How to wired two 8" drivers

[MisterB]

Hi... I am new to speaker building, so I decide to buy drivers and Crossover already made for them. But the crossover is for 3 ways system with 3 drivers.
And I want to put 2 * 8" drivers. So what modification should I have to make to the crossover or how can I wired the drivers so that everthing work fine...
Building the enclosure is not an issue, but I am not an expert yet on crossover design!! Can someone help me?
Thanks for any replies.

 

[JoeBob]

Ok, you mean to tell me you want a only two 8" drivers? If so you're going to need a tweeter. And when you add you're tweeter you're not going to have a 3-way system, it'll be two way (one "way" for the tweeter, and another for your two 8" drivers). Have you already bought the drivers? If not you might want to look for some drivers better suited for your crossover. Keep in mind that the crossover you bought if for speakers of a certain impedence (more then likely 8ohms), so you couldn't use two 8" drivers easily unless their 4ohms each (in series it will then be 8ohms). If you've already bought your drivers and crossover you're in a little pickle, you could change the crossover parts to suit your two 8 inchers and tweeter and make a MTM, but you'd be better off building a new one from scratch. Or you could add a 4" midrange or something simillar, that is if you can use your two 8" drivers (if their 8ohms each and your crossover is for 8ohm drivers, it'd be easier to use only one, but if they're 4ohms, wire them in series to achieve 8ohms, this is gathering you've got a crossover for 8ohm loads, which is most common, but it might not be).

And it's nice to see a fellow quebecer here...

 

[Super]

This may depend on the overall impedance that your amplifier can handle. To be on the safe side, you could wire them in series: Take a wire from the positive terminal of the crossover, and connect it to one of the positive terminals of the speaker. Now take a wire from that speaker's negative terminal and connect it to the positive terminal on the other speaker. Then, run a wire from the last negative terminal back to the negative terminal of the crossover.

If your amp can handle a lower impedance, you can wire them in parallel. This means that you connect each speakers terminal's normally with separate wires to the appropriate crossover terminals. So essentially what you'll have is two wires leading from the positive terminal of the crossover to the positive terminal on each individual speaker, and the same for the negative terminals.

Edit: This was assuming that you have a tweeter, midrange, and two 8 inch bass drivers. All connections mentioned would be from the terminals of the low pass section of the filter.

 

[MisterB]

Two 8" Drivers

Forgot to mentionned.. I have a tweeter and a midrange!! (not so newbie
The crossover are designed exactly for the drivers that I have, but only for 1 woofer.. and I want 2 (for more bass and better look)
So I will try to connect them in series like Super mentionned...
(I tought that I will had to modified the crossover...)
So if it's so simple, I am on business!!
Thanks guys.

 

[AudioFreak]

MisterB you will have to modify the crossover because the impedance is different to what it was designed for.

 

[JoeBob]

Check out http://sound.westhost.com/lr-passive.htm to understand how passive crossovers work, you'll then be able to do the changes you need (as well as understand them).