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Two 4 ohms in series Vs two 16 Ohms in parallel

#4
The 4 and 16 ohm versions of the "same" driver won't be exactly the same. Changing the voice coil will affect other parameters as well, though they can make tweaks to the design to give the two a similar tone.

Electrically, the impedance will end up the same. In the series connection, if one driver blows, it's mate can lose signal/stop playing as well, leaving no load (not good for tube amps). In the parallel connection, if one blows, the other will still play/present some load to the amp.
 
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#5
In general, and assuming "identical" TS parameters, there would not be any performance differences as the motors see exactly the same electrical parameters and function effectively as a single motor of 8 ohms.

In practice, there will be some differences in TS parameters no matter how hard we try to make them identical.

RR makes a good point regarding driver failure, applied mainly to guys driving beyond the rig's safe limits.
 
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#6
Yes, there are differences!
Fortunately the guys at Faital-Pro have a very nicely setup website.

Take a look at this:
CompTS_zps149feb53.jpg
 
#7
will33 said:
In the series connection, if one driver blows, it's mate can lose signal/stop playing as well, leaving no load (not good for tube amps). In the parallel connection, if one blows, the other will still play/present some load to the amp.
Click to expand...
Good point, an SVT cab (meant for a tube amp) has ALL the drivers in parallel - eight 32 ohm drivers = 4 ohms :) .
 
#11
Yes there will be differences, some important, some not. Most important is the fact the TS specs will be different but this has been mentioned more than once.

Lest assume you can find a 4ohm speaker that is identical to a 16ohm speaker in its TS specs (except for voice coil resistance) to keep things simple. As speakers are not ideal loads (i.e. only resistive), we would need to think about the capacitive and inductive nature of the speakers. Like with pickups, two parallel speakers will double the capacitance but half the inductance. This will change how the parallel speakers will sound compared to the series speakers.
 
#13
mrmills said:
Yes there will be differences, some important, some not. Most important is the fact the TS specs will be different but this has been mentioned more than once.

Lest assume you can find a 4ohm speaker that is identical to a 16ohm speaker in its TS specs (except for voice coil resistance) to keep things simple. As speakers are not ideal loads (i.e. only resistive), we would need to think about the capacitive and inductive nature of the speakers. Like with pickups, two parallel speakers will double the capacitance but half the inductance. This will change how the parallel speakers will sound compared to the series speakers.
Click to expand...

While it might seem like L & C differences are large, in fact not so much when you look at the ratio of L & C to the DCR and nominal impedance curves.
 
#14
Hi!
Yesterday night I made a very quick check with bass box pro and unibox.
The two versions model quite differently!
The 4 ohms version is better suited for a small hight output cab with a very wide boost in the mids (300hz to 800 hz). Definitely not what I want.

The 16 ohms version on the other side goes flat all the way down to 50hz in a 110L cab. No problems with excursion or vent air with 1000 watts. Impressive!

Too bad it's not in stock anywhere!

So, do you know any other good candidate (4 or 16 Ohms) to make this 2x12 @ 8 ohm bass cabinet possible?

Thank you very much!!
Ray
 

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