Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?

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f575m

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Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« on: 27 Mar 2018, 06:28 pm »
The construction article for my dipole woofers is not longer available on the web. Unfortunately, I did not make a copy of it. The project uses a pair of Peerless 830669 per side butut one speaker is rear facing so that one needs to be electrically out of phase with the other or cancellation will occur. See my diagram.  I need guidance on how to wire the drivers, series or parallel?

Horacio



Russell Dawkins

Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #1 on: 27 Mar 2018, 08:57 pm »
Depends on the amplifier you want to use. Some amps don't like the 3.5Ω minimum impedance that parallel wiring would produce. Other are fine with that and would typically produce much more power into that load than into a 14Ω series load. If you have a surplus of power, then series would give the amp more control over the speaker resonance at 31Hz, since the damping factor would be about 4X higher. This would affect the sound audibly (it would reduce output at fs), so I guess the best answer is to try both and see which way sounds better.

Some dipole designs use the driver's resonance at fs to extend bass reach and increase output at the bottom of the passband, so if this is the intention of the designer, a series hookup would thwart that.

f575m

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Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #2 on: 27 Mar 2018, 09:03 pm »
Thank you. The QUADs are driven by an upgraded 405-2, 100W/Ch at 8 ohm, the subs will be driven by an Electrocompaniet 100-DMB Anniversary, 125W/Ch class A. Output impedance below 10 ohm.

FullRangeMan

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Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #3 on: 27 Mar 2018, 09:14 pm »
The construction article for my dipole woofers is not longer available on the web. Unfortunately, I did not make a copy of it. The project uses a pair of Peerless 830669 per side butut one speaker is rear facing so that one needs to be electrically out of phase with the other or cancellation will occur. See my diagram.  I need guidance on how to wire the drivers, series or parallel?

Horacio

For 2 woofers:
Parallel will give +3dB SPL but Impedance will drop 50%.
Serie will give no SPL increase but Impedance will double.

Russell Dawkins

Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #4 on: 27 Mar 2018, 09:22 pm »
Thank you. The QUADs are driven by an upgraded 405-2, 100W/Ch at 8 ohm, the subs will be driven by an Electrocompaniet 100-DMB Anniversary, 125W/Ch class A. Output impedance below 10 ohm.

That's an awfully good amp to be used for woofers! It would do the job nicely, though. On their spec sheet I see Electrocompaniet lists the output impedance as '<0,01 W'. I assume that's a typo and they mean <0.01Ω, which is typical of a very good amp. They also list max current as 80 amps and specify 350W into 2 ohms, so you would be fine parallelling those drivers, from the amp safety perspective.

f575m

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Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #5 on: 27 Mar 2018, 11:19 pm »
Here are the specs


Russell Dawkins

Re: Parallel or series wiring for dipole subwoofer?
« Reply #6 on: 27 Mar 2018, 11:24 pm »
Yes, those are the ones I was refering to:
https://www.electrocompaniet.no/files/manuals/aw100dmb.pdf