Should I run 4 or 8 ohm mids?

_Vince
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What's up CA members? I'm working on fiberglassing my doors and I want to run Sundowns: (1) 8", (2) 6.5", & (1) tweeter per door on a Sundown 100.4

I'm stuck between running these parallel:

all 8 ohm speakers at 2.66ohms

all 4 ohm speakers at 1.33ohms

8ohm 8" & 4ohm 6.5" 1.60ohms

I'm running active, so tweeter wouldn't matter. So if someone can tell me the benefits and downfalls of running the above options, that'll be great.

 
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Less power from the amp at 8 ohms, other than that, not much.
I am lost at why you want to use the size and number of speakers you listed.
Yeah, but how loud will it be with all speakers at 8ohms?

I'm making speaker pods for my doors and the maximum room I have without tremendously cutting the doors is 9". I also wanted to add some more midrange/bass to even out my 6 SA12s

 
Yeah, but how loud will it be with all speakers at 8ohms? I'm making speaker pods for my doors and the maximum room I have without tremendously cutting the doors is 9". I also wanted to add some more midrange/bass to even out my 6 SA12s
You will have half as much power at 8 ohms, so 3 db less. Could you fit two 8"s and one 6.5? Or depending on the speakers and what frequencies you want to use them at going with a smaller mid... 6.5" speakers can start to "beam" around 1500-2000 Hz iirc. There is more to look at than ohms....

 
i'd do the 8" in a kick panel, the 2 6.5" in the door and the tweeter in the door or the pillar. 8Ω and 4Ω have no real difference, it'll depend on what you want your final Ω load to be at. example I have 2 6.5" mids in each door, they are 4Ω each so I can get a 2Ω load on each channel. just personally preference I'd get another 2 channel amp and run just the 8" off of that and use that 4 channel to run your 6.5" and tweeter.

 
If you wanted to, you could run a "semi" active setup.... run the 8" speakers from 120hz on down bridged on the rear channels. Run the other speakers on the front channels in stereo from 120hz on up, HPF.

 
8" at 8ohms, the two 6.5" at 4ohms.

Series the two 4ohm 6.5" to an 8ohm load, then parallel the 8ohm 8" with the two 6.5" already in series at 8ohm and you'll end up with a 4ohm load at the amp.

 
Time to catch up with the posts

You will have half as much power at 8 ohms, so 3 db less. Could you fit two 8"s and one 6.5? Or depending on the speakers and what frequencies you want to use them at going with a smaller mid... 6.5" speakers can start to "beam" around 1500-2000 Hz iirc. There is more to look at than ohms....
I can fit 2 8" and 1 6.5", will just have them flat against the panel instead of centering.

i'd do the 8" in a kick panel, the 2 6.5" in the door and the tweeter in the door or the pillar. 8Ω and 4Ω have no real difference, it'll depend on what you want your final Ω load to be at. example I have 2 6.5" mids in each door, they are 4Ω each so I can get a 2Ω load on each channel. just personally preference I'd get another 2 channel amp and run just the 8" off of that and use that 4 channel to run your 6.5" and tweeter.
Yeah, I know it's about the final impedance but the individual impedance and how I wire it will determine the final impedance (right?). and I wanted to get a separate amp for the 8"s but that'll have to come later on.

8" at 8ohms, the two 6.5" at 4ohms.Series the two 4ohm 6.5" to an 8ohm load, then parallel the 8ohm 8" with the two 6.5" already in series at 8ohm and you'll end up with a 4ohm load at the amp.
This is actually what I wanted to do, wasn't sure if it was going to work or not.

Just so I understand - each size of speaker will have its own channel? And the tweeters will be on another amp?
no, tweeters will have it's own channel. and if it's okay to run the speakers like the reply above this one, than I want to run it like that.

 
it's not active if the 6.5's and 8's are on the same channel. and it is not advisable to give all 3 the same signal. having three speakers playing the same signal - yet each a different distance from your head will sound weird and poor. the effect is called comb filtering - a form of phase interference. you want to bandpass the 8" to handle midbass only. then let the 6.5's handle midrange - of which you only want 1 mid per side.

if your question is if you should run two channels of the sundown at 1.33 ohms or 2.66 ohms, i vote the latter to make the load easier on the amp. later, when you have enough amp channels to do what you ultimately want, having all 4 ohm drivers is fine. but the real issue is that what you are planning to do is flawed. you're welcome to try and find out for yourself. maybe you'll like it. hell, people like Bose.

running tweets active isn't gaining much. you don't need to T/A tweeters. you just want level control and crossover flexibility. you run tweets active when you have spare amps channels to play with.

i would re-work your plan. run the tweeters off a passive crossover on the same channels as one 4 ohm 6.5" dedicated for midrange. then run a 8" midbass off the other channels, bandpass. this is a tried method that works well. when you have 6 amp channels, then run the various speakers individually.

lastly, you don't want mids and midbass sharing the same airspace. the midbass will pressurize the mid (out of phase) and distort it.

more speakers mounted on a door panel looks neat, but sounds quite poor. you want one driver producing midrange per side. you can double up on midbass drivers since the wavelengths are long enough that phase interference isn't as much of an issue when they are side-by-side.

my buck-o-five

 
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