Running speakers in series.

sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
I've got a pair of pioneer S-T500's and a pair of DCM TP260's and want to stack the DCM's on top of the pioneer and run them both in series for a ohm load of around 14ohms. Is this harmful to the AV receiver or the speakers(they are different resistances too a 6ohm and 8ohm per pair).

If not should I hook up the 8 ohm speakers first or the 6 ohm ones first I know not to run them in parallel as it would be a 3.6 ohm load and could possibly overload the receiver. Will this affect the speakers too negatively in the sound response department aswell?


If stacking them is a bad idea should I run them next to each other?

The reason for wanting to do this is my receiver is a 7.2.2 system but cannot use front wide speakers and surround back speakers simultaneously and I would like to use all 9 speakers I have connected. If the only option is a new receiver that supports 9.2 simultaneous channel playback I would like a recommendation for around a grand maximum price.

Thanks in advance :cool:
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
So you just want to use more speakers just because you have them? What avr? What is your particular setup for speakers now? Room/position details?

Two sets of speakers on the same channel introduces acoustic issues, let alone amplification issues.

Personally I'd just pick the best speakers for your L/R and go with those. I've got an avr that can do front wides and rear surrounds simultaneously, and did so for a while, but didn't find it particularly beneficial with my room dims, just went back to using rear surrounds in a 7.1 format.
 
sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
So you just want to use more speakers just because you have them? What avr? What is your particular setup for speakers now? Room/position details?

Two sets of speakers on the same channel introduces acoustic issues, let alone amplification issues.

Personally I'd just pick the best speakers for your L/R and go with those. I've got an avr that can do front wides and rear surrounds simultaneously, and did so for a while, but didn't find it particularly beneficial with my room dims, just went back to using rear surrounds in a 7.1 format.
yes to the first question I hate to waste any of these speakers if I can help it my AVR is still the pioneer vsx1130k.

My room dimensions are 16ft L by 12ft W by 7 ft H and I have them setup as center to standard L/R about 5 in from the wall to front wide's about 2 feet from L/R and Surrounds directly to the sides of my listening position and finally my Surround Back behind me about 4 feet from the wall. My speakers are as follows Boston acoustics VR12 center, Pioneer S-T500 as my L/R, White van speakers as my Front Wide's(they are temporary I'm waiting for some good speakers to pop up at my local pawn) , DCM TP260's as my Surrounds, Dayton audio T652 Air as my Surround Back speakers (AMT tweeter makes the spatial properties unreal)

P.S. Im also rocking the same subwoofer setup as before for now but im looking to replace the polk and the logitek and the jbl subs with 2 dayton audio SUB-1200's instead since they seem to be very good for the price (150$ each)
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
In a room that size I'd not bother with front wides at all. Mine's bigger by quite a bit, altho if the wides are on your long wall you'd have a slight advantage to my 15' room width (but 33 ft long).
 
sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
In a room that size I'd not bother with front wides at all. Mine's bigger by quite a bit, altho if the wides are on your long wall you'd have a slight advantage to my 15' room width (but 33 ft long).
That's exactly how they are arranged the speakers all follow the wall on both sides. Its pretty nice to have a literal "wall of sound" it makes movies and music and games come alive pretty nicely its "seamless" surround sound if you will.(as in if something whizzes by it follows all the speakers pretty nice)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
That's exactly how they are arranged the speakers all follow the wall on both sides. Its pretty nice to have a literal "wall of sound" it makes movies and music and games come alive pretty nicely its "seamless" surround sound if you will.(as in if something whizzes by it follows all the speakers pretty nice)
That description isn't much better than the first but think I've got it. Wall of sound isn't necessarily the best way to go....but preferences are just those. Good surround even in a 5.1 system can do quite well as being immersive. I have several setups with different speaker configurations depending on room size....
 
sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
That description isn't much better than the first but think I've got it. Wall of sound isn't necessarily the best way to go....but preferences are just those. Good surround even in a 5.1 system can do quite well as being immersive. I have several setups with different speaker configurations depending on room size....
well the whole point of this post was to find out about running two speakers per channel in series not parallel is that possible/ worth it or maybe I should run the receiver in "biamp" and connect both pairs up adjacent and tune them with mcacc?

Also I like how these sound in 7.1 especially movies are super immersive and music has not been the same.

Lastly the quality of the new speakers are mind boggling in comparison to before. cheers on everyone from the previous post who told me to get new speakers after 4 new sets of speakers since then I can say they sound noticeably better than the old ones (not that the old ones sounded bad but these just sound better) :cool:

P.S. I had a 5.1 channel for the longest time but I definitely noticed the addition of 2 more speakers directly to my left and right and it added a level of immersion for film that I don't think I can do without.
 
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sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
So you just want to use more speakers just because you have them? What avr? What is your particular setup for speakers now? Room/position details?

Two sets of speakers on the same channel introduces acoustic issues, let alone amplification issues.

Personally I'd just pick the best speakers for your L/R and go with those. I've got an avr that can do front wides and rear surrounds simultaneously, and did so for a while, but didn't find it particularly beneficial with my room dims, just went back to using rear surrounds in a 7.1 format.
also would you be able to recommend a good AVR with 9.2 channel simultaneous output?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, speakers are the route to better sound in most respects. .
also would you be able to recommend a good AVR with 9.2 channel simultaneous output?
I don't believe the current crop any longer offer this feature. I have a Denon 4520 that can do this.
 
sizzam

sizzam

Audioholic
Yes, speakers are the route to better sound in most respects. .


I don't believe the current crop any longer offer this feature. I have a Denon 4520 that can do this.
thanks ill look into getting one maybe.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I've got a pair of pioneer S-T500's and a pair of DCM TP260's and want to stack the DCM's on top of the pioneer and run them both in series for a ohm load of around 14ohms. Is this harmful to the AV receiver or the speakers(they are different resistances too a 6ohm and 8ohm per pair).

If not should I hook up the 8 ohm speakers first or the 6 ohm ones first I know not to run them in parallel as it would be a 3.6 ohm load and could possibly overload the receiver. Will this affect the speakers too negatively in the sound response department aswell?


If stacking them is a bad idea should I run them next to each other?

The reason for wanting to do this is my receiver is a 7.2.2 system but cannot use front wide speakers and surround back speakers simultaneously and I would like to use all 9 speakers I have connected. If the only option is a new receiver that supports 9.2 simultaneous channel playback I would like a recommendation for around a grand maximum price.

Thanks in advance :cool:
No, you can not run different speakers in series.

First they will have different sound outputs. Second the impedance of one speaker will drive the other and the frequency response of each speaker will be altered by the impedance curve of the other. So it will be a complete mess.

Your whole concept is faulty. Just two really good speakers with good dispersion will give you the seamless wall of sound you are after. A boat load of lousy speakers won't.
 
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