Wiring a single point stereo in-ceiling speaker to work as dipole.

I was recently at my local "hi-end" speaker store and they were informing me that a single stereo in-ceiling speaker (1 woofer, 2 tweeters) can be rewired to be used as a dipole. Has anyone had experience with this? Exactly how do you do it?

If I do this I would be purchasing (2) single stereo in-ceiling speakers......just in case it wasn't clear. Planned on using a pair for my surround rears.

[nova]

Never heard of doing that, sounds plausible though. Any particular reason for not just getting in-ceiling/in-wall dipoles to begin with?

[alan monro]

Inspence . Gooday , If you reverse one of the tweeter wires going to any one of the tweeters it will be 2 poles bipolar , your woofer mid-range wont be , but the mods will stop the treble from being very directional . So it should work . Do the same for the other speaker Kind regards Alan Monro ,

I would purchase dipole if they were available in the speaker line that I am using. However, my only option is to go with the situation I have stated. Proficient Audio is the brand. They are made by Speakercraft but are sold at a lower price point. I am planning on 8" inwalls for the front; a dual 6.5" for the center; 8" inwalls for the surrounds; 8" inceiling for the rear surrounds; a SVS PB12-Plus 2 sub; all powered by an Onkyo 805.

By the way, on the video side I am planning a 120" resessed electric screen with a Panasonic AE2000U projector.

Thanks for the feedback.

alan monro wrote:

Inspence . Gooday , If you reverse one of the tweeter wires going to any one of the tweeters it will be 2 poles bipolar , your woofer mid-range wont be , but the mods will stop the treble from being very directional . So it should work . Do the same for the other speaker Kind regards Alan Monro ,

Alan,
Thanks for the guidance on the dipole tweeter wiring. Since a single point stereo speaker has 2 pair of speaker inputs and I would only be utilizing one pair of inputs, how do I hook each speaker up from the receiver?

[alan monro]

Inspence , gooday again The speakers at the rear , each has 1 woofer 2 tweet and somesort of xover .only one single pair goes to the amp Alan .

[kfalls]

From your first post, it sounds like your current in-wall has one woofer and two tweeters, correct? This is a very unusual configuration. I don't know I've ever seen it before. What you have to remember is with bi/di-pole speakers it's not only the number of speakers, but how they're situated dirtectionally.

For music and some surround programs you want a diffuse (ambient) sound to fill in the space bringing you into the venue. For this reason the tweeters are usually pointing 180 degrees from each other, with the woofer pointing toward the listener and the tweeter planes facing to the front and rear of the room. You won't get the same effect as having the tweeters pointing in the same direction as with an in-wall or in-ceiling design. There are in-wall/in-ceiling speakers configured with their speakers facing in opposite directions specifically for this reason.

To answer you question about your speakers, for di-pole you would need to ensure both tweeters are wired in-phase, for bi-pole the tweeters are wired out-of-phase.