Hi,

I have not seen anyone ask this particular question...

I have (4) Paradigm ADP-150 dipole speakers for the sides and rears of my 7.2 setup.

I also have 2 identical pairs of 'Atom' direct radiating bookshelf speakers, and two identical pairs of 'Titan' direct radiating bookshelf speakers...these four pairs being 'leftovers' with no present use.

It just occured to me I could use a pair of Titans to make a single dipole on each side by running them in series to make a 'single' 4 ohm speaker...and use the two pairs of Atoms to do the same thing in the back.

I would remove each dipole speaker and replace it with a pair of Atoms or Titans, each one of the pair angled out slightly from the wall...in other words firing almost 'sideways' away from each other (like the dipoles), just angled out a bit. I would leave a few inches between each pair so the ports on the back of each speaker would not be blocked. I would place one of each pair 'upside down' so the ports on the back would not be directly in line with each other.

This would take up more wall space, but I have a dedicated theater, so its not really a concern.

My 'seat of the pants' impression is that the SQ is better overall in the unused direct radiating speakers I already have (Atoms and Titans) than in the ADP-150s, so I am thinking this might make a significant improvement in overall SQ.

The other benefit is I would be running each speaker location at 4 ohms instead of 8 (no problem for my Denon), giving me more power / headroom.

So...has any else ever tried this?

I am curious what you guys think. My room is presently under construction so I am not able to try this out right now...it's just theoretical...

Thoughts?

Thanks :-)

Doug

What is the impedance of the speakers by themselves? If you run them in series the impedance will effectively double (with the exception of any capacitive components of the speaker but I think most of the speaker's impedance is either inductive or resistive). My guess is that they are 8 ohm speakers, in which case running them in series will give you 16 ohms. You might be able to connect them in parallel to get a 4 ohm speaker.

If you do series connect your speakers there will probably be a very slight delay (probably not audible) from the first speaker to the second (basic RLC delay line), but again this won't be an issue if you end up connecting them in parallel.

If you do end up doing this you may want to consider running one speaker wire (as long as it has the correct gauge for a 4 ohm speaker) from the receiver to the speakers, then split it at the speaker end. This will eliminate any mismatch due to speaker wire.

A pair of direct radiating speakers set up back to back are still direct radiating. However they have gone from being each monopolar to together being either dipolar or bipolar.

As for how it will work, well why not? Only trying it will tell.

That's a bipolar setup; not dipole. To make it dipolar, you'd have to wire one of the speakers out of phase with it's mate, and that would result in almost total bass cancellation. But, as Tom says, try it. It might work.