parallel/series line arrays with fullrange?

[NullPointerAlex]

I'm wondering, has anyone ever thought of building line arrays with fullrange drivers?

I was thinking, looking at ohm's law, putting two 8 ohm speakers in series would be like having one 16 ohms speaker connected. Putting two in parallel would be like having 1 speaker of 4 ohms.

So in theory, you could build a speaker using four drivers, two sets of 2 speakers in series, in parallel: (* = drivers)

   .
 /  \
|    |
*   *
|    |
*   *
 \  /

That would give you a speaker with 4 drivers (mini line array?), and the same resistance as that 1 driver.


So I'm wondering, how would that sound? What would be the effects in having 4 hooked up that way instead of having just one? Anyone ever tried something like this before?

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

You haven't used the search feature have you?

This is old hat and has been covered multiple times.

But, yes. What you state is correct. It would sound OK depending on your definition of OK.

[h_andree]

There are many projects out there.

Partsexpress.com has a project with 2" drivers.
e-speakers.com has a project with the km50 drivers.
www.stryke.com used to have some projects listed.
Myself I'm using a line array fro the midrange.

There some issues: The effiency of a line array
is much higher then the individual drivers.
That's good.

The speakers should be small not to have a problem
of the comb effect. This depends on frequency
and driver size. If you use very small drivers (2")
you will still not get enough excursion to produce a
strong loud bass. You may get to 150-200 Hz.
A 3" driver will start to roll off on the ultra
high end. Although the 3" tang band drivers
may work. The comb effect will be more prominent.

In my opinion an array of true ribbon tweeters
with and array of 4-6" midbass drivers next to
it should give a great sound. The stereo imaging
of such an arrangement is (in my opnion) never as
good as that of a small single point speakers. This
is not an array of full range drivers though.

You will get a very low distortion though.

If you want to keep the price low then the problem
is finding a very high quality full range driver.

Harry

[NullPointerAlex]

Originally posted by Bill Fitzpatrick
You haven't used the search feature have you?

This is old hat and has been covered multiple times.

Well I did and found absolutely nothing about using that particular series/parallel configuration... Maybe if your search voodoo works better you could point me to the appropriate thread?

Also I thought that line arrays used crossovers? If not, then I guess thats how line array work (series+parallel to keep impendance)?

h_andree: For a long while I've been eying the fostex drivers for single driver speakers. So say the fe87e at 45$cdn per, so for 8, you'd pay 360$cdn (300$US). Or maybe the 107.. Anyhow, you're right though they don't go down very low.. only around 100hz... So I guess a sub would be in order..

So basically, you'd just get more dB and a smoother sound?

I'll have to look up 'comb effect'.

[Hennie]

Some line array theory at:

http://www.audiodiycentral.com/resource/pdf/nflawp.pdf