Ohm question

Not sure about the answer to your question, but did you hear the one about the Hindu electrician who sat around chanting "ohm, ohm"?.....

Way over my horns.

Sonics-wise, it wouldn't be too good (except if yer stackin Marshalls) !!
My guess on the amp-watt thing they would be split in half.
There was a post the other day about stacking Dahlquist DQ-10's, didn't look too promising though.
It was done with some Vandy 1-C's at a dealer with pretty good sucess, so go figure.
I'm duckin out......... here come da hammers and daggers !!

A Google of wiring+speakers+series+parallel+effect produces 43,500 hits.

Here's a sample from:
http://colomar.com/Shavano/speaker.html
By the way, when you hook things up in parallel, the power thru the speakers is shared equally. This says that you can't casually put unlike speakers in parallel. For example, a 15 inch woofer and 6 inch midrange speaker should not be wired in parallel - the 6 inch midrange is apt to be destroyed once you crank the volume up. What does work is taking like speakers (ones that are rated for the same power handling capacity) and wiring them in parallel. We won't get into crossover networks (which is one way of powering different function speakers within the same cabinet) at this time.

When you wire in series, the load is split across the speakers based on resistance, but because the total resistance is higher, the actual power that each speaker absorbs is less. If you were to wire 2 40watt speakers in series, you end up with a power handling capability of 80 watts. Typically all of the speakers in a cabinet are the same resistance (8 ohms, for example), however you can mix them. Keep in mind that those with lower resistance will absorb more power - they must be able to handle it or else you can burn out a voice coil.

Only 43,499 to go!

Heh

Well, i wouldnt have to worry about crossovers at least.

I was curious if this could be done with those new Magnepan on-wall ESL speakers. at 4 ohms each, they have no crossovers, no "drivers" per se, and have equal ratings.

a good 8ohm 7 foot column of electrostatic bliss.



yeah i know. im weird.
Im just really wondering if this could be done

In a parallel circuit, voltage stays the same across both loads but current drops. You are right that two 10 ohm loads in parallel presents itself as a 5 ohm load. Each speaker would have half the current flowing through it (i.e., the total current load is what goes through the first speaker plus the second).

Putting two dissimilar speakers together could sound funky and mess up the soundstage plus you could definately get peaks in frequency response since the cross-overs are not matched. Who knows -- maybe those peaks will compensate perfectly for the room acoustics. Chances are, it won't sound too good. But there is a very slim chance that it will. As long as the combined impedence isn't too low (i.e., don't put two 4 ohm loads in parallel), you could always give it a shot and see what happens.

Great answer Ozfly!
It might be an interesting experiment some time, but doesent seem like something worth doing unless the speakers are meant to be stacked

i'll still probably give it a shot sometime. :)

The question of mixing speakers in parallel comes up so often and the formula is so simple that everyone should memorize it or jot it down:

R1 X R2 "R" is the speaker impedence in ohms. If the
------- Speakers were 8 ohm and 6 ohm it would be 8 X 6
R1 + R2 = 48 divided by 8 + 6 = 14 for an answer of
3.43

Write it down. Really. You'll need it sometime in the future.

uhm....
that is not the quetion i asked Elgordo, i was curious about wattage and current, and any adverse audible affects on the speakers.

im not even talking about mixing speakers, im talking about identical speakers, and it looks like my math already was correct.

Thanks though

One of the best stereo demonstrations I ever heard was in the home of a DIY musician in France who had removed the internal resistors on 2 pairs of Quad ESL speakers and had them wired in series for the left and right channels.
For your specific question, I would suggest to simply contact Magnapan.