Parallel speaker wiring ?

[AZMark]

I’m adding mid cabin speakers and will be wiring in parallel with my existing cabin speakers to get a 2ohm load. I got that part all figured out.

My question is how to physically wire this - do I need to run two new wires all the way back to the amp and connect to the same amp ports as the existing speakers, or can I just wire them right to the connection on the existing speakers (i.e. new wire from + and - on existing speaker to same terminal on new speaker)? Wiring to the speakers would save me some trouble and quite a bit of extra wire that I don’t currently have around.

I’m not sure how the electricity flow works here or if I’d be sending too much power through the one set of existing wires to now run extra speakers.

Thanks

 

[Cambo]

You can run the wires form one speaker to the next and yes that will shorten the wire needed

 

[MrBubbaGump]

You can run the wires form one speaker to the next and yes that will shorten the wire needed

View attachment 204040

You need to be careful and know your amps capability doing this however. When you run a speaker in parallel which is shown in the picture above you decrease the ohms of the speakers hooked up. Example 2 4 ohm speakers are now a 2 ohm load on the amp. Not all amps can handle a two ohm load. Also know what your speakers are capable of... In parallel the sound is louder and resistance decreases.

 

[AZMark]

You need to be careful and know your amps capability doing this however. When you run a speaker in parallel which is shown in the picture above you decrease the ohms of the speakers hooked up. Example 2 4 ohm speakers are now a 2 ohm load on the amp. Not all amps can handle a two ohm load. Also know what your speakers are capable of... In parallel the sound is louder and resistance decreases.

Thanks.

Amp is 2 ohm stable JL 100w/channel and just the stock Polk DB speakers that supposedly handle 100w each so I think this should work well.

 

[MrBubbaGump]

Thanks.

Amp is 2 ohm stable JL 100w/channel and just the stock Polk DB speakers that supposedly handle 100w each so I think this should work well.

Perfect you should be golden. Remember when you add speakers the resistance drops but the wattage is split between the speakers so for example my JL amp M400/4 with the engines off like at a sand bar pushes 60w per 4 ohm speaker at 12.5v, and 90w per speaker at 2ohm. So running two 4 ohm speakers in parallel would produce 45w per speaker per channel (at 2 ohms each) with the engines off on solely battery power assuming a fully charged battery.

 

[212s]

Amp is 2 ohm stable JL 100w/channel and just the stock Polk DB speakers that supposedly handle 100w each so I think this should work well.

That'll work fine...I did the same thing when I added mid-cabin speakers and just ran short wires to parallel with the original factory speakers. I ran 14ga to wire my speakers and that's plenty heavy enough to carry over 200w per line on typical lengths in your boat. I only needed 18ga to run 100w at 4ohms but decided to go with 14ga in case I ever decided to upgrade with more powerful speakers and amps in the future - the cost difference was negligible.

 

[AZMark]

That'll work fine...I did the same thing when I added mid-cabin speakers and just ran short wires to parallel with the original factory speakers. I ran 14ga to wire my speakers and that's plenty heavy enough to carry over 200w per line on typical lengths in your boat. I only needed 18ga to run 100w at 4ohms but decided to go with 14ga in case I ever decided to upgrade with more powerful speakers and amps in the future - the cost difference was negligible.

Great to hear. I also just ran 14ga wire when I installed my amp for the same reason.