance, while understanding Ohms Law will help you to connect your speakers properly. This allows the Amplifier to run cooler and more efficiently. It is often assumed the Amplifier is producing less output, but it still produces the same output, because each Speaker only gets a percentage of the overall power. However, increasing the resistance to more than 4 ohms of speaker resistance by adding Speakers in Series, will split the amplified audio output from the Amplifier across all the Speakers in the circuit.
Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams
By Barry Ferrell. Have you ever wondered which is a better method for wiring your surround speakers, and why? Some installers use Series-Parallel wiring schemes to conserve amp channels and raise load impedance on inferior amps. But at QSC, we have always recommended parallel wiring for all surround speakers when multiple speakers are combined on an amp channel. Parallel connections sound better, are more reliable, provide more dynamic headroom, are easier to wire, and in some cases, make upgrading to 7. When a loudspeaker is connected to an amplifier output, the amplifier provides better control of the speaker motion and the speaker has a flatter frequency response if the output impedance of the amplifier is a lot lower than the impedance of the speaker. If the amplifier has a damping factor of , the output impedance is 8 ohms divided by , or 0.
Speaker Wiring Instructions
It is not possible to wire two 8 ohm speakers to equal 8 ohms. In other words, it is impossible to make two 8 ohm speakers into an 8 ohm load. The only options you have are to use a single 8 ohm speaker or wire the speakers in series for 16 ohms or in parallel for 4 ohms. To get a total output of 8 ohms, you can wire the two 8 ohm speakers in parallel for 4 ohms and then wire that in series with a small resistor a 3 ohm and 5 ohm resistor for a total off 8 ohms. Keep in mind that you may not want to connect a 4 ohm impedance to 4 ohm speakers to your receiver or amp.
Series versus Parallel Surround Wiring
In this article we look at how and when to connect 2 speakers in parallel or series. Both the theory and practical points on how to connect 2 speakers are discussed. Connecting 2 speakers in parallel or series to your amplifier is useful when:. If you need to turn each speaker on or off individually or have separate volume controls, you may need a speaker selector switch. Many people get confused when we talk about a stereo amplifier. A stereo amp simply has two amplifiers built into the one box.
How to Connect 2 Speakers to 1 Amplifier
The speaker ohm rating is an indication of the speaker's AC impedance, which varies with the frequency of the input signal. This variation of the speaker's impedance can be seen on the speaker's spec sheet impedance curve. This is why the spec sheet indicates this speaker to have an 8 ohm "nominal impedance. Most of the speakers are available in alternative ohm ratings usually 4, 8 an 16 ohm versions. This variety allows for more flexibility in matching the overall equivalent impedance of your speaker s to the output impedance of the amplifier. It is important that the output impedance of your amplifier matches the overall equivalent impedance of your speaker s for maximum power transfer and so that you do not damage the amplifier.
Wiring speakers out of phase in series vs parallel
Enter the impedance of the speakers that are connected in parallel starting at the top. Data Input: Speaker one's impedance? Impedance of each voice coil? Number of Speakers?
Before you start Make sure the impedance rating of your speakers is 8 ohms. Any other impedance rating may cause the Amp or Connect:Amp to fault. We do not recommend wiring your speakers in series as it will result in poor sound quality. Refer to the image below to see an example of parallel wiring. Note : The Amp and Connect:Amp are only able to play one source of music at a time. If you're using four speakers and they are in different rooms, then all rooms will play the same music.
Setting up a music system with speakers for making a great surround system needs more effort than just following instructions. They can be connected to the device with two types of wiring, i. It will help if you put in a bit of extra work while connecting the speakers. The wiring of speakers gives out the final quality. Series wiring is best for some people, while some prefer the parallels.
Wiring multiple speakers in series or parallel is a challenging task for every beginner to the audio system setup. It is the best suitable time to find three different ways to wire the multiple speakers together. Series is the first option to wire speakers. If you wire speakers in series at any time, then your speaker resistance is additive and measured in ohms.
Agree, this remarkable idea is right about