BBIBH

Wouldn't your first example be in series and the second be in parallel?

series:
receiver/wire/speaker/wire/speaker

if the first wire(circuit) is broken then no signal gets to the first or second speaker

parallel:
.............../wire/speaker
receiver-
.............../wire/speaker

if the first wire(circuit) is broken then the second still gets a signal

I hope this will clear up any confusion for either of us.