Speaker Ohm Question

[braintheory]

So all my current cabs and speakers are all 16 ohms, but I just got this vintage speaker that’s only available in 8 ohms. I have 2 questions:
1) If I got 3 more of them at 8 ohms, would I be able to just install them in my cab the same exact way, effectively making it an 8 ohm cab?

2) Would it be possibly to combine 2 of these 8 ohm speakers with 2 of my current 16 ohm speakers? If so, what would the total ohms of the cab be? Would the wire order be different? If it’s too complicated for me I’d rather either have my tech do it or have all 8 ohm speakers installed, but would be nice not to need to buy the same exact speakers again as an 8 ohm version

Thanks in advance! I’m a newb to a lot the technical stuff

 

[stephen sawall]

Two 8 ohm speakers can be wired to be a 16 ohm cab.

I never like the sound of mixing 8 and 16 ohm speakers in the same cab. One pair is going to be a lot louder and it never sounds right.

Yes four 8 ohm speakers can be wired to be a 8 ohm cab.

The wire diagrams for these combinations are easy to find on the internet and very easy to wire.

You want all the speakers in phase. You can test that with a nine volt battery....that's also easy to find on the internet.

If you need help just ask....plenty of people on this forum will help you. This is pretty straight forward stuff and not real complex.

 

[311splawndude]

I agree with most of what Stephen said. Also, normally, I would not say mixing ohms is a good idea unless the Output Transformer of your amp is beefy enough to handle those 'mismatches'. Based on your amp list - I doubt this would be a big deal. Can't speak to tonally obviously.

I don't think it would be worth it to buy 3 more of the 8 ohm vintage speaker.

Depending on what speakers we are actually talking about (which you didn't mention), this is what I would do. I'd consider 1 more 8 ohm speaker and get a 2x12. Keep the 4x12.

You could also get a stereo 4x12 cabinet wiring setup (harness, jack plate, actual wiring) but run the top half completely separate from the bottom half (like having 2- 2x12 cabinets).

You could go ahead and mix these together anyway and take some chances. If you were to do that the run the 4x12 in a Series/Parallel configuration. 2 - 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel to give you 8 ohms total. Then 2 - 8 ohm speakers wired in series to give you 16 ohms total. Then wire those two configurations together in parallel for 12.6 ohms or whatever it is and set the ohms on the amp to 8.

Again. I am not recommending that necessarily

I'd go with option 1 and have the convenience of a 212 in addition to your 4x12


Oh - I happen to have this handy too. For option 1 you will wire the 2 - 8 ohm speakers in series for 16 ohms total.

 

[braintheory]

I agree with most of what Stephen said. Also, normally, I would not say mixing ohms is a good idea unless the Output Transformer of your amp is beefy enough to handle those 'mismatches'. Based on your amp list - I doubt this would be a big deal. Can't speak to tonally obviously.

I don't think it would be worth it to buy 3 more of the 8 ohm vintage speaker.

Depending on what speakers we are actually talking about (which you didn't mention), this is what I would do. I'd consider 1 more 8 ohm speaker and get a 2x12. Keep the 4x12.

You could also get a stereo 4x12 cabinet wiring setup (harness, jack plate, actual wiring) but run the top half completely separate from the bottom half (like having 2- 2x12 cabinets).

You could go ahead and mix these together anyway and take some chances. If you were to do that the run the 4x12 in a Series/Parallel configuration. 2 - 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel to give you 8 ohms total. Then 2 - 8 ohm speakers wired in series to give you 16 ohms total. Then wire those two configurations together in parallel for 12.6 ohms or whatever it is and set the ohms on the amp to 8.

Again. I am not recommending that necessarily

I'd go with option 1 and have the convenience of a 212 in addition to your 4x12


Oh - I happen to have this handy too. For option 1 you will wire the 2 - 8 ohm speakers in series for 16 ohms total.

Thanks for all the info. I think I’ll just try to do something with all 8ohms in a 412 then if that works. I much prefer the beefier, fuller sound of a 412. I still have one 212 lying around that I never use

 

[311splawndude]

Then Series/Parallel wiring is what you will want. The resulting total ohms will then be 8.

 

[Markedman]

It is best to wire in series parallel, where 2 speakers are on their own loop right from the jack. If a speaker goes down, 2 will still be working on the unaffected loop, saving your amp and show. Parallel series doesn't sound any better but if a speaker goes down, your amp won't see a signal and that is bad news.