Guitar Speaker Cabinet Wiring

Two 8 ohm speakers wired hooked up in parallel results in a 4 ohm load.

Guitar speaker cabinet wiring.

In most commercially built guitar speaker cables the white wire is usually hot and is connected to the tip of the speaker cable plug and the black wire is neutral and is connected to the plug s sleeve. There are generally three ways to wire multiple speakers together. Parallel when wiring in parallel the resistance of the speakers decreases. Putting two 8 ohm speakers in series results in a 16 ohm load.

In essence there are two ways to wire up a 4 speaker cabinet that both wind up with the cabinet having the same impedance as any one of the individual drivers or in other words a cabinet with four 8 ohm speakers that ends up with a total cabinet impedance of 8 ohms. 1 shows how to connect four 16 ohm speakers in a series parallel configuration. This is your classic 4x12 schematic. 2 x 16 ohm speaker 8 ohm load four speakers remember.

However the way in which multiple speakers are wired in a 4 x 12 cabinet for instance determines the overall impedance of the speaker system. The cabinet is rated at 120w. If your guitar amp s speakers are wired in series this means you simply add up the ohms of each speaker and that s your total ohm count. A typical 4x12 cabinet is rated at 16 ohms.

So if you have a 4 12 speaker cabinet and a 100w amplifier four speakers rated at 30w would be safe. Wiring four speakers in parallel quarters the impedance of one speaker. Maybe you need some help with wiring said cabs. When wiring up a guitar speaker cabinet it s important to use heavy gauge speaker wire and not the thin gauge wire you ll find inside guitar cables.

Hence wiring is critical. Four speakers series vs parallel wiring wiring four speakers in series quadruples the impedance of one speaker. The majority of guitar speakers are available in a choice of 8 and 16 ohm impedances. 2 x 8 ohm speaker 4 ohm load.

The two main methods of arriving at this means are as follows. 2 x 4 ohm speaker 8 ohm load. Four 8 ohm speakers 2 ohms. 2 x 16 ohm speaker 32 ohm load or in parallel.

The conventional wiring is called series parallel and the speakers themselves are each 16 ohms. On the other hand wiring two speakers in series yields a load double that of each individual speaker two 8 ohm speakers 16 ohms. For example i have two 8 ohm speakers and if they re wired in series that means my speakers have a total of 16 ohms. The big thing to consider regarding speaker installation is the power your amplifier outputs.

If the amp is rated for 100w the cabinet should be able to accept more than 100w for safe operation. Match impedances ohms all speakers in the same box should have the same impedance 2. Series when you wire hook up speakers in series the speakers resistance as measured in ohms is additive i e. Many players are aware that wiring two speakers in parallel yields a total impedance half that of each of the individual speakers and four in parallel results in a load a quarter that of each speaker two 8 ohm speakers 4 ohms.

To make a two speaker 8ω cabinet put two 4ω speakers in series or two 16ω speakers in parallel. I am here to offer my guidance grasshopper. There are two ways you can wire a two speaker cabinet.