What size Amp?

SnailSpace what connectors do you have on the back of your speaker cabinets? Do you have a output/link socket on them as well as the input from the amp? Are the sockets/connectors the same on the back of your cabinetsb or are they random binding posts, speakons, jack's or xlrs?

Edited by KDW32 - 12 December 2022 at 3:59pm

And.. Once you have decided on how to wire it up .... Best practice for the low frequency feed to your bass speakers is use the crossover to set slope to LR24 & the hi pass filter at 45hz/50Hz or higher to minimise mechanical damage through over excursion..

DMZ. "The bass was intense. Girls were literally running up to stand next to the subs"

SnailSpace wrote:

you said don’t link in parallel as the amp would immediately shut down?

Conanski wrote:

I said you can't connect 4 speakers together in parallel. You need to slow down and read more carefully because the small details matter.

Yeah I missed the wording again, apologies.

SnailSpace wrote:

So I presume you’re saying only option left is Stereo and surely that means I have a lot of wires feeding back to amps?

Conanski wrote:

No just 1 +/- pair per channel.

SnailSpace wrote:

When ever I’ve looked at the back of stacks at sessions I’m sure they are linked in parallel or series?

Conanski wrote:

They are almost certainly linked in parallel.

Wired in Parallel Internally?

SnailSpace wrote:

(I understand what I will be using as mids x4 Jamos are passive speakers and I’m currently reading up on mixing Passive & Active speakers and seems to be ok, not ideal but as I say this is the first steps.

Conanski wrote:

Active speakers have an amplifier built in and as far as I know you don't have any of those. Those Jamos are 3-way fullrange passive speakers correct? Do the mid and high drivers still work?

Sorry yes that's what I meant 3-way passive speakers which I presume will have a little crossover element in with mid & high still connected.

SnailSpace wrote:

I want a one stack approach linked by short cable runs with limited longer runs going back to the amp if possible.

Conanski wrote:

Should be possible. The easiest way to do this is to put all the amps in 1 rack with the crossover/DSP and place it behind the stack, then connect 1 speaker cable from each amp channel to a box and put a short jumper between it and a second box of the same type.

Yes I have a rack with my amp/mixer/pre amp in. I probably explained it wrong. I still want to have my rack one end of the room and the stack of x4, I just want to limit the amount of cables running back to amps from the stack.

Which is what you are saying here by saying short 'jumper' cables between the boxes of the same type. I think I presumed series/parallel referred to a way of linking speakers at the back externally. So from what yourself and earplug are saying does this mean series/parallel is a way of linking speakers internally within the boxes?

So maybe I should have asked how do I link them with jumper cables? If so what is the configuration of jumper cables? The Jamo boxes currently have Banana Plugs and the PVs have Jacks.(I will switch to Speakon but I imagine Ill do that when I make custom boxes and have used this current reconfiguration as part of the process of upgrading and learning)

dj jammin wrote:

Sorry to say this but you do need to do a bit of reading up on the basics..

As I understand it, you want to make a 3 way stack, bass, mid, top

You are gonna need a way to split the frequencies (an active crossover ie dcx 2496)

The crossover will split your signal into bass, mid, tops at the frequencies you choose.. you will then need 3 amps/amp channels.. to power each section.

You can still wire up the BW PVs in series (two pairs each wired in series) but you will need to make a special cable or junction box to do this..

The basics you need to read up on are: ohms law and also learn how to make your own speaker cables. The widely used connector being neutrik speakon.

I have read & watched plenty to do with ohms law etc and its anything but basic and probably why the physics/maths/audio language side of it is taking time to sink in and for the penny to drop.

I do understand that I have to split the frequencies and that is the quest I'm on, as I said in original post Im lacking the knowledge of this next step.

I can make my own cables, Ive always done my own soldering etc I will eventually make Speakon cables.

What tyope of special cable do you mean?

Edited by SnailSpace - 12 December 2022 at 9:54pm

SnailSpace wrote:

Thanks, not quite sure what that means yet but I will definitely refer back to it when I do get to setting up crossover.

Every loudspeaker driver is designed and build with slightly different goals in mind, it depends on a lot of factors like what the intended use is. Smaller midrange and guitar speakers are built with light cones and relatively short voice coils for high efficiency and in the case of guitar speakers they actually want a certain amount of non linear(distorted) response as it adds color to the sound. High power subwoofer drivers have heavier cones to survive more abuse and higher air loads, and the voice coils are longer to control the cone at larger excusrions.

The way a speaker works is pretty simple, when the voice coil is exposed to a voltage it generates a magnetic field that pushes or pulls(depending on polarity) against the magentic field created by the permanent magnet mounted around it. If you put a DC voltage on the voice coil ( +to +, - to -) with a 9v battery, the cone moves out and sits there. If you reverse the battery the cone move in and sits there. If you connect an AC voltage(like music) to the voice coil it vibrates in and out and generates sound.

Those PV 15's you have are actually built more like guitar speakers with short coils and light cones, what that means is that they won't handle much power at lower frequencies before the motor(voice coil and magnet) loses control of the cone and distortion rises to audible levels. So to combat that a steep low cut filter is used to limit the amount of very low frequency energy it is exposed to. That is a standard thing for most PA subwoofer applications the difference is that the filter is set at a higher frequency for your PV drivers than it would be if you had modern sub drivers.

Edited by Conanski - 13 December 2022 at 2:46am

Earplug wrote:

Just put them in series. 2 per channel as mentioned before. With the PLX3602 amp. It will be fine.

You need to connect:-- amp +ve -> speaker +ve. Then speaker -ve to next speaker +ve and finally speaker -ve back to amp -ve.

Then repeat for the other channel/pair of speakers, ie. each cabinet will have 2 drivers, with the +ve of one connected to the -ve of the other, with the other contacts going to the amp. Fairly simple...

You mention each cabinet having 2 drivers? Each cabinet will have x1 driver - so can I still use this way of linking/connecting on the exterior ie x2 linked by ‘jumper’ cables with x1 cable going back to channel A, then x2 linked by ‘jumper’ cables with x1 going back to channel B? Conanski referred to it as jumper cables is this what this is?

Is Series & parallel for interior wiring/connections or can it be used exterior?

Apologies for me missing/miss interpreting info but it’s a while since I’ve been on a forum it takes some getting used to again all the ‘quoting’ etc. plus kids interrupting me ha!

Edited by SnailSpace - 13 December 2022 at 11:06am