# Series or parallel?



## UnderDog (Jul 14, 2002)

Disclaimer: I searched prior to posting. Keep a lid on the cakehole. If you don't want the details skip to the bottom.

I have four Kenwood KFC-1677 6.5" 160 peak/80 rms components I got as a gift that I was running on a Pioneer 45x4 20 watt rms head unit. Sounded halfway decent even though I was underpowering them. My friend cut me a deal on a 300x2 watt Jensen amp to run them. He needed money pretty bad and I'm in no way hurting for cash so I shelled out 70 for the Jensen and he was so elated about making rent this month he found me a 600x2 watt Kenwood to run a couple of 12's he found to give to me for helping him out.

Jensen.. nasty.. but hey help a brother in need.

Anyway we had some quibbs about running 4 speakers on 2 channels. I wasn't too happy about that and he said it would run fine. He paralleled the two rears and ran them to the left channel and paralleled the two fronts and ran them to the right channel. That made no sense to me at all and he said he did it because the left channel is more powerful than the right, which again made no sense.

I spent the entire semester in the electricity/magnetism portion of physics in college studying circuits in the lab portion so I knew what I was talking about. I know Ohm's Law and all that good stuff and I can calculate impedence, current and voltage over different setups which anyone with a pen and paper and a formula can do, but how it applies to the way everything sounds and works when it's all hooked up in different ways, I don't know. Him and his cousin used to do audio competition and his cousin Trish had a '66 Hearse with all sorts of mad shit in it, so I figured I'd just let him go with it and make my own adjustments later.

Then he pulled all the wire apart and ran all four speakers in series. It seemed to work just as well when I left his apartment. The treble didn't wash out so much when I cranked it up. I drove around tonight to test it and it started clipping like mad when I had any bass on it, but it worked fine when I left. I had the amp set on high pass with bass boost off, and the level all the way up and the high pass knob all the way down. I dropped the level and cranked the high pass back up (so it would overpower the low frequencies) and it sounds all right, I just can't turn it up high before it starts clipping a little.

I thought about pulling all this apart again and running a series/parallel circuit, with both pairs in series, hooked to each channel in parallel.

*The Bottom*

In other words, what's the best way to wire four speakers to a two channel amp? Two pairs in parallel running to each channel in parallel, two pairs in series running to each channel in parallel, or running all four in series?


----------



## nak1 (May 17, 2002)

It really depends on what the ohm rating is on your subs and what your amp can handle. Running them in different configs will cut or increase the impedance. If you amp cant handle the ohm load it may burn out. 

go here http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/index.html there are some really good how to's. you may not find exactly what you need but it is a great start.


----------



## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

If it were me I would connect both right speakers to the right channel of the amp in series and the same way for the left, that way it's only putting a 2ohm load on the amp (I doubt a jensen can take a 1ohm load if you put all the speakers in series). Of course if the left channel is more powerful than the right (wtf?) then I would just hook it up like he had it, with the fronts on the left and the rears on the right and run a normal left-channel and right-channel signal to it, or run a mono signal to the amp (split the left channel signal and run it to both right and left on the amp), that way all the speakers sound the same and you don't have some weird fading from front to rear on songs.

Actually if it were me I would get a new amp alltogether, but that's only if you have the money for one. I just put a US Acoustics 85x4 amp in my car and it sounds amazing, it seems like the right amount of power for your speakers as well, you might want to look into it (model: USX-4085)


----------



## wickedsr20 (Aug 8, 2002)

sr20dem0n said:


> *If it were me I would connect both right speakers to the right channel of the amp in series and the same way for the left, that way it's only putting a 2ohm load on the amp (I doubt a jensen can take a 1ohm load if you put all the speakers in series). *


This is incorrect. Wiring speakers in series would decrease the load to the amp (8 ohm stereo load per channel) in this situation, while wiring them in parallel would increase the load (2 ohm stereo) to the amp. Your better sound quality will be at 8-ohm stereo. 
If it were me, I'd do as suggested above and look into a 4 channel amp just for the simple reason of being able to fade between fronts and rears as long as your head unit has at least 2 pairs of RCA pre-outs.


----------



## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

wickedsr20 said:


> *This is incorrect. Wiring speakers in series would decrease the load to the amp (8 ohm stereo load per channel) in this situation, while wiring them in parallel would increase the load (2 ohm stereo) to the amp. Your better sound quality will be at 8-ohm stereo.
> If it were me, I'd do as suggested above and look into a 4 channel amp just for the simple reason of being able to fade between fronts and rears as long as your head unit has at least 2 pairs of RCA pre-outs. *


you're right, I don't know what I was thinking....4.5 hours of sleep then driving an hour to work to stare at papers all day long will do that to you


----------



## nastynissan (Jan 26, 2003)

Right to Right and Left to Left definetly...... Right to front Left to rear or visa/versa SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whenever Ive had to do this I run a PArallel circuit with Right and Left outputs going to their respective areas... You cant FADE but its better than the other... Ive still had clipping problems with this setup but you can normally tweak things enough to deal with it.... And yes JENSEN sucks BUT their a helluvalot better that they used to be and in my opinion its still better than..... Roadmaster, Pyramid, Audiovox, Optimus, etc.... And yes at some point and time Ive had at least one of the above...


----------



## Guest (Jul 2, 2003)

i was an installer from 95 till last year...... when you say 4 speakers on 2 channels are we talkin about the components and a set of coaxials? most amps will run 2 ohm stereo with no prob.,
so if this is the case paralell L to L and R to R. if your clipping it's because your running out of head room and the amp is throwing out square waves(this will blow your speakers eventually) otherwise known as distortion. try setting your gains to a higher level so that you only have to turn your deck up 1/3 what you do now to achieve the desired volume. THE TRICK IS KNOWING WHEN TO STOP WITH THE VOLUME!!!!!!!! 
only use 3/4 of poss. volume of deck & adjust gains for volume.
if i understood the prob. correctly. hope this helps.


----------



## dfalcon02 (Apr 9, 2003)

if you wire the speakers in parallel, make sure the amp can handle the load. wiring 2 4 ohm speakers in parallel= 2 ohms. i would wire the front and rear left speakers to the left channel and the right front and rear speakers to the right, simply because the amp only has two channels. i would think it sounds better that way. i wouldnt worry to much about fading from front to rear.


----------



## UnderDog (Jul 14, 2002)

I plan on replacing the Jensen later on with a 4-channel because my first complaint was that I was running four speakers to a two channel amp and that just doesn't sit right with me.

Parallel being resistance dividing, and series being resistance adding, the best compromise setup would be running two pairs in series to each channel @ 8 ohm to each channel? I think that's what one of you said. I had it that way once but I keep having issues with it distorting unless I have everything parallel. I'll try it again this way to make sure.

For helping this guy out he's giving me two Diamond 10's to go with the Kenwood 600w I bought from him. I know nothing about Diamond though. With me, if it's a name I've never heard of I tend to sway away from it.


----------



## dfalcon02 (Apr 9, 2003)

if the amp can handle the load with the parallel wiring, keep it that way. you'll get more power, and if there's no clipping, then you're cool. no need to wire in series.


----------



## UnderDog (Jul 14, 2002)

I didn't think so. It sounds fine in parallel so I'll just leave it like that.


----------



## droppinbottom (Jun 30, 2003)

if you are running rca wires then you need to find out what kind of voltage your head unit sends through them. alot of the newer head units run as much as 5 volts through the rca lines. alot of amps cant handle that much voltage with the gains turned up. in theroy if you have a head unit that can put out 5 volts and an amp that can handle 5 volts then you can turn your gain all the way down on the amp and get the most clean power your amp can produce. if you use 5 volts to an amp that can handle only 1 volt then when ever you set your gains above about 1/4 you will be gettin distortion.


----------



## wickedsr20 (Aug 8, 2002)

UnderDog said:


> *For helping this guy out he's giving me two Diamond 10's to go with the Kenwood 600w I bought from him. I know nothing about Diamond though. With me, if it's a name I've never heard of I tend to sway away from it. *


Diamond Audio makes some decent equipment. I'd get those if it were me.


----------

