Seeking (wiring) expert knowledge

[Swerd]

The red line below is an example of a frequency vs. impedance curve.

This example is a Salk SongTower, (two 8 ohm woofers in parallel with eachother, and one 4 ohm tweeter, in a 2-way design, with a crossover at roughly 2600 Hz) is taken from this page SongTower specifications.

It is considered a 4 ohm speaker.

 

[slipperybidness]

This is why I didn't mention the speakers in discussion up front- too many folks are distracted by price/brand and feel the need to offer their (unrequested) advice/criticism on what products one should buy. This is a learning process and principle of electronics query that can be applied across the board to any price speaker setup or build- the understanding of x-over wiring and how drivers of different configurations respond to it.

The fact is that there are certainly better speakers out there for the same $, or just slightly more. The way you were describing these things and lack of crossovers that you described already set off red-flags for anybody that has even a slight knowledge of speakers and/or electronics. So, in short, we didn't even need to know the brand to already figure out that these were not high end by any means. I only asked the brand and model to try to get you pointed in the right direction because it seemed like you were in over your head.

Now, with that being said, the only person that has to like these speakers and live with them is you. So don't worry about anybody on the internet dissing your speakers. If you like them, then enjoy then and smile knowing the small sum of $ that you spent. Some people on here spend 10 to 50 times what you spent on your speakers and still are not satisfied with the sound!

Next, if this is a learning process, then even better. Learn what you can and do it on cheap speakers. Then if you make a bad mistake, then it's no big loss. Along the way, you might decide to invest in better speakers, or you might decide you learned what you set out to learn and call it a day.

 

[copperhed]

copperhed

What makes or breaks a speaker is the crossover. It is equally, if not more, important than the drivers. I've heard DIY speakers made with cheap drivers, but had a carefully designed crossover, that sounded rather good. Many inexpensive, and some not inexpensive, commercial speakers suffer because the manufacturer skimped on crossover design.

That's why I (and others) couldn't believe that Micca sold speakers without any crossover. The capacitor in series with the tweeter, to keep the tweeter from rapid failure, doesn't quite qualify as a crossover. It is highly unlikely that two drivers will sound balanced, and make no unwanted distortion or noise, without some help from a crossover. At least you didn't pay much for them .

A crossover circuit does more than provide low-pass filtering to the woofer and high-pass to the tweeter. It should evenly balance the sound across the all important mid-range where the crossover operates. And, it should equalize, as much as possible, any imbalances that come with the particular drivers and cabinet design. Beyond that, a really good crossover will allow a speaker to create a realistic spatial image that allows recorded music to sound more like real musicians and less like sound coming out of a small box.

To address your original question, a 2-way speaker with a woofer, tweeter, and crossover, really operates more like two separate drivers and not like two drivers in parallel. The low-pass filter keeps the woofer from operating above a certain frequency, and the high-pass filter keeps the tweeter from operating below it. If a crossover is at 2000 Hz, below 1000 Hz you hear only the woofer and above 4000 Hz you hear only the tweeter. At the crossover frequency ± an octave, roughly 1000 Hz to 4000 Hz, both speakers can operate at the same time, but at varying levels. At the crossover frequency of 2000 Hz, they will each make 50% of the sound. But they are not considered the same as two drivers in parallel.

The impedance of a speaker is never a simple constant value. It varies widely across the audio spectrum. It's measured by a full frequency sweep. The individual drivers, the crossover, and the cabinet design all affect the resulting frequency vs. impedance curve.

I am aware of all of this- Not to sound rude- Good description of exactly why I'm concerned with getting the proper x-over setup.
X-over IS everything in a speaker build, and that's what makes these MICCA speakers so impressive (a factor I was touching on with an above poster regarding his apparent take on 'decent' speakers. My bet is the MB42X would surprise him, and many others... for only $80 per pair)

The parallel wiring in question regarded the 2 woofers in the center speaker wired together off the input terminal-
not the woofer to tweeter combination off the 2-way x-over in the bookshelf seperates-
thank you for the additional info, however.

 

[copperhed]

I have just been informed by the company that the proper crossover to upgrade my unit will be available in 6-8 weeks.
(fingers crossed)
Thanks to all whom have offered assistance here.