Stereo speaker in one enclosure... (2024)

I would strongly suggest not placing a stereo pair of drivers in the same (un-partitioned) enclosure for either bass or midrange purposes.

The biggest problem is bass - it would only work acceptably if the bass signal driving both left and right was identical (eg a mono bass signal) and while it's fairly common in music for most bass notes/instruments to be located in phase in the centre "phantom" channel, it's by no means universal.

Some Jazz music puts the bass instrument well off to one side, while I have also come across some music that deliberately puts the bass out of phase and unequal in amplitude.

The amount of loading each woofer will see when both share the same enclosure depends on what the other woofer is doing.

If both woofers are being driven by exactly the same signal, the effect on the bass alignment and loading of each individual woofer is exactly the same as if the box was partitioned down the middle with each woofer working in half the available space.

In other words if it's a 50 litre box with both drivers in the same 50 litres, when driven equally in phase each driver effectively only "sees" 25 litres, regardless of whether the box is partitioned or not. This is a very important point - you don't magically gain any additional effective volume by not partitioning the box, except a small amount eliminating the lost volume consumed by the partition thickness.

On the other hand, if only one channel is being driven by the bass (by the bass instrument being fully left or right for example) then one driver "sees" the whole 50 litres and the bass alignment will completely change compared to both drivers being driven.

(If the second driver was disconnected it would act like a passive radiator, but if still connected and "controlled" by the low output impedance of the amplifier, it will tend to just act as a small additional compliance)

For example if it was a critically aligned bass reflex enclosure with both drivers being driven, it would be an under-damped boom box with a large peak in the low frequency response with only one driver being driven, because you've effectively doubled the box size.

Dramatically increasing the effective box size like this will also make it much more prone to being over driven at low frequencies.

Worse still, if you feed both speakers out-of-phase bass, both speakers will see "infinite" box volume and will have no loading whatsoever, putting the drivers at severe risk of being over-driven with even relatively small drive levels.

Sure, out of phase bass is rare in music, but do you want that one piece of music to destroy your woofers ?

Even with more normal bass where you might have a kick drum part way to one side of the L-R stage and the bass guitar part way to the other side, the unequal drive between the two drivers is going to cause all kinds of unnecessary intermodulation distortion effects in the bass. (One woofers excursion will physically modulate the other woofer cone position etc)

There's absolutely no good reason to do any of this though - if you must use the same cabinet simply partition the inside of the box in half so each woofer is in their own enclosure - apart from a very small percentage of lost volume from the partition panel thickness the bass alignment when reproducing mono bass will be almost identical to not having the partition, and in all other circ*mstances (offset bass, reverse phase bass) there will be no bad side effects, unlike the case where they share an enclosure but aren't driven by the same signal.

In the case of midrange I still wouldn't put stereo midrange drivers in the same enclosure - a surprising amount of the midrange that comes through the front of a midrange cone has already bounced around inside the enclosure and passed back through the cone - with two drivers in the same enclosure unless you had a ton of damping material you'd get a lot of mixing of the back-wave from each driver re-radiating through BOTH cones, messing up stereo imaging.

If it was a dedicated midrange enclosure (in a 3 way for example) you have the added problem that the mechanical resonance of the driver/enclosure is up in the lower midrange 150-300Hz region, and you'll get all the same problems as with bass in a 2 way where the response roll-off changes depending on whether both drivers are driven or not, or in phase or not.

And unlike bass, midrange often IS out of phase (for surround effects) and is very often off to one side.

In short, don't do it - just partition the cabinet and be done with it Stereo speaker in one enclosure... (1)

Stereo speaker in one enclosure... (2024)

FAQs

Can you get stereo sound out of one speaker? ›

Stereo, by definition, is two channel sound, left and right. So you can't hear stereo reproduction from a single speaker. If the one speaker is hooked up to a stereo amplifier that has a mono switch you can “fold” that signal down to mono and play everything in the recording through that one speaker.

Can a single speaker produce stereo sound? ›

A single stereo speaker is able to receive both left and right audio channels and produce stereo sound from one speaker. A single stereo speaker is typically able to produce stereo sound as it has two tweeters [What is a tweeter] whereas a typical ceiling speaker has one.

What is the minimum separation for stereo speakers? ›

Speaker separation.

Try to get about 4 feet of separation for bookshelf speakers or 8 feet for floorstanding speakers. If your speakers are too close, sounds will blend together and become muddy.

Do you need two speakers for stereo? ›

Stereo has two channels, each with their own output. A speaker could have two drivers in it and provide both channels, or just one but provide a stereo plug to combine the channels. In your case you could use one speaker for each channel and get stereo, this is the ordinary case.

How do you split a mono signal to a stereo? ›

If you're asking how to take a mono signal and play it through both channels, you can use a simple Y or splitter cable, like this one. This typical combiner adapter is 1 female RCA connector (mono) to 2 male RCA connectors (split mono).

Why does mono sound better than stereo? ›

In this scenario, mono sound ensures that everyone hears the same audio at the same volume for a more balanced and consistent listening experience as they move through the space. As a single source of audio, mono sound is also easier to process for listeners with hearing impairments.

Can I convert mono to stereo? ›

You can convert audio files from mono to stereo and from stereo to mono. Converting a mono file into a stereo file produces an audio file that contains the same material in both channels, for example for further processing into real stereo.

What is the 38% rule speakers? ›

You may have heard of the “38% rule”, whereby you set your seating position 38% of the way into a rectangular room from the wall in front of you, so as to minimise standing waves.

What is the 38% rule speaker placement? ›

Your distance from the wall will vary depending on your room size, but a good reference is the 38% rule by acclaimed studio designer Wes Lachot. The 38% rule says that in a rectangular room, on paper, the best listening position is 38% of the way into the room from the shortest wall.

What is the 1 3 speaker rule? ›

When that rule is applied to loudspeaker setup it calls for the room to be broken up into thirds: 1/3 of the room's longest dimension away from the front wall is where we place the speakers.

Are single stereo speakers good? ›

It is this design which allows you to have stereo sound from one speaker. Commonly the tweeters are adjustable to allow you to direct the sound. While having one speaker opposed to two sounds like a good idea, it is only recommended this be done in smaller rooms.

Do stereo speakers need an amplifier? ›

Power amplifiers and AV receivers are essential to every home theater sound system because they both perform the basic function of taking the audio signal from the output devices, which could be blu ray players, DVD players, CD players, or the audio from your television, and amplify that signal before sending it out to ...

Can I use 2 Bluetooth speakers as stereo? ›

Using two Bluetooth speakers connected to the same audio source provides significant advantages over a single speaker setup: Wider soundstage: With two speakers placed appropriately, you can achieve true stereo sound with distinct left and right channels, adding more dimension and depth.

Why is one stereo speaker louder than the other? ›

One possibility is that the volume levels are not properly balanced, meaning that one speaker is set to a higher volume than the other. This can be easily fixed by adjusting the volume levels on both speakers. Another possible issue could be a problem with the speaker itself.

Is there a way to separate audio? ›

How to split audio files online
  1. Upload your audio file. Create a project in Descript and upload the audio files you want to split by clicking Choose a file to transcribe. ...
  2. Split your audio by dividing up the transcript into parts. ...
  3. Bulk export your split audio files.

Can I connect 1 speaker to 2 outputs? ›

No, you could potentially damage the amplifier by booking the two channels together. When you wire both sides to one speaker, it is the same as hooking the wires from each channel up to each other. This would result in a direct short and cause damage to the amplifier.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Pres. Carey Rath

Last Updated:

Views: 5641

Rating: 4 / 5 (41 voted)

Reviews: 80% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Pres. Carey Rath

Birthday: 1997-03-06

Address: 14955 Ledner Trail, East Rodrickfort, NE 85127-8369

Phone: +18682428114917

Job: National Technology Representative

Hobby: Sand art, Drama, Web surfing, Cycling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Leather crafting, Creative writing

Introduction: My name is Pres. Carey Rath, I am a faithful, funny, vast, joyous, lively, brave, glamorous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.