This paper presents a novel simple filter design method based on a parallel short-ended coupled-line structure with capacitive loading for size reduction and ultra-broad rejection of spurious passbands. In addition, the introduction of a cross-coupling capacitor into the miniaturized coupled-line can create a transmission zero at the second harmonic frequency for better frequency selectivity and attenuation level. The aperture compensation technique is also applied to achieve a strong coupling in the coupled-line section. The influence of using the connecting transmission line to cascade two identical one-stage filters is studied for the first time. Specifically, such a two-stage bandpass filter operating at 2.3 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 10% was designed and realized with low-temperature co-fired ceramic technology for application in base stations that need high power handling capability. It achieved attenuation in excess of -40 dB up to $4f_0$ and low insertion loss of -1.2 dB with the size of 10 mm ${ imes}$ 7 mm ${ imes}$ 2.2 mm. The measured and simulated results showed good agreement.