Wiring 4 speakers into a 2-channel amp

FatRat

Hey guys,

I'm not an expert on amps and speakers and have only recently began to understand power amps and ohms and all that craic and I need more help to fully understand it so I can wire my system properly and in a way that speakers wont blow up or amps wont overheat!


I've recently bought a power mixer with these specs:
Continuous Power Rating: 2x350W RMS (8 Ohms), 2x500W RMS (4 Ohms)
Music Power Rating: 2x550W RMS (8 Ohms), 2x750W RMS (4 Ohms)

And atm I have 4 speakers that need to be wired to this power mixer for the band I'm in. Up until now I've been using your basic 300w power amp with 2 150w speakers, which couldn't have been easier to understand and set up! But now I have 2 150w speakers along with 2 300w bins. All 4 speakers run at 8 ohms. The mixer only has two channels so I'm wondering what the best way to wire the speakers up are. I've heard about series and parellel wiring but dont know which I should use or how exactly I go about wiring in series or parallel. Basically my question is, are my speakers suitable for my amp? Will they run at close to their max potential? And how should I wire them to get the best out of them? I'm worried that my amp isn't suitable for my speakers, I'm getting very mixed messages from what I've read online! Hopefully someone here can help or clarify.
Thanks

godfrey

First off, find out if either your bins or your full-range speakers have crossovers, then come back to us.

Many speakers have crossovers and outputs to feed the 'other', in which case, you're laughing...

g

FatRat

godfrey wrote: »

First off, find out if either your bins or your full-range speakers have crossovers, then come back to us.

Many speakers have crossovers and outputs to feed the 'other', in which case, you're laughing...

g

The bins have crossovers, nearly positive the full-range speakers dont. why am I laughing? :pac:

godfrey

They'll work fine.
2 8ohm cabs in parallel (simply link them with ordinary cables) = 4 ohms (per channel), which is also the impedance your powered mixer delivers most power to.

As for the laughing, someone else explain, please!!

g

FatRat

godfrey wrote: »

They'll work fine.
2 8ohm cabs in parallel (simply link them with ordinary cables) = 4 ohms (per channel), which is also the impedance your powered mixer delivers most power to.

As for the laughing, someone else explain, please!!

g

I'm laughing because everything will work well?? I figure thats what you meant anyway! Ok thats good! But just to clarify, I should link the two positive inputs of a Full-range and a bass bin with a regular cable and then use a Y splitter cable going from the negative input in the amp to the two negative inputs in the two speakers! Then do the same with the other 2 speakers except linking the positive in the amp with the positives in the speakers? Or do I link the bass bins with each other and full ranges with each other? Or link all 4 together somehow! I'm not certain on what to do, just need some clarification!

demanufactured

Channel 1 - 1 cable from amp to bin - 2nd cable from bin to top
Channel 2 - 1 cable from amp to bin - 2nd cable from bin to top

So you need 4 cables