# Speaker wiring question



## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Strange question here. I have ended up with two 4 ohm, two 8 ohm, and two 16 ohm speakers, each pair a different brand from the next. 4 of them were in a quad I bought on KIJIJI (i.e., mismatched!). I was wondering if there is a safe way to wire any 4 of these up and use them in the 4x12 cab. I have 4, 8, and 16 ohm outputs in my amps. The power in all of them if between 75 and 100 watts each. I'd prefer to NOT use the 8 ohm ones because they are in a 2x12 right now, but it's not a deal breaker to swap around.

What I was thinking was to wire the two 4 ohms to make 8 ohms and the two 16 ohms to make 8 ohms, then connect them to make either 16 or 8 ohms. I'm not sure if this is OK or exactly how to do it.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Found this

http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/att...-ohm-into-16-ohm-2-speaker-wiring-diagram.gif

the question is how to connect the top 2 to the bottom 2 and to the output jack, and what ohm rating I'd end up with. Also, is it safe for the speakers. They have lots of handling power for my 100 watt amp, most of the time we'd have lower watt amps running through it.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

If it were me, I think that I would wire each 16 in series with a 4. Then wire each pair in parallel. If my math is right, this should give you a 10 ohm load.


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

bw66 said:


> If it were me, I think that I would wire each 16 in series with a 4. Then wire each pair in parallel. If my math is right, this should give you a 10 ohm load.


I wouldn't do this. You would end up with 4 times the power in the 16 ohm speakers compared to the 4 ohm speakers. The configuration that the OP posted would work the best. Each speaker would get equal power based on nominal impedance. Whether it sounds good or not is something he'll have to try.

So you would wire the two 4 ohms in series and parallel both 16 ohm speakers on to this. In the end you will have a 4 ohm load.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

dcole said:


> I wouldn't do this. You would end up with 4 times the power in the 16 ohm speakers compared to the 4 ohm speakers. The configuration that the OP posted would work the best. Each speaker would get equal power based on nominal impedance. Whether it sounds good or not is something he'll have to try.
> 
> So you would wire the two 4 ohms in series and parallel both 16 ohm speakers on to this. In the end you will have a 4 ohm load.


Clearly I didn't think this all the way through. I was just trying to get the load to between 8 and 16 ohms, which I took to be the operating range. 

Would all speakers draw the same power in this configuration?


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