Will this series connection work?

[SouthTunnel]

I'm wondering if the following setup would help get the max power out of a GB Shuttle 9.2?

Shuttle Amp is 500W @ 8ohm, 900W @ 4ohm
1 Hydrive 1x15 500W 8ohm
2 Hydrive 1x12 300W 8ohm OR 4ohm

If I switched both 112's to 4ohm, could I safely run in parallel the 115 and a 112, and daisy chain another 112 off of the connected 112? If I understand correctly the 2 daisy chained 4ohm 112s would create an 8ohm load... Combined with the other 115 8ohm load would run the amp at its full 4ohm/900W. And this would distribute about 450W to the 115, and about 225W to each 112. Meaning I could theoretically crank the amp, and get a full 900W without overpowering any of the speakers.

Is this correct?

 

[David Jayne]

I'm wondering if the following setup would help get the max power out of a GB Shuttle 9.2?

Shuttle Amp is 500W @ 8ohm, 900W @ 4ohm
1 Hydrive 1x15 500W 8ohm
2 Hydrive 1x12 300W 8ohm OR 4ohm

If I switched both 112's to 4ohm, could I safely run in parallel the 115 and a 112, and daisy chain another 112 off of the connected 112? If I understand correctly the 2 daisy chained 4ohm 112s would create an 8ohm load... Combined with the other 115 8ohm load would run the amp at its full 4ohm/900W. And this would distribute about 450W to the 115, and about 225W to each 112. Meaning I could theoretically crank the amp, and get a full 900W without overpowering any of the speakers.

Is this correct?

No. The speaker connections are parallel not series.

 

[B-string]

Daisy chaining is a parallel connection so two 4 ohm cabs would make a 2 ohm load. You need a special cable to have a series connection.
In your example use a specially wired series cable for the two 4 ohm 112s (8 ohms total) and a second regular cable from the amp to the 8 ohm 115.

 

[Baer]

Most (if not all) "daisy-chain" connections on cabinets are parallel connections which would make your two 4-ohm cabinets a 2-ohm load to the amp, not an 8-ohm load. Your general scheme would work if you built a series cable to connect those two 4-ohm cabinets in series which would present the amp with an 8-ohm load.

Edit: I guess I don't type fast enough.

 

[two fingers]

They already covered it but I'll reinforce what they said. The input/outputs on the cabs are parallel, not series (almost always). So your 12s leg would be 2 ohms, not 8. And the combined parallel load of your 8 ohm 15 and your 2 ohm chain of 12s would be (around) 1.6 ohms. All kinds of bad for the amp before you even consider all the uneven distribution problems.

You would need a special cable to make it work.

 

[SouthTunnel]

So then, my obvious next question... Where does one obtain one of these mysterious series connection cables?

 

[two fingers]

In my view, one doesn't. One sells of two 12 cabs and then one buys oneself a matching 15 cab to go with the other one. One hooks each cab to its own speaker output on the amp. And then one stands back and enjoys the thunder!

(I realize that isn't what you wanted to hear, but if we're talking about "what I would do", there it is.)

 

[B-string]

You can have one made here http://procablesnsound.com/items/Speaker-Y-Cables/list.htm other builders exist. They are special order items or you can make a simple box with three 1/4" jacks and just use standard cables.

 

[SouthTunnel]

In my view, one doesn't. One sells of two 12 cabs and then one buys oneself a matching 15 cab to go with the other one. One hooks each cab to its own speaker output on the amp. And then one stands back and enjoys the thunder!

I knew this was coming

I actually only have 1 HyDrive 112 right now, which I plan to keep because of portability... 300W at only 30lb. I understand your point, and might go that route if I can find a used HX115 for cheap. However 2 112's gives me more versatility. In addition to mixing them with the 115, I can also just use the 2 of them as an extremely portable 600W mini stack.

 

[Munjibunga]

I've made a couple series cables myself.

I made this one with Speakons. Here's a diagram to go with it. If you're using Speakons, tip = 1+ and sleeve = 1-.

 

[two fingers]

I knew this was coming

I actually only have 1 HyDrive 112 right now, which I plan to keep because of portability... 300W at only 30lb. I understand your point, and might go that route if I can find a used HX115 for cheap. However 2 112's gives me more versatility. In addition to mixing them with the 115, I can also just use the 2 of them as an extremely portable 600W mini stack.

Best of luck either way.

 

[Nagrom]

I made a series box with 3-speakon sockets mounted in a 4x4x2" PVC junction box, and 3-standard speakon cables. Connected positive 1 to negative 2, pos. 2 to neg. 3, pos. 3 to neg. 1 inside the box. Now I can run 2-4 ohm cabs @ 8 ohms, 1-4 ohm cab at 4 ohms, or even 4-4ohm cabs @ 4 ohms (if I had that many). The guys here told me how, works great.