How do I wire in "Series?" (1 Viewer)

[DerekM]

First off, I have searched extensively in the archives, but have found nothing. I'm attempting to correctly install my bass shakers. I will be wiring 3 to my couch, and 1 on my loveseat. I currently have them wired wrong. I have them (the 3 in the couch) running in parallel, and the 1 in the loveseat connected like a regular speaker. Can someone please help? I'm pulling out my hair trying to figure out how I'm gonna get these hooked up in series so that they can carry the 8-ohm load. Anyone have a diagram or a link to one? I seem to remember seeing one last year, but haven't been able to find it since. Do I need to run them all together, or 3 and 1? Any help would be SO appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Greg Monfort]

Is each BS nominally 8ohms? What is the amp? Mono 8ohms, stereo 8ohms? Does it have 2, 4, or 16ohm taps?

GM

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Series means to "chain" them together. You take the positive from one, connect it to the negative of the other.

If these are the Aura Bass Shakers, I believe they are 4 Ohm. If you want an 8 Ohm load out of them, you would need to wire them in pairs:

 
 [+]----------[+]Shaker 1[-]---[+]Shaker 2[-]----+
 AMPLIFIER |
 [-]---------------------------------------------+

The way you have the 3 wired now (in parallel), you have basically a 1.33 Ohm load on that channel which is probably not good for your amp and can overdrive it.

You'll have to wire the one in the chair in series with one in the couch to keep the same setup you have now.

What kind of amp are you using?

 

[jeff lam]

Can't get an 8ohm load with 4. You can with 2 however. Just wire a pair in series. Connect the + of the first shaker to - of the 2nd. the leftover leads (- from the first shaker and + from the second) should connect to the coresponding outputs on your amp. THis is an 8 ohm load. Do the same with the other pair. If you want the final 4 ohm load with all four, just wire the leftovers of each pair together, + to + and - to -. Two 8 ohm loads wired in parallel become a single 4 ohm load.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I assumed you needed 2 8 Ohm loads. If you only need one with 4 BS's...

What if you wired 3 in series giving you a 12 Ohm load and then wired the remaining one in parallel with those 3? would the result be 8 Ohms?

ie:

 
 +-----+---------+
 | [BS]
 | |
 [BS] [BS]
 | |
 | [BS]
 ------+---------+

 

[nolesrule]

the result of 12 ohms and 8 ohms in parallel is 4.8 ohms.

 

[Greg Monfort]

True, but if they're nominally 4ohm loads then it would be 12ohms in parallel with 4ohms, or 3ohms.

Unfortunately, wiring up a group of frequency dependent devices isn't the same as with resistors, so what would happen is that the single BS would hog most of the amp's output, leaving the other three wanting.

Think of it this way, if you calculate their sensitivity, the higher nominal resistance of the series wired 'speakers' would have a much lower sensitivity (~ -4.77dB) than a single 4ohm.

GM

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Think of it this way, if you calculate their sensitivity, the higher nominal resistance of the series wired 'speakers' would have a much lower sensitivity (~ -4.77dB) than a single 4ohm.

This I did not know. It's been years since my electronics class and even then we didn't cover the dynamics of driver impedence.... unfortunately.
But, then we are talking about Bass Shakers here... would -4.77dB be something noticeable to one's behind?

 

[Greg Monfort]

Never messed with them, but considering their close proximity to where some folks brains seem to be located , I imagine so. On a more serious note, I guess it depends on how much the furniture damps them, but at 16Hz I can tell a 4dB difference (my EQ goes up in 2dB increments) when reproduced by my subs.
GM

 

[nolesrule]

Greg, I don't know why I was thinking 8 ohms. I meant to use 4 ohms...oh well. And yeah, 4 and 12 in parallel is 3 ohms.