Jumbo Sunshade, Ezine - More Stereo Speaker Wiring Diagrams

Jumbo Sunshade - Ezine

More Stereo Speaker Wiring Diagrams for 2-speaker and 4-speaker guitar & bass cabinets (2x10, 2x12, 4x10, 4x12, etc.)

[For more information on series, parallel, ohms - or for standard speaker wiring diagrams, please go here. For stereo speaker wiring diagrams using only two inputs, please go here.]

        Ok, here are stereo (dual mono) speaker wiring diagrams that utilize 
        three inputs; two stereo switching jacks and one mono jack.

        The big difference between these configurations and
        my others is 
        that you could put two (or four) different speakers in a cabinet and 
        choose between either side/set (in addition to of course being able to 
        use all 2/4 in a circuit).There are two main reasons for having this 
        kind of stereo guitar cabinet:

        1. Simply to have a true stereo cabinet for use with a true stereo amp 
        (duh).  Or, for simultaneous use with two different amps.

        2. To load it with two different speakers and then be able to 
        choose between them in addition to being able to use their combined 
        sound.
I have used two different speakers in a cabinet and it can definitely 
        be useful, but i do not recommend mixing and matching!  
        Also, as with any guitar or bass cabinet that is wired for stereo use, 
        you have to be extremely careful when hooking this kind of 
        speaker cabinet up to any tube amplifier.
This 3-input setup is like the Mesa cabinet (that people have been 
        emailing me about) in that you have these choices:

        1. Either one or both of the "stereo" inputs

        or

        2. The jack combining all speakers in the cabinet
Depending on how the cabinet is wired, if 
        you use the 3rd (combining) jack AND one or both of the dual mono jacks, 
        you could be powering on your amp without a proper load, or shorting the 
        connection.  Bad bad bad.
Anybody who wires their guitar cabinet like this should make sure and 
        do a very good job of labeling the input jacks so there is no confusion 
        when you're going from a studio gig to a poorly-lit bar!
Ok i'm done preachin.  Like my other speaker wiring diagrams, 
        i'm breaking these up by 2-speaker and then 4-speaker cabinets, starting 
        with the most simple diagrams.  If you have any questions, for 
        God's sake, please don't ask! hehe

Ok, first up would be a two-speaker cabinet loaded with 4-ohm speakers. Your options are: dual singles @ 4-ohms each, or combined in series @ 8-ohm total load.

Plugging into either Input A or Input B would give you that speaker.

When either of these two (A&B) inputs are used, they are not connected, which means you could use two different amps, or a true stereo amp (Line6), or just both outputs from a mono amp (Marshall, Fender, Egnater).

Plugging into Input C will give you both speakers combined in series.

And again: If you're plugged into Input C, you cannot also be plugged into either A or B and have this work!

1. A @ 4 ohms
2. B @ 4 ohms
3. A + B (4 ohms each)
4. C (but not A or B!) @ 8 ohms total load

        
                Ok here we have 
                another two-speaker stereo cabinet; this time loaded with 8-ohm 
                speakers.  Your options are: dual singles @ 8-ohms each, or 
                combined in series @ 16-ohm total load.

                Obviously the only difference between this wiring diagram and 
                the one above is the use of 8-ohm speakers.
                Input A or B will give you that speaker @ 8 
                ohms.  Using both A & B is fine; it's 8 ohms each.
Input C combines the two speakers in 
                series giving us a 16-ohm total load.

        
                Next up is 
                another 2-speaker cabinet loaded with 8-ohm drivers.  This 
                time the options are: dual singles @ 8-ohms each, or combined in
                parallel @ 4-ohm total load.

                Input A = 8 ohms

                Input B = 8 ohms

                Input C = 4 ohmsLike the others, 
                you could use either A or B or both A&B.  And then of 
                course Input C must be used by itself.
This speaker wiring diagram gets a 
                little more interesting because now we've got two wires 
                connecting the stereo switching jacks.

                And here you can see that, again, plugging into either of these 
                (A/B) jacks will break the connections to the other (A/B) jack.
I have the mono jack connected directly 
                to the speaker posts because that's the way i'd do it (heavy 
                wire).  Obviously you could connect it right to Input B's 
                jack and it'd be the same thing there.

        
                And finally 
                here's the only 2-speaker cabinet that uses 16-ohm drivers.  
                Your options are: dual singles @ 16-ohms each, or combined in 
                parallel @ 8-ohm total load.

                Man i'm only halfway through with these and i'm already 
                completely bored.Ok this is the 
                same wiring diagram as above but with 16-ohm speakers of course.
Inputs A & B are 16 ohms each.  
                Input C combines both speakers in parallel, which gives us an 
                8-ohm total load.
You want to use this cabinet in stereo; 
                use Inputs A&B.  Mono with both speakers; use Input C.

        
                And here we go 
                with the 4-speaker cabinet diagrams.  This cabinet has 
                8-ohm drivers, so your options are: dual 2-speaker parallel 
                circuits @ 4 ohms total load each, or all four speakers combined 
                in parallel/series @ 8-ohm total load.
                Yes, this is just like that very first 
                2-speaker single/series diagram.  The obvious difference 
                with this configuration is the addition of two more speakers 
                wired in parallel to the first two.
Using either Input A or B will give you 
                those two speakers wired in parallel at 4-ohm total load each.  
                Using Input C takes both those parallel sets and combines them 
                in series like this:

                * 8 ohms + 8 ohms combined in parallel = 4 ohms

                * 4 ohms + 4 ohms combined in series = 8 ohms

        
                Our second 4-speaker 
                stereo cabinet is the same as the first but with 16-ohm drivers.  
                Options are: dual 2-speaker parallel circuits @ 8 ohms total 
                load each, or all four speakers combined in parallel/series @ 
                16-ohm total load.Looking at that 
                green wire it's easy to see how the positive from one 2-speaker 
                (parallel) circuit is connected to the negative of the other 
                2-speaker circuit, thus allowing to combine them in series
                (the mono jack hits the positive of one set and the negative 
                of the other).
A = two speakers in parallel @ 8 ohm 
                total load

                B = two speakers in parallel @ 8 ohm total load

                C = takes two 8-ohm parallel circuits and combines them in 
                series @ 16 ohm total load
Simple enough; yea?

        
                Here's a 4-speaker cabinet 
                loaded with 4-ohm drivers but going series series/parallel.  
                Options are: dual 2-speaker series circuits @ 8 ohms total load 
                each, or all four speakers combined in series/parallel @ 4-ohm 
                total load.Input A = 2 4-ohm 
                speakers in series @ 8 ohms total load

                Input B = 2 4-ohm speakers in series @ 8 ohms total load

                Input C = 4 4-ohm speakers combined in series/parallel @ 4 ohms 
                total load
This speaker wiring diagram just looks 
                hilarious.  You have the two 2-speaker circuits being 
                connected in series and then to combine these circuits in 
                parallel i have all this soldering at the switching 
                jacks.

                Obviously you could connect the positive and negative from the 
                mono jack to posi and negi at one of the speaker sets.  I 
                didn't even think about this til after i was done "photoshopping" 
                and i'm just too lazy to go back and fix it.

        
                Finally; the last stereo 
                speaker wiring diagram!  Same as above (series 
                series/parallel) but this cabinet would have four 8-ohm 
                speakers.  Options are: dual 2-speaker series circuits @ 16 
                ohms total load each, or all four speakers combined in 
                series/parallel @ 8-ohm total load.
                I had a friend of mine proof-read all these 
                diagrams and he bitched about these specifically, asking "why 
                don't you use two more colors for the switch conns?"  And 
                the thing is, i would've, but it's a helluva lot easier to trace 
                this circuit when everything is correctly color-coded (it's just 
                a pain in the ass to look at).  But hey, at least i used 
                drop shadows, right?
  :I

        
                I'm also posting two blank speaker wiring 
                diagrams so that anybody who wants to prove that my diagrams are 
                very very crappy can go ahead and make better ones (and email 
                them to me).  :)

is anybody every gonna go this far down such a long page? this ad will NEVER get clicked on! :(