Parallel Vs. Series Speakers: Which One Is Better?

How you wire each speaker has a profound effect on their sound quality. It even affects the performance and energy consumption of the whole system.

Therefore, before setting up a line for speakers, you need to precisely evaluate the characteristics of each type to be able to make the most suitable decision. 

So, parallel vs series speakers, what are the similarities and differences between these two? In the article, we will explain to you the simplest to understand. 

Hopefully, with the following amount of information, you will feel satisfied and make the right decision for your connection.

Parallel Vs. Series Speakers: Similar Characteristics

Before giving a specific analysis on the difference between parallel vs. series, we want to present some similarities between them to make it easier for you to imagine. Judging in the spirit of objectivity and fairness, we find that these two types of speaker wiring have many similarities, specifically:

• The essence: The true nature of these two types of speaker connections provides the user with complete sound quality. All are created to serve the maximum for their customers.

• Power usage for system operation: Both use power to power their sound systems. It may sound inevitable and obvious, but the truth is that many people still don't know about this.

• Easy to set up: Although different in appearance and wiring, both parallels vs. series provide users convenience and ease in system setup. You need to prepare simple speakers, cables, and some accompanying components.

Difference Between Parallel Vs. Series Speakers

Digging deeper, we found that there are many significant differences between the two. So what are those characteristics, and how do they affect the choice of customers? Please continue to follow the information to get the correct answer!

Wattage

The first difference that we want to emphasize to you is the capacity used for the system. Before concluding, we have conducted quite a few practical tests and surveys with people who have used them. 

The results returned were surprising when up to 80% of users were satisfied with the power usage of the series speaker. They think that in this way they can save more costs related to more necessary things.

Series ( Youtube)

To convince you more about this feature, we would like to give a typical example with specific parameters. Suppose you get an audio amplifier with power in turn:

• Power 4 RMS for 100W/channel

• Power 2 Ohms RMS for 200W/channel

In case you proceed to connect 2 4 Ω speakers with series, you will have a total resistance of 8 Ω. This shows you that:

• Absolute output power for 8 Ohms speaker load is 50W

• The power for each speaker is 25W

• Each 4 speakers will have 4 power of Ohms indicating that the volume, in this case, will be lower

The speaker cables of all kinds will reduce the capacity; this capacity includes both the speaker and the volume of each speaker.

Volume

Parallel (Youtube)

Volume is the next aspect we come up with to compare these two popular speaker connections. As a general rule, they are louder than series. 

• Wiring will increase the total impedance of the speaker (ohms), which in turn reduces the amount of current flowing through the speaker.

This characteristic means that the output of amperage or audio systems will often be below. It makes them much less loud than parallel wiring.

• These loudspeakers receive a portion of the distributed power and will not be driven like parallel loudspeakers. It is also the hidden angle that makes the volume lower than the other ones.

Speaker Ohms

The vital thing you might know about how to wire speakers in both of them is that the load of the speaker (Ohms) would be similar to the Ohms rating of the amperage or stereo. 

Using an impedance lower than the rating will make the whole system inactive and inoperable. It is even possible to damage an audio amplifier, receiver, and stereo permanently.

Derived from the above meaning, we would like to give some specific evaluations below about the difference between the ability to use Ohms speakers of the two:

• When you make a connection, the load is usually divided by the speaker's number.

• In contrast, when you make a batch connection, the Ohms speakers will add up.

Work

The ability to work, which brings greater efficiency to many different cases of parallel, is much more appreciated than that of series. This result is drawn from the experiment and from the tests we have performed before. The work we offer here is essentially the sound quality, and volume received.

Ordinary speaker

The standard speaker selection for series system operation seems to be more pleasant than the other one. You can use a single midrange or a full speaker for your system.

Wiring way

Wiring the system in series is much more convenient and more accessible than in parallel. This conclusion is made based on real-life and feedback from many people who have been using the system.

The key reason for this difference is that they require more amps in parallel, so the wiring process is much more complicated.

Comparison table

Disadvantages Of Series And Parallel Connection

We are here as a guide, and we always want to bring you beneficial information to help you choose a series or Parallel. 

That's precisely why we built and created this piece of information. It's essential to know the downsides of both to make an accurate final judgment.

Series connection

Connecting speakers with series is easier to implement; it has more disadvantages than its strengths. Some of the limitations are listed below:

High Impedance ( Youtube)

• High Impedance: One of the most significant weaknesses of series connections is high impedance. If you have 4 speakers with an impedance of 4 ohms, you will get an impedance more influential than their total impedance when you connect them to the source.

• High voltage requirements: As we know, high impedance requires more electricity. Furthermore, such a high impedance also increases the power requirement from the amplifier.

• Uniformity: If any of your speakers or coils are open or damaged, all other speakers in the system will stop working as well.

You have to fix this problem before it gets too bad and you can't fix it. Finding the causes and recovering them can help you get your system back up and running safely and efficiently.

Parallel connection

Compared to connecting loudspeakers with series, parallel speakers have fewer disadvantages. The impedance of speakers is much lower than that of series loudspeakers. If one speaker or parallel speaker wire is damaged or open, the other components can work typically without any problem.

You need to make sure that your amplifier works well with impedance and power. Otherwise, it will damage your device and not be able to recover. Parallel improves the sound volume louder and more precisely than series.

The only drawback of these speakers is their complexity. If you have good knowledge and a thorough understanding of essential parameters, pairing will become extremely simple.

Parallel Vs. Series Speakers: Which Is Better?

Which one is better ( Youtube)

We recommend using parallel instead of series. The sound quality of the tandem speakers is perfect, and they give you louder volume. 

This system also overcomes other connections' disadvantages, such as power consumption, impedance, and synchronization.

Yet, to perform parallel speaker pairing successfully, you need to accumulate a solid amount of knowledge and hard skills to deploy the line flexibly.

You can weigh and make some critical judgments for selecting the proper splicing method. Batch speaker is quite simple, not technically demanding, so you can do it right from the first day of implementation.

Conclusion

With the information about parallel vs. series speakers we provided above, we hope to help you somewhat accurately visualize the similarities and differences. 

In general, each pairing has its pros and cons to adapt to your particular use case. Therefore, the choice of which pairing depends primarily on yourself and surrounding factors. Try it out, and don't forget to give us feedback!

Thank you for reading!