thanks, I just got an old Randall cab, a "low end monster" as I've read, its a 4x12 thats apparently 8 ohm mono and 4 ohm stereo. your explaination helped me a ton, ty.
I could only hear a difference on the high gain settings. Also I noted the extra cab makes the guitar sound livelier, apparently because of the leakage of its sound into the main mics. Or maybe it's just the sound of the room enhanced by the 6db boost. Thank you for such great comparisons
There is something happening in the lower mids between the series and parallell - listen again and focus only on the low mids, the series sound much rounder to me, while the parallel sound more flat, at least in my ears.
sounds to me like wiring speakers in parallel makes them sound a bit brighter/distorted and mid scooped, and series being fuller with more mids and slightly less distorted. From your other video I heard that a 16ohm speaker is brighter than the same 8ohm speaker. So it seems if you want a darker sound, you could either wire your speakers in series, or get 8ohm speakers, or both. And for a brighter sound go for parallel wiring, 16 ohm speakers, or both. Something like that >____>
You might want to add a correction around 3:30. (8+8)/2 is not 4. You're not supposed to add the impedance of each speaker this way. Its 1 / [ (1/Sp1) + (1/Sp2) ] = ohm. You got the impedance right but the explanation wrong.
How does an 8 ohms series (2 x 4 ohms) cab compare to an 8 ohms parallel (2 x 16 ohms) cab? Is there a difference in terms of volume and tone? Which do you prefer?
My Carvin MTS 3212 combo has two 8 ohm speakers. Parallel (4 ohm) is tighter, scooped, with cutting highs. Series (16 ohm) is looser, with a distinct upper mid bite and highs that tend toward chimey/gritty rather than strident. I prefer series, as it's just fuller sounding overall.
i've found that lower impedance is good for crispier tone. higher impedance can compress. but wattage is important. higher watts with lower impedance, vs a matched wattage with higher impedance.
I own a Carvin MTS3212 combo with twin Eminence GB128's. Parallel is scooped, with deep lows and clear highs. Series has a mid push, and is a little dirtier. This echos what I hear in the samples here. I'm a high-gain player, so I definitely prefer series, as it is always better to start with more mids than less!
parallel=better freq. range for the mix and more dynamics, series=richer breakup sounds and more transformer coloration from the amp, reduced highs. now go to 4x12 and you can wire them series-parallel or parallel-series..another chapter..but generally 4x12 will be even darker than 2x12 series.
You’re hearing the output transformer more than the speakers. Different impedance speakers have different voice coils and slightly different responses. What would have been a good test is two of the same model speaker in 4 ohms wired in series for 8 ohms, and then two 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel. This way you would be using the 8 ohm tap on the output transformer for both. Then you would hear how the different voice coils sound.
Well, this is an interesting experience. I never had to deal with those puzzle. I have no real preference in terms of output impedance settings, but I definitely enjoy more the series settings. The parallel sounds dull and flat to me. Does this mean that the more coil you have the more the mid range is filtered?
flawless study! kean implementation of every related scenario! With such hospitality .. It deserves to be called Perfect! ) Thanks guys for your thorough efforts
I would appreciate your feedback please. I am using my Marshall 100 watt Valvestate guitar amplifier with an 8 Ohm Goldback Celestion 100watt speaker, which is more of a solid state amp than full valve. I have a speaker box with a Mackenzie 50 watt guitar speaker and a Chinese no-name brand 150 watt speaker fitted. I have wired them in series and am not using the one horn and tweeter that the speaker box has. It does not sound bad at all with the 2nd speaker output from my Marshall plugged into the box. Will this be the best I can do like this, and will it balance as 50 watt speaker to 150 watt speaker, as 100 watt to 100 watt from my Marshall amp? And maybe I should attach the horn to the Chinese speaker, as the Mackenzie seems to be a dedicated guitar speaker, but the Chinese one not. And if I drove my guitar amp almost full, would there be a large, possibly damaging imbalance?
I may be completely off here, but did it not matter to which transformer tap the amps negative feedback loop (presence) is connected to? For example, if the amp negative feedback loop is connected to the 4 ohm tap, but there is no speaker connected to this tap (to 16 ohm instead), the amp sounds different. This is how I remember it, I may be totally wrong here. With these single speaker clips, there could have been a 8 ohm solo config for comparison.
Question about wattage through the speakers. Now, I’m a retired avionics tech so I probably should know how to figure this out, but then there aren’t a lot of 100 watt cabs in your average Citation. Anyway, my question is this, if I have 100 watts going into 8 ohms, two 16 ohm speakers in parallel, do both speakers see 100 watts (so therefore need to be rated at 100 watts), or is it 50 watts apiece? I’m pretty sure I know the answer but basic electricity and electronics was a very long time ago. If each speaker were rated at 50-70 watts, that’s all well and good unless one of them fails, then I suddenly have 100 watts into a 50-70 watt speaker. So maybe in that regard, series wiring is better. I’m only asking this because the only multi speaker cable I ever owned was a huge 4x10 cab that I plugged into an old Fender Twin that I had with my first guitar back in the late 70’s (it was an early 70’s Mosrite model 350 that I still have). That was obviously a very long try time ago and I have no idea how those were wired.
The wattage is shared across all speakers, so it would be 50 each. Having said that, this is maximum power ratings which you will likely never be operating near- but also if a speaker were to fail and go open circuit, the load would change to 16 ohms so the wattage and current would be lower. Tone would suffer because the power amp then wouldn’t be matched to that speaker load, but then since you already blew a speaker pristine tone would be the least concern in that situation… Also keep in mind that speaker power ratings are simple ratings for continuous operation to cover the manufacturer in case of safety issues, more often than not a speaker isn’t being operated at that level continuously (musical output being very dynamic) and they can also usually handle a lot more than their rating for short periods. It’s more about long term heat dissipation than anything else
hi i have a Marshall 8100 valve state that on the back it says "100 watts RMS/4 ohms" what would my 4x12 need to be wired like.? i have 4x12 marshall with AX-75 watt 16 ohms speakers, but can wire it which ever way I need to. currently the cab out put is totally wrong @ 28 ohms. help if ya can thanks a bunch
I think series connection has more bottom end. Parallel has way less bottom end and makes mid and treble stand out. From this demo, I prefer parallel connection. But, I don't know if I like it in real life.
@Chief Thundercock the impedance switches are there to keep things nearly the same. they are protection switches, not meant to enhance sound, therefore you're not actually taking advantage of parallel wiring (more power drawn by the woofers) or taking advantage of series wiring (lower distortion at high power, but requires more power to achieve the same SPL). if you have an amp stable to 4ohms that is also sufficiently powerful to drive 8ohm (or 16ohm in this case) loads, then the switch should always be left in the 4ohm position if you want to really see the different acoustic responses of series vs parallel wiring. the only thing you would need to adjust is the volume knob up when testing the higher impedance setup. then we could really get an idea if sound quality/tonality changes with impedance changes, since impedance will affect the crossover characteristics as well. obviously i'm coming more from the audio speaker world, but the same principles apply. there is a similar impedance switch found on many receivers and the consensus is to leave it at the lowest setting, as it's only function is to reduce current draw (and reduce warranty claims), which in turn reduces performance. this all assumes an amplifier which is stable at 4ohms. i am also assuming that this impedance switch isn't also switching to different impedance-specific crossovers, in which case it would useful and disregard everything i suggested. lol.
Honestly I can't really hear a difference, but I'm a saxophonist first and foremost, guitarist/producer second, so my ear isn't exactly tuned to the little subtlys of guitar cabinets and all the related things. I'm gonna check this video out again once my new monitors come in and see if it's just the headphones I'm using cause I really can't hear a difference.
Rule of thumb you can mismatch impendence/ohms so long as your speakers are higher than the amp. SOme interesting comments below parallel I have always found is far better (wider spatial sounding) than series just goes to show the listeners all have their favourites no matter what, its down to the individual. I did like those Greenbacks, G12H, personally I have the G12T-75 (UK Versions) 16 ohms in 2x12 cab and Vintage 30s 8ohms in a 4x12. I use power amps as well as Valve, there just sweet - QSC and Crest and they love IR unlike guitar solid state which I find are best just using hardware or built in effects
Disagree, most Amp techs say you can go up one or down one, ie: if your Amp has only an 8ohm out, your safe with a 4ohm or 16ohm cab, but if Amp only has 16ohm out, 8ohm cab is OK, 4ohm shouldn’t be used
I seem to prefer parallel/lower impedance amp setting. I only care about the high gain sound. Clean sounded pretty similar on all of them. Maybe I just don’t have an ear for cleans.
I bought a cab with two blown speakers. Thomas at tone tubby reckoned them for me no problem. Super nice guy. Anyways I was using the two other speakers that still worked in series sounded great. I did the same when I received the repaired speakers to break them in. When I wired all four speakers back up together I just decided to do parallel so I could get a 4ohm load. My logic was less resistance= better tone. Holy shit though by themselfs they sounded good in pairs but got dang do they sound good now. I had a two 12 in series which I have now also converted and shit it sounds good. That is just my recent experience. Love this video though cause I just kinda did this experiment.
Adam, great review as always! Such a critical and clinical way of working, love it! BTW check the impedance on the Rawbox+4x12 tests, both close and room mics, there must be something wrong ;)
Si, pero que ningún parlante tenga unos watts inferior al del amplificador. Si el amplificador es de 50w, el parlante de menos watts tiene que ser mínimo de 50w.
@@xavibsa This is not true. You multiply the lowest wattage speaker by the number of speakers to get your total cabinet wattage. This number must be equal or higher than the wattage of your amp. You can definitely have a 25W speaker in a cabinet, with other speakers, to use with a 50W amp.
I guess I got to watch more of the video but just right off the gate why would you listen to 16 speakers and then 4 ohm it should have been so you can hear the difference between parallel and series 16 ohm and then 8 ohm which would have been series and in parallel take 16 ohm speakers and run in parallel you get a 8 ohms you run 16 in series you get 16
Yes sir I have to Vintage 30s they are rated at 16 ohms each I've got them wired in parallel does that mean I would run my amp at 8 ohms the back of my amp I have 4 .8.16 ohm setting I'm assuming it would be 8 correct thanks enjoy your video
So I recently got the prs mt15 and have a behringer combo amp that crapped out that I've removed the amp section and am using the speakers as a cab. It has the bugera v30 clones at 8ohms in it currently only wired into one speaker. So in order to wire both speakers (amp only has 8ohm and 16ohm outs) I need too wire them in series?
Literally just run a positive wire to the positive tab of each speaker and a negative wire to the negative tab of each speaker. Nothing could be easier.
I'm still confused.i have a 4 ohm 4x12 cab that is wired to be 4 ohms but my Marshall head is 8 ohm minimum.so how would I wire 4 4 ohm speakers to get a higher ohm rating that work with my head?
Maybe you both are wrong because the speaker cabinet is wired to 4 ohm and therefore the speakers have be 16 ohm wired in allparallel mode. To get 16 ohm for the cabinet you have to wire 2 pairs of speakers in series and these two pairs in parallel. A lot of diagrams out there.
Not really, impedance and resistance are different measurements. It’s possible but you need really high power rates resistors so they don’t overheat and blow up
Not true, changing the output impedance on a valve amp uses a different number of winds on the output transformer, which can greatly affect how the valves and the speakers interact.
I have a Carvin V3 that has parallel speaker outputs and I’m trying to connect to a 8ohm Two Notes torpedo captor. Do I combine both outputs with a Y ts cable and set the V3 to 8ohms?
No just connect one speaker output, set the V3 to 8 ohm and you’re done. There are two outputs to give you the option, but it’s not necessary to use both so keep it simple.
Awesome, that’s how I hooked it up initially to test the amp. Just wanted to make sure it was excepting the correct amount (ohms) with the correct connection and not doing anything harmful to the amp. Thanks for the rapid response, love your channel btw 👍🏽
Hi, I never questioned if the cables of my amp are right, what if the previous owner put positive in negative and negative in positive.??? how do I know? is there any way to know for sure? any video that shows how both sound?
It doesn’t sound any different, since the amp makes the speakers move back and forward. The only time it can be an issue is with 2 cabs plugged into the same amp, wired opposite ways. In this case, they can sound hollow and out of phase- but no damage will happen.
@@adamsteelproducer false alarm. I watched closely with lantern and found positive labeled in speaker as +. It has a white cable so i think it is correctly plugged
Very interesting video... I have a blackstar ht stage 100 mkii running to a blackstar 2x12 cab.... it confuses me because I dont know what ohms the speakers are? Celestion 70/80... back of the head has 1x4 ohm & a 1x16 ohm.... & 2x8..1x8...2x16... I use the 1x16ohm into 1x16 connection on my cab, but I also could use the 1x4ohm into the connection on my cab that says 1x4ohm right? So how can I determine what the ohms are of each speaker? I'm thinking of changing them... thanks for any info you can share with me
It’s simple maths- if your cab has options for 16 or 4, the only possible way to get both options is to have 8 ohm speakers. Two of them In series- 8+8- 16 ohms. Two in parallel - 4 ohm load
Hop Pole Studios hmmmmmm ok that's what I was thinking too... I didn't see any wires connecting the 2 speakers, so I assume they're wired together somehow at the speaker jack? Guess I'll take a look inside... what is your opinion on running in 16 ohms or 4ohms? Do you think there's a difference in sound or do you have a preference?
Stock speaker 12" 60w on 8ohm is two times louder then two speakers 10" 60w 8 ohms, connected serial on 16 ohms. Is this normal? Yes I proper disconnect stock speaker, and plug in 16 ohm socket box 16ohm 2x10. Or am i did something wrong with wiring?
That could be that your 10 inch speakers have a lower sensitivity, or that the 16ohm rap provides less current so less volume. Just turn your amp up to match
Hello, i habe a vox vt 50 with a 8 ohm 12" speaker inside. It has a 8ohm Box Jack. I want to connect an 2x 12" cab 2x 16 ohm speaker and use All 3 speaker on the Same time (combo + cab) Is it able?
Hey- I’ve just read the manual for that amp. If you have an external cab with 2 16 ohm speakers, you MUST wire them in parallel to create an 8 ohm load. Also when you plug this in, it will disable the internal speaker, there is no way to run them all at the same time.
thanks for your answer Hop Pole, my thoughts was to bring another jack to the AMP, thats connect the intern speaker with the Cap (Cap in serial). my thoughts is : Internal Speaker 8ohm + Serieal 16 ohm : 8 ohm. i'm wrong? With the normal External Speak Jack the connection to the internal Speaker is disconectet, thats why it will mute. so i want to soldering a permanent connetion to another Jack
Yeah no- that’s wrong. Anything plus 8 ohm= some other number. In parallel here I think it would work out as 12 ohm. It’s a solid state power section so it wouldn’t be damaged- but it might not sound at its best
Like always enjoy your videos I get a lot out of them and I enjoy hearing you play here's my thing I've got to Texas heat 12 in 8 ohm speakers wired parallel which takes them down to 4 Ohms which do I hook it up to 4 8 16 ohm switch I'm a little bit confused here hope you can help me out thanks buddy
Subscriber here. I have 2 8 ohm redbacks in a cab that came in the cab new. There are 2 jacks in the back of the cabinet. At the 2 jacks it says “16 ohm parallel” I am perplexed by this. Please help.
It means it’s wired in parallel as a 16 ohm load. Use the 16 ohm output on your amp to one of those jacks and ignore the other one unless you plan to chain 2 cabs together
Hello Adam. New to this topic and channel. I want to make sure the wise decision is made before investing. The Hughes and Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40 watt speaker output is 8-16ohms. Would getting a VHT AV-AL-212E Open Back 212 Speaker Cabinet (Empty) and fitting it with a Celestion G12-50GL Lynchback 12" 50-Watt (8-ohms) combined with a Celestion V-Type 70-Watt 12-Inch (8-ohms) work better in series or parallel? Or should I get both speakers at 16ohms (each) and connect them in parallel since the load would split to 8ohms (in series I"d blow it up I think). Hope I made sense. A great video by the way and subscribed! Cheers!
Hi Vishnu! It’s really up to you- if you prefer the sound of 8 ohm speakers over 16 ohm speakers (I did another video about this with V30s) then it’s entirely your choice. 32 ohms wouldn’t blow your amp up, it just wouldn’t sound right. Too low an impedance is where danger lies! Have fun!
so if you got two 8ohm speakers... Parallel = 4ohms Series = 16ohms? so what if 4 speakers, and mix the two so you got both pairs connected in series so 2 sets of 16ohms, then conect those in parallel? would that equal an 8ohm load?
This is what I just wrote. Two 4 ohm speakers in series would be 8 ohms, same as two 16 ohm in parallel. In this test you are hearing the difference in the output transformer taps, not the speakers. But different impedance speakers sound different. If you look at the resource chart on Celestion’s website they show the 8 ohm speaker’s curve.
@@adamsteelproducer lol jk, these calculations brought back my undergrad memories ... Great video btw, couldn't be more simpler than this for one to understand how speakers work with amps... 😀👍
All due respect but when you wire in series you're putting the voice coil, an inductor, in series with the second driver. That's a choke, like what I use when designing crossovers to roll off the high frequencies of a woofer or mid. Of course there is less high output from the second driver. I do like you videos.... Here's one I don't know and haven't seen on your stuff. I play quietly these days. I want two drivers for the sound quality. I'm playing through a 73 Fender Deluxe Reverb with only an 8 ohm output. If I connect two 16 ohm drivers in parallel, what's it going to do to the sensitivity (volume an a given setting) . Two drivers with solid state amps ( I do high end audio for a living) will always give you 3db more sensitivity for the doubled cone area, inreasing actual efficiency. Many solid state amps will also double power into the halved impedance load. That's 6db, the last thing my old lifestyle needs. I know the first 3db is there, but don't know if something on a high output, small transformer tube guitar amp helps compensate for the surface increase. Sorry, I'm a geek and have only 9 ohm drivers on hand. Thanks.
It has always irritated my in amp videos, that youtubers beef the sound up by stereo things with a small delay on either L or R.. That dosnt give the right impression of what to her ( other than records ) Bute there you do not nerdy detail about sound at that matter.. :-) But thanks anyway!!
It’s not a slight delay, it’s two recordings- which is what we do on records. Being a studio engineer, this is what I would expect to hear on a recording. That’s what I do, that’s the area I’m focused on.
@@ebeep its just 8 divided by 2, since they're blending the load in a sense. One on its own is 8 ohm, but when it's connected in parallel, those two speakers lose half their own impedance since they're connected to each other, giving each other a current, leaving their impedance at 4 ohms. Think of it like mitosis.
@@luisalextorres I had two 8 ohm Eminence CV75 speakers in series and they're already quite mid heavy to begin with. But, I noticed after switching back to parallel most of the honk was gone and it had more treble, but also less bass and low mid. There's a difference that can be perceived as both an EQ and feel thing going on in that the response feels sloppy in series. The amp I use is a Pv 5150. It is more noticable with distortion than clean tones. It's a lot of buzz words, but this shit is hard to describe. I think the eq thing is analogous with wiring a humbucker pickup in series/parallel.
I love how he says in parallel 8 + 8 divided by 2 we have 4 ohms ahah.. If you were looking for the way to calculate it is 8*8/8+8 , thats for two 8ohms speakers
Yes that’s already been covered in the comments. The wording could have been better, but since two 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel is a 4 ohm load the result was correct
@@adamsteelproducer I see , great video anyways , very helpful , Maybe you could add the info to the video description , since its very important otherwise you could break a speaker or an amp. Dont know if youtube lets you add something to the description. cheers
I don't need to make video i just go begging in the street anyone want to donate your money to my patreon like youtube don't pay these guys for making videos. TH-cam have huge wearehouses of content creators making videos just think about that before donating to patreon
Audio comparison- 5:45
thanks, I just got an old Randall cab, a "low end monster" as I've read, its a 4x12 thats apparently 8 ohm mono and 4 ohm stereo. your explaination helped me a ton, ty.
I could only hear a difference on the high gain settings. Also I noted the extra cab makes the guitar sound livelier, apparently because of the leakage of its sound into the main mics. Or maybe it's just the sound of the room enhanced by the 6db boost. Thank you for such great comparisons
There is something happening in the lower mids between the series and parallell - listen again and focus only on the low mids, the series sound much rounder to me, while the parallel sound more flat, at least in my ears.
In this video all wires in series sound more full to me. Thanks for your help!
CORRECTION:- The Roarbox samples should read "Single Speaker - 16 Ohms" and "Both Cabs - 8 Ohms"
Hop Pole Studios Adam would 2 16 ohms speakers in series be safe to run my 16 ohms tube amp into ?
@@dunboozin 16+16=32, then blow up
sounds to me like wiring speakers in parallel makes them sound a bit brighter/distorted and mid scooped, and series being fuller with more mids and slightly less distorted.
From your other video I heard that a 16ohm speaker is brighter than the same 8ohm speaker.
So it seems if you want a darker sound, you could either wire your speakers in series, or get 8ohm speakers, or both.
And for a brighter sound go for parallel wiring, 16 ohm speakers, or both.
Something like that >____>
I heard the same here. For metal riffs, series sounds more violent.
I think you nailed it. Parallel = damped and chunky, with bright highs. Series = mids galore, looser.
You might want to add a correction around 3:30. (8+8)/2 is not 4. You're not supposed to add the impedance of each speaker this way. Its 1 / [ (1/Sp1) + (1/Sp2) ] = ohm. You got the impedance right but the explanation wrong.
YES! I needed this video in my life! Thank you for the videos. well spoken and well thought out video. keep up the great work brother!
How does an 8 ohms series (2 x 4 ohms) cab compare to an 8 ohms parallel (2 x 16 ohms) cab? Is there a difference in terms of volume and tone? Which do you prefer?
My Carvin MTS 3212 combo has two 8 ohm speakers. Parallel (4 ohm) is tighter, scooped, with cutting highs. Series (16 ohm) is looser, with a distinct upper mid bite and highs that tend toward chimey/gritty rather than strident. I prefer series, as it's just fuller sounding overall.
i've found that lower impedance is good for crispier tone. higher impedance can compress. but wattage is important. higher watts with lower impedance, vs a matched wattage with higher impedance.
I own a Carvin MTS3212 combo with twin Eminence GB128's. Parallel is scooped, with deep lows and clear highs. Series has a mid push, and is a little dirtier. This echos what I hear in the samples here. I'm a high-gain player, so I definitely prefer series, as it is always better to start with more mids than less!
parallel=better freq. range for the mix and more dynamics, series=richer breakup sounds and more transformer coloration from the amp, reduced highs. now go to 4x12 and you can wire them series-parallel or parallel-series..another chapter..but generally 4x12 will be even darker than 2x12 series.
You’re hearing the output transformer more than the speakers.
Different impedance speakers have different voice coils and slightly different responses.
What would have been a good test is two of the same model speaker in 4 ohms wired in series for 8 ohms, and then two 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel.
This way you would be using the 8 ohm tap on the output transformer for both. Then you would hear how the different voice coils sound.
Well, this is an interesting experience. I never had to deal with those puzzle. I have no real preference in terms of output impedance settings, but I definitely enjoy more the series settings. The parallel sounds dull and flat to me. Does this mean that the more coil you have the more the mid range is filtered?
came here for 13:24, nice to find someone who could confirm a theory i had
What if the ohms match, but the wattage is lower on the speaker?
flawless study! kean implementation of every related scenario! With such hospitality .. It deserves to be called Perfect! ) Thanks guys for your thorough efforts
I would appreciate your feedback please. I am using my Marshall 100 watt Valvestate guitar amplifier with an 8 Ohm Goldback Celestion 100watt speaker, which is more of a solid state amp than full valve. I have a speaker box with a Mackenzie 50 watt guitar speaker and a Chinese no-name brand 150 watt speaker fitted. I have wired them in series and am not using the one horn and tweeter that the speaker box has. It does not sound bad at all with the 2nd speaker output from my Marshall plugged into the box. Will this be the best I can do like this, and will it balance as 50 watt speaker to 150 watt speaker, as 100 watt to 100 watt from my Marshall amp? And maybe I should attach the horn to the Chinese speaker, as the Mackenzie seems to be a dedicated guitar speaker, but the Chinese one not. And if I drove my guitar amp almost full, would there be a large, possibly damaging imbalance?
I may be completely off here, but did it not matter to which transformer tap the amps negative feedback loop (presence) is connected to? For example, if the amp negative feedback loop is connected to the 4 ohm tap, but there is no speaker connected to this tap (to 16 ohm instead), the amp sounds different. This is how I remember it, I may be totally wrong here. With these single speaker clips, there could have been a 8 ohm solo config for comparison.
Great video as usual Adam!
Series is beefier sounding with a better signal-to-noise ratio so that's what I would go with.
Question about wattage through the speakers.
Now, I’m a retired avionics tech so I probably should know how to figure this out, but then there aren’t a lot of 100 watt cabs in your average Citation.
Anyway, my question is this, if I have 100 watts going into 8 ohms, two 16 ohm speakers in parallel, do both speakers see 100 watts (so therefore need to be rated at 100 watts), or is it 50 watts apiece? I’m pretty sure I know the answer but basic electricity and electronics was a very long time ago.
If each speaker were rated at 50-70 watts, that’s all well and good unless one of them fails, then I suddenly have 100 watts into a 50-70 watt speaker. So maybe in that regard, series wiring is better.
I’m only asking this because the only multi speaker cable I ever owned was a huge 4x10 cab that I plugged into an old Fender Twin that I had with my first guitar back in the late 70’s (it was an early 70’s Mosrite model 350 that I still have). That was obviously a very long try time ago and I have no idea how those were wired.
The wattage is shared across all speakers, so it would be 50 each. Having said that, this is maximum power ratings which you will likely never be operating near- but also if a speaker were to fail and go open circuit, the load would change to 16 ohms so the wattage and current would be lower. Tone would suffer because the power amp then wouldn’t be matched to that speaker load, but then since you already blew a speaker pristine tone would be the least concern in that situation…
Also keep in mind that speaker power ratings are simple ratings for continuous operation to cover the manufacturer in case of safety issues, more often than not a speaker isn’t being operated at that level continuously (musical output being very dynamic) and they can also usually handle a lot more than their rating for short periods. It’s more about long term heat dissipation than anything else
hi i have a Marshall 8100 valve state that on the back it says "100 watts RMS/4 ohms"
what would my 4x12 need to be wired like.? i have 4x12 marshall with AX-75 watt 16 ohms speakers, but can wire it which ever way I need to. currently the cab out put is totally wrong @ 28 ohms. help if ya can thanks a bunch
I think series connection has more bottom end. Parallel has way less bottom end and makes mid and treble stand out. From this demo, I prefer parallel connection. But, I don't know if I like it in real life.
@Chief Thundercock the impedance switches are there to keep things nearly the same. they are protection switches, not meant to enhance sound, therefore you're not actually taking advantage of parallel wiring (more power drawn by the woofers) or taking advantage of series wiring (lower distortion at high power, but requires more power to achieve the same SPL). if you have an amp stable to 4ohms that is also sufficiently powerful to drive 8ohm (or 16ohm in this case) loads, then the switch should always be left in the 4ohm position if you want to really see the different acoustic responses of series vs parallel wiring. the only thing you would need to adjust is the volume knob up when testing the higher impedance setup. then we could really get an idea if sound quality/tonality changes with impedance changes, since impedance will affect the crossover characteristics as well. obviously i'm coming more from the audio speaker world, but the same principles apply. there is a similar impedance switch found on many receivers and the consensus is to leave it at the lowest setting, as it's only function is to reduce current draw (and reduce warranty claims), which in turn reduces performance. this all assumes an amplifier which is stable at 4ohms. i am also assuming that this impedance switch isn't also switching to different impedance-specific crossovers, in which case it would useful and disregard everything i suggested. lol.
Dude yes this video is gold
Honestly I can't really hear a difference, but I'm a saxophonist first and foremost, guitarist/producer second, so my ear isn't exactly tuned to the little subtlys of guitar cabinets and all the related things. I'm gonna check this video out again once my new monitors come in and see if it's just the headphones I'm using cause I really can't hear a difference.
i seem to prefer parallel, sounds like a more complete and natural sound. series being more muddy and bloated in the middle and bass
I got a 6x10 guitar amp cab so this is perfect
Rule of thumb you can mismatch impendence/ohms so long as your speakers are higher than the amp. SOme interesting comments below parallel I have always found is far better (wider spatial sounding) than series just goes to show the listeners all have their favourites no matter what, its down to the individual. I did like those Greenbacks, G12H, personally I have the G12T-75 (UK Versions) 16 ohms in 2x12 cab and Vintage 30s 8ohms in a 4x12.
I use power amps as well as Valve, there just sweet - QSC and Crest and they love IR unlike guitar solid state which I find are best just using hardware or built in effects
Disagree, most Amp techs say you can go up one or down one, ie: if your Amp has only an 8ohm out, your safe with a 4ohm or 16ohm cab, but if Amp only has 16ohm out, 8ohm cab is OK, 4ohm shouldn’t be used
what the best brand for wiring speaker CABINET guitar sir, any recommended? thanks
It's real close, but I prefer series. It sounds fuller.
a contrario, i prefere in parallele, that sound deeper and cleaner to my ears, but it's a question of taste :)
I want to build a cabinet to go with my Fender Roc Pro 1000 head. I want to do a half stack with 8” speakers. What speakers should I use?
I seem to prefer parallel/lower impedance amp setting. I only care about the high gain sound. Clean sounded pretty similar on all of them. Maybe I just don’t have an ear for cleans.
Thought on wiring in a cab? I’ve been hearing that wiring a cab with 12 gauge wire is far better then the standard 16 gauge..
You should try 22 guage. Jk, one of my cabs had really thin wires in it. No idea as to why it was set up that way.
I bought a cab with two blown speakers. Thomas at tone tubby reckoned them for me no problem. Super nice guy. Anyways I was using the two other speakers that still worked in series sounded great. I did the same when I received the repaired speakers to break them in. When I wired all four speakers back up together I just decided to do parallel so I could get a 4ohm load. My logic was less resistance= better tone. Holy shit though by themselfs they sounded good in pairs but got dang do they sound good now. I had a two 12 in series which I have now also converted and shit it sounds good. That is just my recent experience. Love this video though cause I just kinda did this experiment.
Is it okay to pair a 8ohm head amp to a 16 ohm load 2x10 cab?
Yes but the best way would be a 8 ohm cab. All is ok unless under 8ohm.
How would you wire 4 - 16 ohms speakers to make 8 ohms output? Would that be called double parallel?
You can’t, simple as that. Sorry.
Time for new speakers. Thanks for quick reply.
Why, do you have an amp that only works with 8 ohms? Or is it 8 ohm minimum, in which case 16 ohm would be fine?
I understand it's possible to miss match amp ohms with speaker ohms, but, i wanted more flexiblity to reduce speaker ohms.
Adam, great review as always! Such a critical and clinical way of working, love it!
BTW check the impedance on the Rawbox+4x12 tests, both close and room mics, there must be something wrong ;)
What about the Watts, can I put different speakers with different Watt?
Si, pero que ningún parlante tenga unos watts inferior al del amplificador. Si el amplificador es de 50w, el parlante de menos watts tiene que ser mínimo de 50w.
@@xavibsa This is not true. You multiply the lowest wattage speaker by the number of speakers to get your total cabinet wattage. This number must be equal or higher than the wattage of your amp.
You can definitely have a 25W speaker in a cabinet, with other speakers, to use with a 50W amp.
Really good video.. I’m impressed! Subscribed
I guess I got to watch more of the video but just right off the gate why would you listen to 16 speakers and then 4 ohm it should have been so you can hear the difference between parallel and series 16 ohm and then 8 ohm which would have been series and in parallel take 16 ohm speakers and run in parallel you get a 8 ohms you run 16 in series you get 16
You've got your maths backwards I think here, there is no 8 ohm output option in series vs parallel for 2 speakers
@@adamsteelproducer that funny mojotone just did it for me
Which connection is better ..series or parallel
sparalliesel
After watching this video I'd say it's whatever gives you the correct impedance
Yes sir I have to Vintage 30s they are rated at 16 ohms each I've got them wired in parallel does that mean I would run my amp at 8 ohms the back of my amp I have 4 .8.16 ohm setting I'm assuming it would be 8 correct thanks enjoy your video
Hey- yes that’s right if you have 2 V30s, parallel would make them 8 ohms
@@adamsteelproducer thanks brother I really appreciate that subscribe to your channel maybe I can learn some more stuff LOL catch you later
So I recently got the prs mt15 and have a behringer combo amp that crapped out that I've removed the amp section and am using the speakers as a cab. It has the bugera v30 clones at 8ohms in it currently only wired into one speaker. So in order to wire both speakers (amp only has 8ohm and 16ohm outs) I need too wire them in series?
Yes wire them in series and use the 16 ohm output
man, i wish you had some parallel 4x12 diagrams on here. google image results is failing me hard RN.
Literally just run a positive wire to the positive tab of each speaker and a negative wire to the negative tab of each speaker. Nothing could be easier.
@@jegr3398 thanks, but I solved this problem 11 months ago
@@pillarsofserpents That's good to hear eRic 👍
I'm still confused.i have a 4 ohm 4x12 cab that is wired to be 4 ohms but my Marshall head is 8 ohm minimum.so how would I wire 4 4 ohm speakers to get a higher ohm rating that work with my head?
You could wire all your 4 ohm speakers in series to make it a 16 ohm cab, which would work fine
Maybe you both are wrong because the speaker cabinet is wired to 4 ohm and therefore the speakers have be 16 ohm wired in allparallel mode. To get 16 ohm for the cabinet you have to wire 2 pairs of speakers in series and these two pairs in parallel. A lot of diagrams out there.
Awesome thanks for this!
Brilliant, thank you. Really helped to make my mind up with wiring options. :)
Couldn’t you add resistors to your speaker wires to match impedance?
Not really, impedance and resistance are different measurements. It’s possible but you need really high power rates resistors so they don’t overheat and blow up
If you use valve amp 4 or 8 or 16 wont have any affect on tone, only SS amps affect tone
Not true, changing the output impedance on a valve amp uses a different number of winds on the output transformer, which can greatly affect how the valves and the speakers interact.
I have a Carvin V3 that has parallel speaker outputs and I’m trying to connect to a 8ohm Two Notes torpedo captor. Do I combine both outputs with a Y ts cable and set the V3 to 8ohms?
No just connect one speaker output, set the V3 to 8 ohm and you’re done. There are two outputs to give you the option, but it’s not necessary to use both so keep it simple.
Awesome, that’s how I hooked it up initially to test the amp. Just wanted to make sure it was excepting the correct amount (ohms) with the correct connection and not doing anything harmful to the amp. Thanks for the rapid response, love your channel btw 👍🏽
Hi, I never questioned if the cables of my amp are right, what if the previous owner put positive in negative and negative in positive.???
how do I know? is there any way to know for sure? any video that shows how both sound?
It doesn’t sound any different, since the amp makes the speakers move back and forward. The only time it can be an issue is with 2 cabs plugged into the same amp, wired opposite ways. In this case, they can sound hollow and out of phase- but no damage will happen.
@@adamsteelproducer false alarm. I watched closely with lantern and found positive labeled in speaker as +. It has a white cable so i think it is correctly plugged
Very interesting video... I have a blackstar ht stage 100 mkii running to a blackstar 2x12 cab.... it confuses me because I dont know what ohms the speakers are? Celestion 70/80... back of the head has 1x4 ohm & a 1x16 ohm.... & 2x8..1x8...2x16... I use the 1x16ohm into 1x16 connection on my cab, but I also could use the 1x4ohm into the connection on my cab that says 1x4ohm right? So how can I determine what the ohms are of each speaker? I'm thinking of changing them... thanks for any info you can share with me
It’s simple maths- if your cab has options for 16 or 4, the only possible way to get both options is to have 8 ohm speakers. Two of them In series- 8+8- 16 ohms. Two in parallel - 4 ohm load
Hop Pole Studios hmmmmmm ok that's what I was thinking too... I didn't see any wires connecting the 2 speakers, so I assume they're wired together somehow at the speaker jack? Guess I'll take a look inside... what is your opinion on running in 16 ohms or 4ohms? Do you think there's a difference in sound or do you have a preference?
Stock speaker 12" 60w on 8ohm is two times louder then two speakers 10" 60w 8 ohms, connected serial on 16 ohms. Is this normal? Yes I proper disconnect stock speaker, and plug in 16 ohm socket box 16ohm 2x10.
Or am i did something wrong with wiring?
That could be that your 10 inch speakers have a lower sensitivity, or that the 16ohm rap provides less current so less volume. Just turn your amp up to match
@@adamsteelproducer thanks
I don't see time links mate but great video
Hello, i habe a vox vt 50 with a 8 ohm 12" speaker inside. It has a 8ohm Box Jack.
I want to connect an 2x 12" cab 2x 16 ohm speaker and use All 3 speaker on the Same time (combo + cab)
Is it able?
Hey- I’ve just read the manual for that amp. If you have an external cab with 2 16 ohm speakers, you MUST wire them in parallel to create an 8 ohm load. Also when you plug this in, it will disable the internal speaker, there is no way to run them all at the same time.
thanks for your answer Hop Pole,
my thoughts was to bring another jack to the AMP, thats connect the intern speaker with the Cap (Cap in serial).
my thoughts is : Internal Speaker 8ohm + Serieal 16 ohm : 8 ohm. i'm wrong?
With the normal External Speak Jack the connection to the internal Speaker is disconectet, thats why it will mute. so i want to soldering a permanent connetion to another Jack
Yeah no- that’s wrong. Anything plus 8 ohm= some other number. In parallel here I think it would work out as 12 ohm. It’s a solid state power section so it wouldn’t be damaged- but it might not sound at its best
Like always enjoy your videos I get a lot out of them and I enjoy hearing you play here's my thing I've got to Texas heat 12 in 8 ohm speakers wired parallel which takes them down to 4 Ohms which do I hook it up to 4 8 16 ohm switch I'm a little bit confused here hope you can help me out thanks buddy
Hey - if it’s a 4 ohm load your amp should be set to 4 ohms. Keep it simple! 👍
@@adamsteelproducer thank you very much brother you have you a great day and keep picking
Subscriber here. I have 2 8 ohm redbacks in a cab that came in the cab new. There are 2 jacks in the back of the cabinet. At the 2 jacks it says “16 ohm parallel” I am perplexed by this. Please help.
It means it’s wired in parallel as a 16 ohm load. Use the 16 ohm output on your amp to one of those jacks and ignore the other one unless you plan to chain 2 cabs together
@@adamsteelproducer you’re the best!! Thank you sir!
Cool, thanks for sharing.
Hello Adam. New to this topic and channel. I want to make sure the wise decision is made before investing.
The Hughes and Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40 watt speaker output is 8-16ohms. Would getting a VHT AV-AL-212E Open Back 212 Speaker Cabinet (Empty) and fitting it with a Celestion G12-50GL Lynchback 12" 50-Watt (8-ohms) combined with a Celestion V-Type 70-Watt 12-Inch (8-ohms) work better in series or parallel? Or should I get both speakers at 16ohms (each) and connect them in parallel since the load would split to 8ohms (in series I"d blow it up I think). Hope I made sense. A great video by the way and subscribed! Cheers!
Hi Vishnu! It’s really up to you- if you prefer the sound of 8 ohm speakers over 16 ohm speakers (I did another video about this with V30s) then it’s entirely your choice. 32 ohms wouldn’t blow your amp up, it just wouldn’t sound right. Too low an impedance is where danger lies! Have fun!
so if you got two 8ohm speakers...
Parallel = 4ohms
Series = 16ohms?
so what if 4 speakers, and mix the two so you got both pairs connected in series so 2 sets of 16ohms, then conect those in parallel? would that equal an 8ohm load?
Exactly yes! This is how a lot of cabinets are wired :)
This is what I just wrote. Two 4 ohm speakers in series would be 8 ohms, same as two 16 ohm in parallel.
In this test you are hearing the difference in the output transformer taps, not the speakers.
But different impedance speakers sound different. If you look at the resource chart on Celestion’s website they show the 8 ohm speaker’s curve.
Seems to be more critical as gain increases.
Rock On from La Prairie, Canada.
Wohooo... I will have to switch to parallel wiring
4ohm sound better for distorted sound. Much tighter sound when palm muting.
Why does it look like your video is overdubbed?... Is it slightly out of sync or something?
8 + 8 divided by 2 is 4?
No. 1/8 plus 1/8 divided by 2 is 1/4, which you then invert
@@adamsteelproducer lol jk, these calculations brought back my undergrad memories ... Great video btw, couldn't be more simpler than this for one to understand how speakers work with amps... 😀👍
Haha gotcha. Tone doesn’t always translate in the comments. :)
I heard no difference with same speakers
All due respect but when you wire in series you're putting the voice coil, an inductor, in series with the second driver. That's a choke, like what I use when designing crossovers to roll off the high frequencies of a woofer or mid. Of course there is less high output from the second driver. I do like you videos.... Here's one I don't know and haven't seen on your stuff. I play quietly these days. I want two drivers for the sound quality. I'm playing through a 73 Fender Deluxe Reverb with only an 8 ohm output. If I connect two 16 ohm drivers in parallel, what's it going to do to the sensitivity (volume an a given setting) . Two drivers with solid state amps ( I do high end audio for a living) will always give you 3db more sensitivity for the doubled cone area, inreasing actual efficiency. Many solid state amps will also double power into the halved impedance load. That's 6db, the last thing my old lifestyle needs. I know the first 3db is there, but don't know if something on a high output, small transformer tube guitar amp helps compensate for the surface increase. Sorry, I'm a geek and have only 9 ohm drivers on hand. Thanks.
Video and audio shifting making me dizzy 😵 jumping around 🤤
It has always irritated my in amp videos, that youtubers beef the sound up by stereo things with a small delay on either L or R.. That dosnt give the right impression of what to her ( other than records ) Bute there you do not nerdy detail about sound at that matter.. :-) But thanks anyway!!
It’s not a slight delay, it’s two recordings- which is what we do on records. Being a studio engineer, this is what I would expect to hear on a recording. That’s what I do, that’s the area I’m focused on.
@@adamsteelproducer I think you did well to understand what the OP meant.
wonderfully un musical loop thx
Hey it's shaggy
"8+8, divided by 2 speakers (gestures a line under the sum with hands), is 4 ohms." Ummm...8+8=16, 16 ohms/2 speakers= 8 ohms.
Perhaps the explanation wasn’t clear enough, but two 8 ohm speakers in parallel is a 4 ohm load.
Hop Pole Studios, I don't doubt your answer, but would like to know the equation.
@@ebeep its just 8 divided by 2, since they're blending the load in a sense. One on its own is 8 ohm, but when it's connected in parallel, those two speakers lose half their own impedance since they're connected to each other, giving each other a current, leaving their impedance at 4 ohms. Think of it like mitosis.
No wonder my 212 sounds so nasal, series wiring. I'll go back to parallel.
can you elaborate on that?
@@luisalextorres I had two 8 ohm Eminence CV75 speakers in series and they're already quite mid heavy to begin with. But, I noticed after switching back to parallel most of the honk was gone and it had more treble, but also less bass and low mid. There's a difference that can be perceived as both an EQ and feel thing going on in that the response feels sloppy in series. The amp I use is a Pv 5150. It is more noticable with distortion than clean tones. It's a lot of buzz words, but this shit is hard to describe. I think the eq thing is analogous with wiring a humbucker pickup in series/parallel.
...."when wired in parallel, 8+8/2=4 ohms"......WRONG, but same answer...2-8 ohm speaker's in parallel is 8/2=4 ohms
yes, but when wired in parallel ohms will devided but watt will be added, but in series ohms will added but watt will remain the same.
@@murshedhafiz4where are you getting watts from? We are talking about ohms
😂 if there's a difference in sounds between the series and parallel is because of the ohms on the transformer not the wiring set up 😅
Nope, I replicated this in another video using a solid state amp, it’s the wiring.
the 4 Ohms sounds much tighter than the 16 ohms! :)
IMO parallel sounded better and more balanced, even in the room mic case.
Lost my hearing trying to hear the difference. Thanks.
I love how he says in parallel 8 + 8 divided by 2 we have 4 ohms ahah.. If you were looking for the way to calculate it is 8*8/8+8 , thats for two 8ohms speakers
Yes that’s already been covered in the comments. The wording could have been better, but since two 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel is a 4 ohm load the result was correct
@@adamsteelproducer I see , great video anyways , very helpful ,
Maybe you could add the info to the video description , since its very important otherwise you could break a speaker or an amp. Dont know if youtube lets you add something to the description.
cheers
I don't need to make video i just go begging in the street anyone want to donate your money to my patreon like youtube don't pay these guys for making videos. TH-cam have huge wearehouses of content creators making videos just think about that before donating to patreon
That amp sounds very flat and uninspiring
Each to their own.
What stumps me, if you're here how did you not know this?
too complicated man