There’s a difference between series vs parallel speaker wiring? How about how it affects power, sound, and the speaker (Ohms) load your radio or amp sees?
There’s alot more to series vs parallel speaker wiring than you may realize. I’ll explain it all here in a way anyone can understand.
The main thing to remember is that there’s a list of reasons why you don’t want to use most speakers in series – all of which I’ll explain in more detail as we go.
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When it comes to sound quality you may not be aware of it butparallel speakers maintain their sound quality while series connected speakers can have a bad or “odd” sound.
That’s because many coaxial speakers as well as 2-way or 3-way speaker cabinets or car speaker systems use speaker crossovers in their design. Speaker crossovers are used to block unwanted sound frequencies from reaching speakers that aren’t well suited for them.
For example, tweeters can’t handle low bass or midrange as it causes terrible distortion and even damage. Woofers or midrange speakers, similarly, cannot produce treble (high frequencies) well and sound poor. When combined, crossovers create a better-sounding speaker system that gets the best performance from them.
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Crossovers (electrical components called capacitors and inductors) block sound based on a particular speaker load resistance in Ohms. When that speaker load is changed, something called
This means that the crossover frequency changes greatly, allowing unwanted sound to pass to a speaker or speakers. Knowing this you can understand why series-connected speakers can have poor sound: you’re connecting more speaker load (Ohms) than should be used.
Inductance in series and parallel that can cause some odd problems I won’t go into here. That’ll affect the sound as well.
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Note that there is an exception to this and you can use some types of speakers in series without any noticeable sound quality problems. (I’ll explain more later)
Note that this is the normal situation when you’re using speakers rated for the amp or stereo you have. It’s a different case when
As I mentioned above, wiring speakers in series means (in most cases) that you will be increasing the total speaker load above that recommended for the amplifier, receiver, car amp, etc. There’s nothing harmful about having the total Ohms load behigher but it comes with a price when it comes to power.
Series/parallel Vs. Parallel/series Speaker Wiring
As you can see, wiring speakers in series decreases the total power, the power to each speaker, and also the volume to each speaker.
It is possible to purposely wire speakers in series to get the same power output from a stereo or amp. Taking our same example from above, we could do this:
Note: Speaker volume doesn’t add together like Ohms or other things. Doubling the power to a speaker (or using two speakers in series with 1/2 the power each of a single speaker) doesn’t double it – it increases it by 3dB due to how our hearing works.
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That means two 50W speakers in series will have the same volume as a single speaker of the same impedance w/ 100W power.
The important thing to understand about wiring speakers in series or parallel isthe total speaker load (Ohms) must be equal to or higher than the minimum Ohms rating of the amp or stereo.
That’s because using multiple speakers in a way that drops the total Ohms (impedance, or resistance to the flow of electrical current in other words) will cause excessive current that can permanently damage an amp, receiver, or stereo. The electronics used in audio equipment has a limit that it can’t exceed.
Impedance And Switching Between Series And Parallel
Although it’s true that speaker voice coils have some inductance due to their wound wire, it’s not much, and wiring these types of speakers in series works pretty well. However, be aware that any time you wire speakers in series both the total power delivered and power to each speaker will be lower because you’re changing the speaker load.
That being said, it’s still useful for different sound projects like a simple ceiling speaker setup, making a speaker array design, and some other unique designs. Also for amplifiers, receivers, or home stereos with lots of power available it’s less noticeable since they can make up the difference a bit.
You can also use regular single speakers such as tweeters or mids with a custom crossover designed for them. There are a few situations where this is handy or even necessary but it’s critical to do the math and use the correct crossover components since the total speaker Ohms load will be higher.
Does Wiring Speakers In Parallel Increase Wattage?
There are a few pros and cons I’ll summarize for you here, as while parallel speakers are generally the best choice sometimes series has advantages.
Marty is an experienced electrical, electronics, and embedded firmware design engineer passionate about audio and DIY. He worked professionally as an MECP-certified mobile installer for years before moving into the engineering field. Read more »
I'm a car audio fanatic and professional electrical engineer. During college I was a professional installer and even had a side business doing it. I still love speakers, home & car audio, and all kinds of projects related to enjoying the sound we love.There are a number of ways that speakers can be wired, but the most commonly used are Parallel and Series. These are also the two ways in which our speaker systems are based upon and is what you will use when installing them.
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It’s important to wire speakers correctly based on the specifications of the amplifier and the number of speakers, as this will ultimately provide the best sound quality and avoid possible damage to the equipment.
In simple terms, impedance refers to the load a speaker places on the amplifier. More specifically, it’s how much the speaker resists current. The lower the impedance (measured in Ohms Ω), the more power the speaker will draw from the amplifier.
If an amplifier is rated at 4 Ohms minimum, then you want to ensure the overall load created by the speakers does not go below this. If it does, the speakers will be drawing more power than the amplifier can provide, which will lead to a subpar or even distorted sound, and can permanently damage the amplifier.
Series Vs Parallel: Speaker Impedance Explained
Parallel wiring is the most common and simplest way of wiring. All it involves is combining the positive leads (+) together, and the negative leads together (-). This can be achieved by simply plugging all speakers individually into the same corresponding terminals on the amplifier, or by connecting the speakers together.
The benefit of parallel is you don’t need to loop any cable back to the amplifier. Once the last speaker is connected, you can terminate the wiring at that point.
When wiring in series, you connect the negative (-) terminal on the first speaker to the positive (+) terminal on the next speaker in the chain. This can be repeated to more speakers as necessary.
Speaker Parallel Serial Connection Calculator
The end result will leave you with a positive (+) cable from the first speaker, and a negative (-) cable from the final speaker in the chain plugged into the amplifier.
A combination of Series/Parallel wiring can be used to achieve a desired impedance where applicable. This method isn’t very common but can be used in situations with a lot of speakers, or on amplifiers with a small number of channels.
Wiring in series/parallel will either reduce, increase, or keep the impedance the same depending on how it’s wired. The overall load is calculated by working out the impedance on each group connected in series, divided by the number of groups connected in parallel. For example:
Wiring Two 1x12
If you require any further assistance regarding speaker wiring, please contact us on 02476 369890 and one of our experts will be happy to help. Or use our Request a Call Back page for a FREE no obligation system design & consultation service.
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