4 or 2 woofers per channel?

[kipman725]

quick question. In floor standing speakers with the drivers crossed at 200Hz would you rather use 4*10" 8ohm speaker wired such that the total load is 4ohm or 2*12" 8ohm speakers in parallel?

the latter option leads to a wider baffle and gives a cone area of 5837cm^2 and the 4 driver solution gives a cone area of 8107cm^2 and narrow baffle. However I am not too sure about the loss of damping caused by wiring speakers in series.

[Brett]

Originally Posted by kipman725

the latter option leads to a wider baffle and gives a cone area of 5837cm^2 and the 4 driver solution gives a cone area of 8107cm^2 and narrow baffle. However I am not too sure about the loss of damping caused by wiring speakers in series.

Not sure where you got these numbers from but the average 10 and 12 have Sd's in the vicinity of 350 and 530cm2/driver.

[kipman725]

ah forgot that the actual bit of the driver that pushes in and out is not 12"

[Arty]

if I could choose, i would go for the 4 x 10" ones.
Large cone area is never a bad idea.

[AEIOU]

Originally Posted by kipman725

use 4*10" 8ohm speaker wired such that the total load is 4ohm

How would you get 4 ohms with four 8 ohm woofers? If you wired them series parallel, the impedance would still be 8 ohms. If you wired them all in parallel then the impedance would be 2 ohms.

Anyway, can your amplifier deliver large amounts of current into 4 ohm loads? If not then a total impedance of 8 ohms would be safer for your amplifier.

Larger woofers usually have the advantage when it comes to really L O W bass, simply because they have a lower fs to begin with.
With four 10 inch woofers, you are going to need a really large enclosure! Regardless if you use 10 inch or 12 inch woofers, to get really low bass, you need really large enclosures, unless you plan on going with an open baffle.

[kipman725]

*I must be sleepy today I meant 4ohm woofers in the 10" configuration.

it's only an idea I don't have the space for such a speaker for another year or two. Enclosure volume would be about 240L for the woofers, too small to be practical?

[chris661]

60L per 10" driver, or 120L per 12" driver.

Think I'd take the latter, 4x12" is going to be enough so that cone area isn't an issue, unless you're looking for PA stuff.......

[Arty]

depends on them woofers.
low FS of bigger cones is true, on the otherhand that allso depends on the driver it self.
and the setup too, as for a 2 way system 10" is allready a bit big, 12" is verry big -given if a simple dome tweeter is used, while probably there are some outthere that can get along with both 10" and 12" ones-

so it mainly depends ont he driver, but generaly i would stick with them 4x10" ones.
4x10" moves less to pump same amount of air as 2x12".
Less excursion means a bit better fidelity.

well anyways just my opinion.

[AEIOU]

Originally Posted by kipman725

*I must be sleepy today I meant 4ohm woofers in the 10" configuration.

it's only an idea I don't have the space for such a speaker for another year or two. Enclosure volume would be about 240L for the woofers, too small to be practical?

Size won't be your only problem, it will take a couple of guys or more just to lift them!

I'm currently building some 120 liter MDF enclosures and they are heavy as can be and I don't even have the woofers installed yet.

[navin]

Actually I was also debating the same issue with a friend.

2 10" woofers in about 45 liters each having a Sd of about 650cm2 and Xmax of about 9mm vs 3 8" woofers in about 30 liters each having a Sd of 660cm2 and Xmax of about 7mm. Same Total Sd, Similar Xmax, Similar total box volume, etc..

For example Aurum Cantus, Dayton, Peerless, SEAS (Prestige) or Vifa doped paper cones.

2 x Aurum Cantus AC250/75C2C 10" Woofer
vs
3 x Aurum Cantus AC200/50C2C 8" Woofer

OR

2 x https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...oducts_id=1705
vs
3 x https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...oducts_id=1386

OR

2 x Dayton Audio RS270-8 10" Reference Woofer
vs
3 x Dayton Audio ST210-8 8" Series II Woofer