So, I'm fiddling with the surround sound option on my old AVR.
I know this won't sound great... will using a 6" 2way and 6" midrange in series for each Left and Right channel (all 4ohm). Going to sound too terrible to try?
I have a single large 3 way 8ohm for the center. and a pair really low end 4" full range for the rear.
I know this won't sound great... will using a 6" 2way and 6" midrange in series for each Left and Right channel (all 4ohm). Going to sound too terrible to try?
I have a single large 3 way 8ohm for the center. and a pair really low end 4" full range for the rear.
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Sorry, deleted that spec in editing. OP updated.
The receiver can't be set to 4ohm.
I'm asking to avoid a spending a few days setting up and testing if wider audiophiles than me already know than even a chinese $100 home theater in a box will sound better than a mish mash of assorted speakers.
The receiver can't be set to 4ohm.
I'm asking to avoid a spending a few days setting up and testing if wider audiophiles than me already know than even a chinese $100 home theater in a box will sound better than a mish mash of assorted speakers.
Hi again, wickette!
So, each one of your speaker boxes (L, R, Centre and Surrounds) would ideally have a nominal impedance of 8 ohm.
Can you measure the dc resistance of each speaker box with your ohmmeter?
Each box needs to measure around 6 ohm resistance to avoid potential damage to your receiver.
P.S. Is this endeavour a continuation of your previous speaker design thread (see attachment)?
P.P.S. As to how this mish-mash would sound - who knows! 😀
Attachments
Well if your 2 ways and 6" driver are both 4 ohm then in series they will be an 8 ohm load. In theory. In practice the impedances of both will vary over frequency, which will change the frequency response of the system (as the two speakers in series will form a voltage divider, so the speaker with higher impedance at any given point will take more voltage). Do you have impedance and or frequency response plots for either of the speakers? It's a guessing game without more info on what happens to frequency response. Will you have any passive crossover in place in front of the midrange?
The other option is to connect them in parallel but since both are 4 ohm I would recommend against connecting them that way.
I'm also not sure how you intend to space the speakers. More drivers will lead to angle dependent comb filtering resulting in frequency response changes as you move. It will change based on driver spacing and axis just like in a conventional multi way speaker. Depending on the goal, spacing, coverage angles needed, this can be acceptable or not.
On the whole I think your chances of roaring success are relatively low but it's impossible to be very specific without more details on the equipment involved and your goals.
That's for the mishmash series wired L/R. If you just set up the 2-ways as L/R with the center and surrounds you mentioned, that's very reasonable and can definitely sound good. Matching surrounds is ideal but not necessary. Your AVR can probably handle the 4 ohm speakers but could have issues especially if a sub is not used. Speaking from personal experience of success and failure with various combinations of 4 and 8 ohm loads with AVRs (never engaged the 4 ohm switch). It is highly dependent on the specific AVR, output level, and speaker sensitivity.
The other option is to connect them in parallel but since both are 4 ohm I would recommend against connecting them that way.
I'm also not sure how you intend to space the speakers. More drivers will lead to angle dependent comb filtering resulting in frequency response changes as you move. It will change based on driver spacing and axis just like in a conventional multi way speaker. Depending on the goal, spacing, coverage angles needed, this can be acceptable or not.
On the whole I think your chances of roaring success are relatively low but it's impossible to be very specific without more details on the equipment involved and your goals.
That's for the mishmash series wired L/R. If you just set up the 2-ways as L/R with the center and surrounds you mentioned, that's very reasonable and can definitely sound good. Matching surrounds is ideal but not necessary. Your AVR can probably handle the 4 ohm speakers but could have issues especially if a sub is not used. Speaking from personal experience of success and failure with various combinations of 4 and 8 ohm loads with AVRs (never engaged the 4 ohm switch). It is highly dependent on the specific AVR, output level, and speaker sensitivity.
It's a bad idea to connect in series two different speakers, or drivers.
Results are unlikely to be any good.
Results are unlikely to be any good.
The plan that wickette had for each of the L and R speakers (it may have changed by now!) was to build a three-way system as shown in post #4.
IIRC we have, from top to bottom: 1. A hi-fi tweeter, 2. a coaxial car driver (with its coaxial tweeter removed), and, 3. A hi-fi midrange driver.
The car driver would be in its own ported enclosure to act as a woofer and the midrange would be in its own sealed enclosure.
Capacitors would be used to filter both midrange and tweeter drivers.
He never mentioned connecting the drivers in series at the time. I naturally thought they would be wired conventionally.
Do you have any alternative design comments wickette?
Probably the most important question is: will you be using a sub? If so, your mish-mash set-up will be less problematic. A 6" coaxial car-speaker is likely to be pretty useless below 100hz. If the specs sate otherwise they are probably quoting f10.
Is the 6" mid-range driver a genuine mid-driver. i.e. is the back sealed? If so you don't need to separate it from the woofer. You also don't need to wire it in series as the nominal impedance is maintained by the crossover.
The impedance of a driver fluctuates with frequency. Generally speaking impedance is lowest at the resonant frequency. Use a 400mf capacitor as a high-pass filter on the fronts and the rears. This will offer an impedance your amp will tolerate.
Is the 6" mid-range driver a genuine mid-driver. i.e. is the back sealed? If so you don't need to separate it from the woofer. You also don't need to wire it in series as the nominal impedance is maintained by the crossover.
The impedance of a driver fluctuates with frequency. Generally speaking impedance is lowest at the resonant frequency. Use a 400mf capacitor as a high-pass filter on the fronts and the rears. This will offer an impedance your amp will tolerate.
The AVR is rated for 6-8 ohm. And has overdraw protection so I'm not very worried about the power aspect as long as the 4ohm speakers are in series. It's the sound aspect. My mish mash is not good enough listening to movies/dialogue. In a 5,7,9 channel setup the center should be taking over most of that duty. Right?
The question is how weird is a 3way Center (12" woofer, 5" mid, 4" horn tweeter). going to sound with a two 6.5" woofer with 0.8" silk left/right Channel,
(vs buying 3x $20 passive bookshelf speakers)
haha, not directly.
Those towers turned into our outdoor speakers, and are 4ohms. I have a lot left over from that project and the original 4ohm 2way cross over. Id be using the 2way I made in series with a different 4ohm speaker.
Id reuse the enclosure, its a 0.45 and 0.75gal enclosures attached to each other with lazy susan hardware. So the lower one woofer faces the listener the other turned 0-90deg away.
*** the only reason I'm wiring a pair of L/R speakers in series is to avoid hooking up a 4ohm speaker to the avr. No other reason.
Sorry wickette. I'm not into home theatre, so am unable to comment on the correct method of reproducing dialogue. All I know is that your centre speaker design does not correspond with that of the commercial ones I have seen.
It's not "my design", It's a very run of the mill looking cartoonishly large floor speakers. MCS 683-8295.
You can use any speaker for your centre channel, but ideally, you'd use a speaker that has a horizontal cabinet design so it can be more easily placed above or below a TV
However, it is important that the centre speaker should match the L and R speakers in tonality in order to create a convincing sound stage. That's where your "mish-mash" of centre and L/R speakers may fail to satisfy. Centre and L/R speakers are best to be of the same brand so that they sound the same to your ears. Sometimes, it may be possible to compensate for mismatched centre and L/R speakers by using an AVR's equalization capabilities.
I learned all that from the internet! 🤓 https://www.lifewire.com/center-channel-speaker-4142693
P.S. I read that MCS loudspeakers were made in the USA and distributed by J.C. Penny Co., Inc., New York - I haven't come across them before.
I wonder what happened to your MCS's stereo partner. 🤔
The vertical center is more ideal IMO if you desire consistent response across the couch or whatever seating arrangement you have (so there aren't comb induced changes in response as you move from side to side or from listener to listener, which will work against any timbre matching you do between LRC). Of course you trade that for worse vertical off axis performance as you generally do for left and right speakers.
Speaker alignment isn't as much of a question as a 4" horn tweeter, 5" mid, 12" woofer for use as a center channel. I think difference in timbre is less obvious when listening to center channel dialogue and LRC sound effects.
(of coarse that opinion is based on my old tv using built in speakers for L/R and a mini soundbar for center)
Most current user manual says:
default is set for 8-ohm speakers. If using 6ohm speakers, set impedance to “6 Ω MIN” in this case, you can also use 4-ohm speakers as the front speakers.
My understanding is that speakers must rated equal or higher impedance than the amplifier, so 8ohm speakers works fine with 6 ohm amps (just a little quieter).
If I set the avr to 6ohm min Id be able to safely use 4, 6, or 8 ohm speakers for the L/R, AND 6 or 8 ohm speakers for all other channels Is that correct?
.
default is set for 8-ohm speakers. If using 6ohm speakers, set impedance to “6 Ω MIN” in this case, you can also use 4-ohm speakers as the front speakers.
My understanding is that speakers must rated equal or higher impedance than the amplifier, so 8ohm speakers works fine with 6 ohm amps (just a little quieter).
If I set the avr to 6ohm min Id be able to safely use 4, 6, or 8 ohm speakers for the L/R, AND 6 or 8 ohm speakers for all other channels Is that correct?
.
Still not sure what model receiver you have, but using 6ohm mode won't make 8 ohm speakers quieter at low to medium volumes, you will just limit their maximum output. In most cases (see Audioholics) the 4/6 ohm switch lowers the amplifier's voltage rails so the amplifier maximum uncapped power is reduced for all impedances (the eco function does similarly, see AVS Forum). This is done to protect the transformer and the output transistors. The amplifier's output impedance will still be in the milliohm range wherever you place the switch. Note that the amplifier will clip at lower output voltage/power in 4/6 ohm mode vs 8 ohm mode, which is potentially more dangerous for your tweeters, but it will protect your amp (the amp generally also has protection circuits to do the same, the impedance switch adds another layer of protection).