Johnny- The recommendation seems right on the very surface, but no, you want the speakers wired in phase. If you wire them out of phase, and if you are sitting and listening anywhere close to the speakers, you will have little or no midrange or bass, as the low to mid frequencies are of equal magnitude, but of opposite polarity, effectively canceling the sound out. When you design for dual speakers in a single can, you want added air space, so you want longer tubes; that is the only thing you really need to consider. you do not need a center divider either; the air inside will all be in compression or all in expansion; the pressures are for the sake of this argument the same whether there is a divider or not. Additionally, one thing that is often either never mentioned or glossed over is that it is possible for one speaker to be out-of-phase acoustically even though it appears it is in-phase electrically. Sometimes this is due to an amp manufacturer flipping phase inside the amp, and sometimes, it is simply as a function of where you are listening. Sound travels at a speed, so therefore differences in distances from you to any speakers that you can hear can result in phase shift. An interesting point: A wakesurfer is close to the boat, and therefore can many times hear the in-boat speakers as well as the tower speakers. If the in-boat speakers are out of phase with respect to the tower speakers in the surfing "sweet spot", the surfer will usually hear less volume, and lots less midrange. Sometimes this is even noticeable in the boat. SO.... When wiring your tower speakers, consider the real possibility that there is a chance that you could wire them backwards, (flip + and -, not left and right) and improve the over-all sound for the rider and/or the boat. You do this by connecting the negative speaker wire from the amp to the positive input at the speaker. The take the positive wire from the amp and connect it to the negative input of the speaker. Wire it both ways and listen to both. You will hear a difference, and one way will usually be better. Good luck! Phil Kicker
|