Speaker cab wiring and it's tonal effects, parallel or series?

[shobet]

It's been a while since I've been here, I hardly recognised the place!

Anyway that aside I recently bought an empty 2 x 12 Zilla Studio Pro cab, and ever since I've been procrastinating about what speakers to put in it and also if I should wire the speakers in series or in parallel.




The decision about the wiring will effect the ohm rating of the speakers I need to buy. Obviously buying two 8Ω speakers would give the best option as it would be either 16Ω for series or 4Ω for parallel. It will mostly be used for the Super Bass head in the picture above, but for shits and giggles will probably have a MJW 1W Cub and a Deluxe clone put through it sometimes.

However I'm not sure what the for and against arguments are for the different configurations. I've read that parallel is more robust, IE you can blow a speaker and the other will still work. Parallel also seems to give you a smoother response and less boominess. On the other hand series can give you faster breakup and a better texture for your tone. Series also I believe is more prone to something called 'back EMF', which if I've understood it correctly is the signal a speaker can send back into the amp which can interfere with the signal the amp is sending out.

I'd appreciate if any of you knowledgeable types can chip in with information that can help me decide.

At the moment the front runners speaker wise are a the following pair. Currently I'm liking Eminence's The Wizard and a Swamp Thang. I'm not sure if mixing an American and British voiced speakers is a good or a bad thing. One way to find out I suppose. Input on this combination or other options would be welcome as well.

I have found the following diagram online for wiring up the as a switchable series/parallel set up and I'm thinking it makes more sense to try it like this initially so I can see if I can actually hear any difference between the configurations.



Some of the source material I've come across for any of you that are interested.

http://www.webervst.com/sptalk.html

http://pickroar.com/378/wiring-a-2x12-cab-parallel-versus-series/

http://splawnfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=cabs&action=display&thread=5643&page=1

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175779

http://colomar.com/Shavano/2x12wiring.html

http://www.ronray.com/speakers/speakers.html

http://jumbosunshade.com/swd01.htm

[jackson1]

Hi shobet
The sound variations (if any) in your scenarios is down to the amp used. An amp responds differently as the load changes. Any amp is different, so you can't generalize.... argh crap, I'm at work and can't continue. There is a lot to be said about the issue :-) You mention "back EMG", so i'll raise you one and say "damping factor"... closely related (maybe you already know) - read here, friend: http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/damping_factor.pdf

[DonP]

I think you've researched it pretty well and it's already been discussed here. The decision was to go with the 16 ohms because you end up using more windings in the OT secondary and the tone sounded better.

But as you read it is correct that parallel allows a safety factor.

With such a nice amp as you have, I'd try to get a 4x12 and wire it as Marshall had intended, with 16ohm speakers in the parallel/series mixed.

[shobet]

I'd love a 4x12 for it again, but unfortunately it wont fit in the car and I'd have to reinforce the foundations of the house as the amp is a bit of a monster.