How to create “Wall of Sound” using OSD Audio 4x Pair of Patio Speakers ART Technology
This project was not Frank’s first rodeo; he knew he would need to apply a little physics to get the results. He started with our OSD AP850, an 8.0” 2-Way Patio Speaker rated at 180 watts and measured at 90dB at 1Watt/1Meter. This Patio Speaker is the biggest that we offer but a single AP850 was not going to work on its own for this application so drawing on his experience in both the Car Audio days with subwoofers and Pro Sound working with speaker Arrays he had an idea. He could wire two pairs in-series, but that would cut the available power in half, and wiring a couple of pairs in parallel would double his power at 4-ohms but would also increase heat with the increased current draw. But he could combine the two concepts and wire four speakers for both the right channel and for the left channel with each grouping wired in series-parallel. And as you can see in the picture, he needed to have all the tweeters as close as possible to avoid High-Frequency wave cancellation. So now his amplifier would still see an 8-ohm load. Plus these other advantages:
• Unbelievable clarity even in lower volume, quadrupling both the Cone Area and Power Handling
• Decrease distortion by more than 75%
• Increase Sensitivity 20dB to 110dB output
A pair of XTernal 12 In-Ground Subwoofers powered by an SMP1000 Dedicated Powered Subwoofer Amplifier were added wired in parallel. Note the location of the two subs where the two Mushroom capped output vents found between the two Patio Speaker Arrays. A second identical zone has been added with plans for a third more powerful zone featuring eight AP850 speakers per channel (16 total) with four XTernal 12 Subs wired Series Parallel as well.
From the Client; “Mission Accomplished!”
Also watch our Simon Spears talking about this at Daily HiFi Show