10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

[Wolf]

Re: 10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

Ping! cptomes

I bet he'll be able to help you....
Wolf

[crinklecut]

Re: 10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

The 10 speaker array already takes into account an empty top and bottom face. There are 12 faces, so an empty top and bottom leaves 10. I guess one empty face wouldn't hurt. I could leave for aux input or something.

On another note, I'm thinking of equipping the speaker with an internal amp and battery. I've done some searching, but I can't quite find a suitably small board that'll support 9x 3W speakers, and run off a low voltage. Any recommendations? Apologies if I'm asking too much.

[craigk]

Re: 10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

if the speaker is on a stand you will need one empty space, and with 9 speakers one more is not going to make or break the deal.

[crinklecut]

Re: 10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

Not sure how you're going to wire 10 speakers to get a 10 ohm load. However, if you do, your amp should be fine.

You might be best off using just 9 speakers. Wire 3 sets of 3 speakers in series (24-ohm load for each set), then wire all three sets in parallel. Total impedance seen by the amp will be 8 ohms.

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. The 10ohm figure I just grabbed from the instructables 12 speaker design. Sorry I wasn't being clear.

I'd love to go for an even split with a 9 speaker design, but one of my faces would then be empty. Apart from aesthetics, would that impact sound significantly? Can I get away with it?

[tyger23]

Re: 10 speakers in series/parallel? Dodecahedron design.

Not sure how you're going to wire 10 speakers to get a 10 ohm load. However, if you do, your amp should be fine.

You might be best off using just 9 speakers. Wire 3 sets of 3 speakers in series (24-ohm load for each set), then wire all three sets in parallel. Total impedance seen by the amp will be 8 ohms.

[crinklecut]

Hi all! I'm a relative newb to speaker building, my only work being refurbishing and swapping out parts of an old Philco tombstone radio to play modern music!

I've been looking to build an outdoor party speaker, and this design really inspired me:

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Dodecahedron-Speaker-for-Desktop-Printers/

The design calls for 12 8ohm speakers, which once arranged in series/parallel, line up nicely with what seems to be an even balance of power across all the speakers.



The circuit diagram from the instructable

However, I want to modify the design so the speaker can stand on its own two feet, and with a knob/button cluster on the top. This means I need to wire up 10 speakers.

Therein lies the problem - whichever way I try to cut it, I can't seem to get an ideal balanced configuration for power distribution.

What're my options?

• Should I add a resistor to balance things out?
• Will the resistor overheat?
• Is it alright to leave the imbalance of power as is?
• Will an amp rated for an ideal 8ohms have trouble powering a roughly 10ohm load?
• Am I a blithering idiot?

Thanks in advance!