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Re: Parallel vs. Series Speaker Connection

November 2nd, 2018, 9:38 am

And yet another issue with series connection is the manufacturing tolerances. I expect that with most speakers we're talking +/- 20% in terms of impedance -- and in terms of D.C. resistance.

Voice-coil wire differences -- voice-coil winding differences -- gap clearances -- magnet strength differences -- mechanical resonance -- efficiency -- and so on. In series connection I expect that one impacts the other as in any signal-path configuration. I presume that parallel connection avoids that issue as the drivers can work on their own independent of the other without the influence of the other driver other than possibly back EMF and the the enclosure damping.

As usual the devil is in the details. If one has deep pockets, multiples of the same driver can be purchased and put together in matched pairs -- matched impedance -- matched D.C. resistance -- matched resonance -- and matched efficiency. That may help series-connected drivers perform better.

The better method for anything is the K.I.S.S. method.

Re: Parallel vs. Series Speaker Connection

November 2nd, 2018, 9:43 am

SoundMods wrote:Voice-coil wire differences -- voice-coil winding differences -- gap clearances -- magnet strength differences -- mechanical resonance -- efficiency -- and so on. In series connection I expect that one impacts the other as in any signal-path configuration. I presume that parallel connection avoids that issue as the drivers can work on their own independent of the other without the influence of the other driver other than possibly back EMF and the the enclosure damping.


With a voltage source amp (which the vast majority at least approximate) that's absolutely correct. In the very rare case where using a current source amp make more sense, it's exactly the opposite, the parallel connection creates problems, and a series connection is actually preferred.

SoundMods wrote:As usual the devil is in the details. If one has deep pockets, multiples of the same driver can be purchased and put together in matched pairs -- matched impedance -- matched D.C. resistance -- matched resonance -- and matched efficiency. That may help series-connected drivers perform better.

The better method for anything is the K.I.S.S. method.
[/quote]

Yup...

Roscoe

Re: Parallel vs. Series Speaker Connection

November 2nd, 2018, 4:46 pm

Should not be a problem at least with the phase issue.
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