# Stacking Fronts



## Fazorcat (May 7, 2011)

Hi guys, quick/weird kinda question here. I am gonna sell my previous bookshelf speakers to a buddy of mine and create a home theater for him. I have a JBL E35 center and 3 pair of JBL E20 bookshelf speakers. He has a 5.1 capable receiver. 

My thought was to use one pair for rears of course, but then use the other 2 pair as fronts wired in series. 

So fronts would be 16 ohms each after combining them...which the receiver manual says it can do. 

My question is... how would you position the speakers? I was thinking one on top of the other. Or would it be better to have them side by side? Or one upside down on top of the other so the tweeters are closer together???

Also I was under the assumption that combining these would be beneficial since 2 bookshelf speakers combined would act more like a larger proper front channel.... is that true? 

Thanks and sorry if I explained this in a confusing manner.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

One way you could do it is to put one pair up at the ceiling aiming them downward toward the main listening position... I have only tried this in the past with a center channel and it worked out nicely for a center channel.


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## Fazorcat (May 7, 2011)

That's a good idea, but with what we have available, stacking one on top or side by side is the only option. Any other opinions are welcome!


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Fazorcat said:


> My thought was to use one pair for rears of course, but then use the other 2 pair as fronts wired in series.
> 
> So fronts would be 16 ohms each after combining them...which the receiver manual says it can do.
> 
> Also I was under the assumption that combining these would be beneficial since 2 bookshelf speakers combined would act more like a larger proper front channel.... is that true?


There’s really no good reason to do this. You do realize that at 16 ohms the receiver will be putting out _half_ the power it would at 8 ohms, right? That makes for a significant mismatch between the L/R and the other channels. 

Regards,
Wayne


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## Fazorcat (May 7, 2011)

Yeah Wayne, I figured I'd have to turn up the front speakers compared to the others, but hoped that would be doable. Is there really no benefit to having double the speakers? I thought since these are just bookshelf speakers...double the speakers would make them bigger and more powerful and more like a traditional Front speaker. Am I wrong with assuming that?


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Fazorcat said:


> Is there really no benefit to having double the speakers?


 If there were, then everyone would already be doing that! 




> I thought since these are just bookshelf speakers...double the speakers would make them bigger and more powerful and more like a traditional Front speaker.


Nope, ultimately all you have is two small speakers. For instance, if they only have good bass response down to 80 Hz, adding a second one isn’t going to change that. Sure, you _could_ get “more power,” but that would actually require - more power. IOW a second amplifier for the second pair, not connecting them in series to a single amp and dragging its output down to nothing.

By “traditional front speaker” I assume you mean a large floor-standing one? They have larger cabinets and woofers than bookshelf speakers, both of which contribute to deeper bass. But they have their own drawbacks: Larger cabinets are more difficult to effectively brace, so they can have internal resonances that degrade sound. So it’s possible for a bookshelf speaker to sound better than a larger speaker (albeit with bass that’s not as substantial). Not to mention, lots of people use bookshelf speakers as their main speakers these days (yours truly included). Indeed, many people feel that with subwoofers, large speakers are unnecessary and offer no tangible benefit.

Regards,
Wayne


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## Fazorcat (May 7, 2011)

Wayne, do you think it would sound worse paired up? Bigger soundstage? Or would it just not sound any better? 

Thanks for the replies!


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