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stacking speakers

operaman

operaman

Super Member
I know this topic pops up from time to time but I haven't gotten the info I was looking for...

Those of you who stack, how (technically) do you do it?)

I know it is considered more kosher to stack similar pairs.
ie:
"I don't always stack, but when I do, I stack two identical pairs of speakers" :yes:

But do you disable a woofer in one? Do you modify? Or just run them A+B with the tweeters together?

I'm not doing this yet, but very curious.
 
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In terms of consumer, domestic loudspeakers, the whole "stacking" craze appears to stem from this:
http://www.davidreaton.com/PDFs/Double_Advent_System.pdf

EDIT: Oh, I guess the other domestic stacked loudspeaker product worth mentioning was Mark Levinson's HQD loudspeaker system, which, at its heart, contained two stacked pairs of Quad ESL-57 full-range electrostatics.
http://soundartiwakura.jp/bbs/bbs/board.php?bo_table=modified&wr_id=45
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=340759
 
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Ask these guys... Some of the engineers are still alive like John Curl and the people at Alembic who turned their efforts into making great bass guitars. Not practical for a home system so impractical in the real world that it almost bankrupted The GDead and had to pare down their system and auction off most of the Macs and speakers.


http://dozin.com/wallofsound/#
 
operaman said:
I know this topic pops up from time to time but I haven't gotten the info I was looking for...

Those of you who stack, how (technically) do you do it?)

I know it is considered more kosher to stack similar pairs.
ie:
"I don't always stack, but when I do, I stack two identical pairs of speakers" :yes:

But do you disable a woofer in one? Do you modify? Or just run them A+B with the tweeters together?

I'm not doing this yet, but very curious.
Click to expand...
I don't know about the "Double Advent" being the root (shall we say) of this since we stacked speakers back in the 60's as kids. And our friends who were teens were doing it before us. And of course musicians had done it for many years as well.

The image posted by Kermit sums it up succinctly. Most people, myself included, tend to stack with the tweeters nearest each other. However, there are people who stack on sides, in which case you keep like drivers in alignment. The assumption with staking on sides is that the lower speaker has been raised from the floor sufficiently to have the mid/tweeter around ear level. Some will actually hang their speakers, but you had better have something rather solid in (above) the ceiling to support the respective weight.

A smaller group, based strictly on number of posts I've seen, will venture off into some other direction or variation.
 
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It looks like two nominal 8-ohm loads in series, as shown in the diagram, presents 16 ohms to the amplifier, not 4.
Am I missing something?
 
Copa1934 said:
I think the confusion is caused by the speakers being up-side down and then the wires crisscrossing. The wires do in fact go from positive to positive, and negative to negative, which would be parallel.
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Ah, got it. Looked at my Stacked Advents and they are in Series, which is not like the original drawing. It is mislabeled:yes:
 
I run ADS L710s stacked on top of ADS L520s. The L520s are rotated 45 degrees, giving an unorthodox appearance. I derived this configuration after consulting with other members of AK, and some experimentation. It seems that cross-overs are designed with the area of the front baffle as a primary factor. Stacking the speakers actually doubles the baffle area (if the speaker cabinets are the same size). Putting the corner of the L520 cabinets forward seems to avoid the increase in baffle area.

Why do I stack? The speaker pairs would strain from the output of my amp without the 'partnership' arrangement. Stacking also gives a larger (taller) sound stage.

I have them wired in series. Parallel hook up would drop the ohm load down below the capability of the amp.
 
i have run double KLH 6 pairs for years. my set-up consisted of two amplifers ( Hafler 500's) driving the speakers. i built wooden frame shelves that permitted the model 6's a 5-6" air gap between the two cabinets. i then flipped the upper cabinet upside down so that both tweeters were close to one another. by doing this my mid-range frequencies became more prevalent. i have also experimented with EPI 100's and Advent large cabinets. incredible sound.
 
My best combination is the KLH 5's and 23's lying parallel with the 5's on top because of their added midrange. Big, almost live sound!
 
I ran stacked JBL L-112 for a few years. The stacking did not make as much a difference in sound quality as my stacked OLA. I sold the JBL a pair at a time. didn't notice a lot of sound difference in single compared to stacked. I sold the JBL but still have the stacked OLA. I haven't had them in my rotation for years, but I have never sold them.
 
Coytee said:
I've never understood stacking.... why not simply get a larger more capable speaker?
Click to expand...

Because if you have (say) three sets of speakers and 3 power amps at your disposal as well as some time to spare, how can you resist stacking the speakers and stacking the amps and taking a listen?

IMHO, it will certainly sound louder than a single speaker - which has been known to be taken as better. Or, if level is adjusted to same, it will most likely give out less distortion, which sometimes is audible.

And as three woofers will move more air, it will also give more low end extension (or the sense of it).

Of course there's diffraction, lobbing, increased reflections, etc that will perhaps smear the soundstage if the recording and the listening space allow for a coherent soundstage to be "created".

Now, why on earth haven't I yet stacked the Calinda on top of Carlton on top of the 104ab? In full honesty, I fear I may like what I will hear and then I will be looking for speaker sets to replace these in the relevant systems.
 
I stack Advent Legacy III's. Top flipped which leaves about 8 inches between tweeters. I power each pair with it's own Nikko NA 2000 integrated amp. Both sets are set to 6 ohms.

I find I can get so much more output this way, and my amps don't even break a sweat. Also as mentioned before I get much fuller sound and better bottom end. I don't notice any soundstage issues, in fact I find it to be enhanced.

I am not a super critical listener however. I just like to be able to rock loud and clear when in the mood. At lower volumes I sometimes just run one pair instead of both.
 
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