I spend a great deal of time updating and answering questions from the webpage. If you have a specific question, please read the relevant article on the webpage and post your question there. Rarely do I get to answer questions posted here in TH-cam, although others often help out. geoffthegreygeek.com/category/home-av/connecting-speakers/
Geoff. Here is what I sent you in an email like you asked. Please let me. Know if you received it. Maybe someone else can chime in if they know. You would think as long as I have been playing I would have ran I to this, but this is a first. here it is. Hey Geoff. I have a Bugera Vintage V22 Infinium. It is a 22 watt combo amp. On the back is a jack for connecting an extension cab. Where the jacks are for the extension speaker, and the jack, and plug for the speaker in the amp it states "amplifier output 22watts 4 ohms minimum speaker impedance. Jacks Paralleled". (The speaker in the amp is 8 ohms) Next to the jacks is a switch that has a setting for 4, 8, and 16 ohms. The extension cab is an Egnater 1x12 and is 16 ohms. If I plug this in to the extension jack, what would I set the impedance switch to? I do not want to damage my amp. You are the first person I have come across online who seems to know what they are talking about. I hope you can help me with this dilemma, but I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that have an answer, but I would like to hear all opinions including the Grey haired geek. Thank you in advance,
Assuming, the connection was done correct. Does multiple speakers connected to one channel affect amps? In other words, do you get the same output from the amp per speakers as you would if you connect one speaker to one channel?
Hi sir, thanks very much for the vdo, this one vdo gave me a clear picture of impedance,Hi I have a small doubt. please give your expertise, what will be the formula for connecting two speaker's of different impedance(say 1 speaker with 8ohms and other with 4ohm) in parallel... i know the calculation for series (10+4=14 ohms),I am planning to build a diy soundbar with 2.0 amplifier board (stereo left n right channel), and I want to add 1 woofer to the amp,(thereby total 3 speaker for a two channel amp).
If your speakers are rated at 8 ohms, that means impedance will vary from 16ohm and during heavy, complex bass and orchestral music, it will sure drop down to 3.2 ohms. While 4 ohm speakers will drop down to 1, 2 or zero ohms and drain the current from your amplifier severe. The more high current you provide, the more headroom you have, also with high current amplifier you prevent amp and speakers from potential damage - clipping! After trying 4, 6 and 8 ohm speakers, I realized minimum power amp is 100watts per channel into 8 ohms and close to 200watt into 4 ohm, to drive most speakers. As for 4 ohm speakers or connecting 2 pairs of speakers, they require at least 150watt/ch high current amplifier to drive them well. For a year I drove Dynaudio 4 ohm floorstander with 75w/ch high current amp and that power wasn't enough to take control of the bass and soundstage (stereo mode). It was a torture like driving heavy Land Rover with a 75 horse power engine. While minimum requirements for such a beast is 120hp. Hope this helps someone :)
This is hands down the best video for information on impedance. I'm no expert, but thanks to this I was able to wire my subs down to a safe 2 Ohm load.
Basically, you never want your Ohm rating to be lower than what your amp lists, because less resistance means there is more current going through the amp, and the amp can literally be fried. Too high of an impedance, and your volume will be too low because there is too much resistance. This video is intended to make one understand what impedance you should be looking for when connecting speakers to an amp, but it doesn't explain the concept of impedance itself.
@@flowmaster2010your amp says 4-8 ohms you went too high at 16 ohms.Had your amp stated "8 ohms minimum" you would have been good.. your speakers would have to be connected in series paralell
An impedance assigned to loudspeakers is essentially a "nominal" impedance. Impedance varies with frequency so there is an "impedance curve" for every loudspeaker or speaker system. For instance my AR-3a speakers have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, however this speaker's impedance varies from a low of 2.5 ohms at 900 Hz to 22 ohms at about 45 Hz with various settings of the speaker's mid-range and tweeter controls. The overall impedance at most frequencies is close to 4 ohms. This is something you should know, but in general this video gives excellent advice on how to hook up speakers, but there will be some speakers that deviate from this simple solution.
Fair Comment Junn. I find most people don't want to know the technical details, just what to do about impedance, hence the lack of a technical description. That is why I provided links in the video to my various articles where there is a better explanation. perhaps start with geoffthegreygeek.com/understanding-speaker-impedance/.
Impedance is defined as TOTAL opposition to current flow in an ac circuit. This total opposition consists not only of dc resistance, but inductive reactance(measured in ohms), and capacitive reactance(measured in ohms).
Impedance (Z) is known as equivalent resistance value of a circuit. A speaker coil has three parameters like coil resistance, coil inductance and coil capacitance, usually known as R, L, C. Impedance (Z) is calculated as R+kL+1/(kC) where K=2*Pie*F (F=frequency & Pie=3.14), R is the coil resistance in ohm, L is inductance value in milli-Henry and C is capacitance value in micro-farad. The unit of Z is ohm. Be remember, standard values of speakers are 4, 8 or 16 ohm. Here, Mr. Geoff clearly explained how we can obtain desired coil resistance with speaker having different coil resistance, like getting 4 ohm with 2 X 8 ohm speakers, or getting 4 ohm with 4 X 16 ohm speakers etc. to match desired value of output of amplifier.
O U T S T A N D I N G ! Excellent info on speaker impedance without getting overly technical. Most obliged G3 sir. Really appreciate your altruistic labor here. All the best.
I had a little Mobile CB radio it was a uniden. The impedance matched so perfectly between the CB, Antenna and microphone It had an electric condenser Mic with a PLL synthesizer that from channel 8 up to 24 the SWRS were perfect. When I spoke to truckers they thought I was on a base station! I miss the days when we all talked on citizens band radio and met for coffee breaks. Want to get my ham license. Learned so much from these guys on my scanner. Technology is such a good thing as long as it is in the right hands! Amazing how 4 watts on a cloudy night can bounce to many parts of the country. Too many illegal things now. Food for thought: One thing that would not be instantaneous would be moon bouncing. There would probably be a 4 second delay. By the way one of many discoveries for instantaneous transmission was discovered in the book of Job! Don't mess with Ham or Uncle Charlie (FCC) will be sending you a hefty fine!
What I really learnt was how not to go wrong while matching the speakers with the amplifier. But what I wish to know is whether using multiple speakers in parallel or series make any difference in audio quality.
Here is a graphical way to arrive at equivalent resistance of two resistances in parallel. Draw a horizontal line near the bottom of a piece of paper. That is the ground. Draw a vertical pole coming out of the ground whose height is proportional to the larger of the two resistances. Some inches away from the first pole, draw a second vertical pole out of the ground whose height is proportional to the second resistance. So, if you are connecting in parallel, an 8-ohm and a 4-ohm resistance, one pole should be twice as tall as the other. Now draw a line from the top of each pole to the base of the other. The height of the point of intersection of the two diagonal lines above the ground is the equivalent resistance of the two in parallel. (It doesn't matter how far apart the poles are.) One important thing you can see from this method is that the equivalent resistance is always less than the smaller of the two.
Thanks for wonderful information. I want to connect 8 ohms qty-12 speakers in my house. Can I? If possible what will be wiring configuration from speakers to an amplifier
4 ohm speakers draw more current, 8 ohms speakers draw less current by a factor of 50 percent less, for home theatre a set of 8 ohm speakers is realistic as you will not place as much current demands on your PSU as opposed to a 4 ohm set. 4 ohms speaker sets are for the Car Audio spectrum as these can be powered by the Car alternator when the engine is on providing the needed current and power.
best vid yet on youtube i have a 600 watt amp (( 4 - 16 ohms )) need to run 4 mid speakers and one 750 watt sub can do it now no need to buy a over priced amp again ,,
this video was just fine. maybe the title is what was misrepresenting what the video would be explaining but what the video did explain it did with great detail. honestly the level of detail and comprehension used to explain impedance in this video is that of a 1st grade math teacher. i mean cmon how many different ways did they explain how to calculate impedance using simple math.
Hmmm, it was so clear to me ... and I'm certainly not a sound engineer (far from it)! IMO, this video explains in simple terms impedance without getting too technical. The term itself, 'impedance' is by definition easy to understand: To IMPEDE or in this context of sound and speakers, 'to RESIST / RESISTANCE'. It should be expected, anticipated, that there will be some v-e-r-y BASIC math here and in fact, there is even a helpful automatic calculator shown as well as color coded wires. Can't get any easier than that.
Here's something I always wanted to know:- You build two dual subwoofer boxes carrying two 18 inch 8 ohms speakers each. You wire the speakers in series in both boxes which would mean they would both play at 16 ohm impedence. If you were to then 'daisy chain' the two boxes together at the speakon connectors, would they then both be playing at 8 ohms impedence or at 16 ohms?
Jeff good lookin out and great source for a start to understanding wiring speakers correctly so I can tweak the system correct and most of not blowing amp..I will be in touch after I write down all my ohms on back of my gear
thanks on this, very helpful on us beginners like me i understand very well. i have one question. if we install two 8 ohms speakers it says total of 4ohms. is there any possible way to make it 8ohms? or not.
You can use a double pole double throw switch to change between two speakers series and parallel. I used a quadruple pole double throw switch on 3 12 volt batteries to switch easily between 36 volts to run an SMSL SA98E amplifier I have and 12 volts for other devices and/or charging. I unfortunately can't show you how to wire it in a youtube comment though.
Your videos are awesome. I need your help today and I m sure that u r the one who can help me with. I have two speakers of 50W, 8 Ohm each. I want to make a woofer so how to wire these both speakers and what type of amplifier ( Power rating) I have to use. pls explain me about it.
Great solution. But while it talks about the impedance ..what about the watts? Suppose I need to connect 4ohm full range (15 watt) + 6 ohm (30 watt) tweeter to an amp which has 100 watt power and 6 ohm Minimum Load Impedance, per channel. Note: 2 speakers will be connected to a single channel (100 Watt/6 Ohm), so total 4 speakers(2 full/2 tweeters). So as per this video, I need to add one 6ohm resistor before connecting 2 speakers in parallel. But then should I also need to match the watts? Or should I go with the lesser watt resistor, say around (30 or 50 watts per channel).
Love your channel. everything easy to understand for the regular man. Q: I have a 100w x2 mini hifi amp that is rated for 4 to 16 ohm speakers. I have two 3ohm 300 watt Panasonic speakers, will the amp be ok if I connect the speakers to it?
It will, but only if you connect them in series. Then the impedance will be 3+3=6 Ohm. In parallel they would have 1,5 Ohm which is not in the range 4-16Ohm
My main speakers are Infinity RS III/B that are 4 ohm, but actually can drop down to 1.8 ohms at specific frequencies. Because of their EMIT tweeters, which I really like, I don't want to switch to a different speaker.
.... ist ok beim "nackten" Lautsprecher. Beim Anschluss von Mehrweg Boxen passt die parallele Schaltung auch noch, aber bei der Serienschaltung muss berücksichtigt werden, dass nur absolut baugleiche Baugleiche LS - Boxen den Sound nicht verändern. Spannend wird es bei verschiedenen Typen! DIE FREQUENZWEICHEN ergeben zufällig einen guten oder miesen Sound bei Serienschaltung. Viel Spaß beim Experimentieren!
But I still have one question: I have a marshall mg100dfx turned in a head.. and this amp has 100w. At the loudspeaker output it only says (use minimum 4ohms) so my question is: I own a marshall 1936 2x12 in parallel so each speaker has 8ohms and 75w... Can I plug my mg100dfx in stereo (in only one speaker) with my joyo bluejay bantamp on another? The higher resistence (8ohms) of the cabinet will low the voltage of 100w and I won't blow my 75w celestions? Thank you very much!!
When buying speakers for my cabinet I was told I did not need to protect my horn tweeter from the lower frequency like my other tweeter with a capacitor. I was told the horn tweeter would automatically cut its self off, but can't remember why? Also told from the speaker supplier that I could connect all three speakers in parellel the woofer is 8 ohms but don't know what the other two are? If the other two are 8 ohms then it would be less then 4 ohms?
What if you had to wire two 4 ohm component speakers in parallel because they each had built in crossovers, yet needed a total load impedance of 4 ohms? Could you add a heavy duty high wattage 2 ohm resistor inlee to increase the total impedance?
If I associate speakers with diferent impedance value, respecting the minimum impedance of amplifier, is ok?! For example: Associating a speaker midrange or even a woofer 4 Ohms with a tweeter 6 Ohms in a amplifier 4-16 Ohms is alright?! Thank You!
hello sir .. it is ok to add resistor to match the impedance ? because i have 800watts 4ohm speaker and i cant use my amplifier 8ohm load ....what resistor i need for my speaker to match the ampli?
In theory you could add a 4 ohm resistor, however in practice you will not find a 4 ohm resistor able to handle 800 watts of power. And if you did, the speaker would only get half the power that the amplifier supplies. If you need to drive the speaker at its maximum, the better solution is to buy a commercial amplifier capable of working into 4 ohms or even 2 ohms. Geoff
5:30 Will you need one transformer *per speaker* or you could use one for each pair? -> I'm having a really tough time finding impedance matching transformers online, any tips?
Good article for the non technical people. However, there are several generalizations that are simply not correct. The amp indication about impedance is a convention, what really matters is the limits of the amplifier of delivering voltage and current. I certainly can connect a 4ohm to a 8ohm transistor amplifier. It won't explode unless there is no current limitation and I put volume to insane levels. If I connect a 16Ohm speaker, the limit would be the voltage the amp can deliver, but for hifi there are no 16Ohm speakers that I am aware of. Please read the rating of any amp. It will state power at 8 and also at 4 ohms, the latter being usually lower. BTW, 1 watt with regular sensivity speakers is very loud for home use. I monitor the power in my amp and I read 50mW-0.2W with my 89dB speakers in my studio. In my living room if I reach 2W I will have complaints.
My speaker enclosure having 3 speakers ..it is mentioned 8ohms..my amp can handle 4to 16 ohms....my question is.. unfortunately the mid speakers are not working and I got a 4 ohm speakers with the same size...I didn't found any crossover in the speaker enclosure ..only one caps is hooked with tweeter...my woofer is 8 ohms..so now does it required to add additional resistance with the mid speakers....
thanks...im happy to know that...i thought that the amplifier only support the ohm that recommended..example 4-16ohm for both channel...this video show us that it divided for both channel 1 channel support 4-16ohm.. another channel also 4-16ohm...thank you for sharing
So how this work does the chip detect the value of your speaker not to burn them as if I use a chip that works with 9 & 24V for 50W max & I use a lower speaker like 20W 4ohm I could potential burn the speaker at 24V amplifier
I want to hook up 25W 3" 32ohm speakers to a 1050W 2 ohm amp. How many speakers do I need to buy? How much speaker wire and what gauge wire should I get? Should I use a bandpass enclosure for the ones I use as subs? How do I calculate the frequency the box I need to build will need to be tuned to? XD
this I would love to understend well too, are wattage added up too? say I have a power amp of 300w per channel and I use 2 speakers each 300w what will happen to the wattage of the speakers? or it does not matter how many speakers I use provided the impedance matches to amp?
@@britesynth The Amp must be really big to handle 300W per channel. Imagine 2x300W in home amp. It consumes more then 2.7A from 230v socket... Trafo as big as whole amplifier... 600W is way to much for house...
By one speaker (in this video) does it mean by one speaker driver? How about those 3 ways speakers with 8 ohm? It’s fine to connect each 3-way speaker to left channel right? Same goes for the right channel.
In case if you don't know how to calculate overall impedance: Series Total Impedance = R1 + R2 + ... + Rn Parallel 1/Total Impedance = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... + 1/Rn or Total Impedance = 1/(1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... + 1/Rn)
Do you set your TV up with Dolby 2.0 or 5.1, which is the default, when there is no sound system at all (it's just the TV)? I figured the TV just knows that nothing is connected for surround sound output so it plays the default stereo sound from the TV equally no matter what. Because it is very hard to tell when you switch from 2.0 to 5.1 without any speakers hooked to the TV. What do you think?
It will depend on a number of things. Many TVs have a virtual surround sound using just the two speakers on the TV. This can normally be turned on/off in the sound menu of the TV. It also depends on the program material. Many programs (and channels) only transmit a simple stereo sound. If and when they send 5.1, the virtual bit should kick in. Some sound systems will simulate surround even if there is no 5.1 signal in the program transmitted.
I would think that a series resister would be a speaker fidelity disaster. This would be the same as using extremely high impedance ( long & thin) cables which demonstrably cause frequency based filtering & distortion. You really want the total speaker wiring impedance to be < 2% of speaker load impedance for an exceptional audio performance. Though 5% is usually considered quite adequate for PA which is something of an indictment on PA performance generally. Most PA gigs have atrocious fidelity and only succeed because it's ear splittingly loud with a chest thumping bass. Whether that is an issue, largely depends on venue. Not a so critical in noisy gigging environments like pubs/clubs or streets. Big problem in top performance auditoriums though. Church PA is usually pathetically bad. I know this is a controversial topic but IME within reason, it's true. However, whether it makes an audible difference on a specific system greatly depends on the performance of the rest of the system. Theory of errors says total system errors is the square root of the sum of errors squared = (E1^2 + E2^2 + ..... En^2)^(1/2). What this means is that fixing the largest error is the only thing that may noticeably improve a system but only if it is very significantly larger than any other error. If there are several errors of similar magnitude, noticeable improvement will only be achieved once the last of them is fixed. This is all fine if you can actually measure distortion and filtering problems in a system. Often, that is extremely difficult. You many be able to implement a null test in some situations but you have to be scrupulous how you do that and probably wont be able to fully isolate problems, especially after an amp or with digital devices. So your only option is to go over every single bit of kit, connection and cable and check it's compliance to a high standard. Check, gain structure, get unity signal at the earliest possible point and maintain it at every step. Check impedance matching is correct. Check connection impedances. regularly service gear and use a quality cleaner/conditioner/lube on all controls, pots faders, even trimmers something like Deoxit F5. It's expensive but wort it. Don't use cleaners from cheep chain stores they don't do a good job and don't last.
Hi, great video... I have a question... I have an integrated stereo amp with 4-8 ohm and 120 watts and a Bose 301 speaker with 8 ohm impedance at minimum 10 watts and maximum 70 watts. Is the best way to just connect the speaker to one channel on my amp, or is there a way to connect it to both channels to get more out of the speaker?
it does not matter how many speakers you wire in parallel, the impedance will always be a little bit above half the impedance of the speaker with the lowest value and will drop, with every extra speaker a little bit more towards the exact half. for example: two 4 ohm speakers = 2,5 ohms - three 4 ohm speakers = 2,2 ohms - twenty 4 ohm speakers = 2,05 ohms - one 4 ohm speaker + four 8 ohm speakers = 2,5 ohms ...and so on.
hi, i have been trying to find an answer but no ones better than you. i want to build a speaker with 2 woofers and one tweeter.. who can i connect them? can you give me and example of their ideal rated powers and impedance if im gonna use a 2 * 50w amp?
Can it be connected a 16 Ohms tweeter (with the filter capacitor) to the 4 Ohms full range driver? What would be any difference in sound? Is it safe for both tweeter and the full range driver? What the method should follow? Kindly explain? Thank you.
Sir, since speaker has an INDUCTIVE IMPEDENCE and AT 3:41 when connecting it with a resistor of 4 Ohms in series, It will make a series RL circuit. How can we add resistance and inductive reactance as arithmetic SUM??
(for home application) if we use an active subwoofer will it still draw power from the amplifier and still have to formulated first or just plug it in into a pairs of the socket (back L & R maybe) since it already have it own power source??
one the two KEF 101 speakers has a crackle sound on one of the speakers, but I don't know if it is the tweeter or the board. Could you assist/direct me in this matter? Thank you
I have a Klipsche ProMedia 4.1 system with subwoofer R and L front and R and L Rear. the speakers get there power from the subwoofer. If i have 2 more of the satellites can i hook them to the amp so i have 2 R and 2 L front speakers?
If I have 2 speaker cabinets that are 4x12 and to match the cabinets at 8 ohms for the setting, what should I set my 50W Marshall plexi at your play thru both cabs safely? It has a 4 ohm 8ohm and 16ohm setting.... even with the video I’m totally lost
It would be nice to add why low résistances are not appreciated as loads , a short sentence like « at constant output power of the amp , a low resistance will increase dramatically the current and as a possible consequence the load (speaker) may heat too much and burn or the output transistors of the amp I like very much the inside view of the two types of speaker selectors , thx very much
Assuming my connection became 2 ohms and the min of the amp is 4 ohms. What will be the effect both for the speaker and amplifier? Will it be noticeable or we can just ignore the impedance value?
What does lowering the impedance actually mean? Is 0 ohms basically no impedance and no resistance also what does going over 16ohms mean? That it'll have too much resistance and not have enough power to use it properly? Also is a speaker says 2x16 is that the same as 1x8 ohms?
will this also works with a car speaker, say i have a 4 channel head unit that is 4-8ohms capable @ 4x50watts, if the both rear channel speaker is @ 8ohms, and i do want to have 6 speakers setup, can i use two 4 ohms speaker wired in series for the front channels? the speakers are rated @ 35watts and 30watts RMS. is that doable? and will the head unit reads it as 8ohms for all four channels even though the 2 front channels do have 2 speakers each?
Hello I have a set active speakers of 30 kohm each, I would like to buy a set of speaker cable. What is the matching impedance in this case for the cables?
@@Geoffthegreygeek thanks Geoff. I get it sent right off. You are my last chance at getting an answer. I tried the email listed, but it kepps, getting returned. I took out the Y so, it's geoff@thegreygeek.com, and not geoff@theygreygeek.com. It went through without the Y. Please, let me know if you didn't get it.
so..considering correct crossover points is a 100 watt tweeter overkill on a 100 watt channel as the cross over blocks low frequency and as such only 15-20 watts of high frequency is being allowed through that channel.
So if the sub is a 4 ohm and the amp says it can do 2 ohm would the amp put out more power if I purchase a two ohm sub? The two ohm rating is higher on the back of my old school 2 channel mono amp from mtx. Or does this already drop it to 2ohm , I'm only using one sub bridged
I have a 4 Ohms Speaker and a 8 Ohms High-Freq. driver and A 8Ohms 300Wmax 2-way Crossover.. Can I setup with these 2 speakers or do I have to change it to 8-8 Ohms?
i have a question for the channel owner geoff and others who can answer correctly. i want to connect 2 speakers to 1 side ie. left channel and 2 speakers to right channel respectively. so talking about 1 channel only eg. left channel... my 2 speakers are rated 6 ohms impedance each. my amp is rated to accept 4 to 8 ohms. so if i put my 2 speakers in parallel it becomes 3 ohms and if i put them in series it becomes 12 ohms. so what is the simplest possible thing i can do so that the system works? i think i put two speakers in parallel and add 2 ohm resistance to the positive wire. so how to put a resistance there? i am asking as a layman. i also want to ask that do the speaker really has positive and negative polarity, so we must wire the positive to positive and negative to negative from amp or whichever side we put +ve the other side becomes negative and vice versa? pls answer.
Hi Shasahu, Your calculations are correct. If you don't ever run your amp at full power, then it will probably cope with a 3 ohms load at the lower power levels. Otherwise wire them in series to be safe. See my article on How to connect 2 speakers to 1 amplifier for more details. Regarding using a 2 ohm resistor: you can certainly do this. You need to ensure the resistor can handle the power from your amplifier, it is often hard to find a resistor capable of 50 watts or more. It would simply connect to the positive terminal of the amp, and then connect the speaker red wire to the other end of it. Because this can all be too much effort, most people use a speaker selector switch to do this work for them. A simple series/parallel speaker selector would be a good solution. Have a play using the different types of switches on my speaker selector switch simulator. The second simulator will also tell you how much power the resistor will need to cope with. hope this helps
In the manual for the Sansui 5000 is the following: Caution: Never attempt to use two or three 8 ohm speaker systems at the same time. For use with three speaker systems, the impedance must be more than 8 ohms each. For use with two speaker systems (A+B or A+C) the combined impedance of the systems must be more than 8 ohms. I am not understanding exactly what this means. My plan was to connect 2 pairs of Sansui SP-2000 speakers, which are 8 ohm speakers, but based on this warning I don't think I can now do this? Can you advise me? Thanks
* *Mike Cook,* * You posted your comment 4 years ago. *How did this turn out for you?* I have 6 ohm home stereo speakers and afraid to hook them to my 8 ohm amp.
Hello, i have a 5 channel amplifier my front speakers are 5x7 4 ohm and rears 6x9 4 ohm they take 110w rms and my amplifier produces 110w x4@ 2ohm and only 50w x4 @4 ohm is there a way i could wire it to make the high speakers 2ohm or would this damage the speakers? I feel i am not delivering enough watts to my high speakers
What If I hook a pair of 6 Ohm (or 4/8 Ohm) satellite speakers in Parallel with a Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble ii module (which has 6 Ohm woofers)? There are only two sets of 5-way Binding posts for both speaker wire and to hook up to the amplifier. No speaker inputs. Will I damage the amplifier, especially one rated for a load impedance of 2-8 Ohms?
I spend a great deal of time updating and answering questions from the webpage. If you have a specific question, please read the relevant article on the webpage and post your question there. Rarely do I get to answer questions posted here in TH-cam, although others often help out. geoffthegreygeek.com/category/home-av/connecting-speakers/
Geoff. Here is what I sent you in an email like you asked. Please let me. Know if you received it. Maybe someone else can chime in if they know. You would think as long as I have been playing I would have ran I to this, but this is a first. here it is.
Hey Geoff.
I have a Bugera Vintage V22 Infinium. It is a 22 watt combo amp. On the back is a jack for connecting an extension cab. Where the jacks are for the extension speaker, and the jack, and plug for the speaker in the amp it states
"amplifier output 22watts
4 ohms minimum speaker impedance.
Jacks Paralleled".
(The speaker in the amp is 8 ohms)
Next to the jacks is a switch that has a setting for 4, 8, and 16 ohms.
The extension cab is an Egnater 1x12 and is 16 ohms. If I plug this in to the extension jack, what would I set the impedance switch to? I do not want to damage my amp.
You are the first person I have come across online who seems to know what they are talking about. I hope you can help me with this
dilemma, but I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that have an answer, but I would like to hear all opinions including the Grey haired geek.
Thank you in advance,
Assuming, the connection was done correct. Does multiple speakers connected to one channel affect amps? In other words, do you get the same output from the amp per speakers as you would if you connect one speaker to one channel?
Hi sir, thanks very much for the vdo, this one vdo gave me a clear picture of impedance,Hi I have a small doubt. please give your expertise, what will be the formula for connecting two speaker's of different impedance(say 1 speaker with 8ohms and other with 4ohm) in parallel... i know the calculation for series (10+4=14 ohms),I am planning to build a diy soundbar with 2.0 amplifier board (stereo left n right channel), and I want to add 1 woofer to the amp,(thereby total 3 speaker for a two channel amp).
How i can connect 8 speakers 8 ohm to 1 ohm amplifier (Taramp)
page not found.
If your speakers are rated at 8 ohms, that means impedance will vary from 16ohm and during heavy, complex bass and orchestral music, it will sure drop down to 3.2 ohms. While 4 ohm speakers will drop down to 1, 2 or zero ohms and drain the current from your amplifier severe. The more high current you provide, the more headroom you have, also with high current amplifier you prevent amp and speakers from potential damage - clipping! After trying 4, 6 and 8 ohm speakers, I realized minimum power amp is 100watts per channel into 8 ohms and close to 200watt into 4 ohm, to drive most speakers. As for 4 ohm speakers or connecting 2 pairs of speakers, they require at least 150watt/ch high current amplifier to drive them well. For a year I drove Dynaudio 4 ohm floorstander with 75w/ch high current amp and that power wasn't enough to take control of the bass and soundstage (stereo mode). It was a torture like driving heavy Land Rover with a 75 horse power engine. While minimum requirements for such a beast is 120hp. Hope this helps someone :)
This is hands down the best video for information on impedance. I'm no expert, but thanks to this I was able to wire my subs down to a safe 2 Ohm load.
Basically, you never want your Ohm rating to be lower than what your amp lists, because less resistance means there is more current going through the amp, and the amp can literally be fried. Too high of an impedance, and your volume will be too low because there is too much resistance.
This video is intended to make one understand what impedance you should be looking for when connecting speakers to an amp, but it doesn't explain the concept of impedance itself.
Oh wow so I really did fry my amp! And I thought the higher the number the better! I was running 16 ohm to my monoblock 4-8ohm amp! Thanks now I know
@@flowmaster2010your amp says 4-8 ohms you went too high at 16 ohms.Had your amp stated "8 ohms minimum" you would have been good.. your speakers would have to be connected in series paralell
An impedance assigned to loudspeakers is essentially a "nominal" impedance. Impedance varies with frequency so there is an "impedance curve" for every loudspeaker or speaker system. For instance my AR-3a speakers have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, however this speaker's impedance varies from a low of 2.5 ohms at 900 Hz to 22 ohms at about 45 Hz with various settings of the speaker's mid-range and tweeter controls. The overall impedance at most frequencies is close to 4 ohms.
This is something you should know, but in general this video gives excellent advice on how to hook up speakers, but there will be some speakers that deviate from this simple solution.
yea that is the kind of information you would expect to hear given the title.
Still totally no idea what is impedance. Title of the video should be "impedance calculation", not understanding impedance.
Fair Comment Junn. I find most people don't want to know the technical details, just what to do about impedance, hence the lack of a technical description. That is why I provided links in the video to my various articles where there is a better explanation. perhaps start with geoffthegreygeek.com/understanding-speaker-impedance/.
Geoff the Grey Geek
totally agree
my brother impedance is just a fancy word for the electric resistance of your speaker coil
Impedance is defined as TOTAL opposition to current flow in an ac circuit. This total opposition consists not only of dc resistance, but inductive reactance(measured in ohms), and capacitive reactance(measured in ohms).
Impedance (Z) is known as equivalent resistance value of a circuit. A speaker coil has three parameters like coil resistance, coil inductance and coil capacitance, usually known as R, L, C. Impedance (Z) is calculated as R+kL+1/(kC) where K=2*Pie*F (F=frequency & Pie=3.14), R is the coil resistance in ohm, L is inductance value in milli-Henry and C is capacitance value in micro-farad. The unit of Z is ohm. Be remember, standard values of speakers are 4, 8 or 16 ohm.
Here, Mr. Geoff clearly explained how we can obtain desired coil resistance with speaker having different coil resistance, like getting 4 ohm with 2 X 8 ohm speakers, or getting 4 ohm with 4 X 16 ohm speakers etc. to match desired value of output of amplifier.
Do you have a video I can watch? I would totally watch!
why its called impedance not normal resistance , why the change in names
@techmonster2632 because its in AC current
O U T S T A N D I N G ! Excellent info on speaker impedance without getting overly technical. Most obliged G3 sir. Really appreciate your altruistic labor here. All the best.
disastrous for the poor amp! That made me laugh! Thanks for such a great video, may it live long on TH-cam.
I had a little Mobile CB radio it was a uniden. The impedance matched so perfectly between the CB, Antenna and microphone It had an electric condenser Mic with a PLL synthesizer that from channel 8 up to 24 the SWRS were perfect. When I spoke to truckers they thought I was on a base station! I miss the days when we all talked on citizens band radio and met for coffee breaks. Want to get my ham license. Learned so much from these guys on my scanner. Technology is such a good thing as long as it is in the right hands! Amazing how 4 watts on a cloudy night can bounce to many parts of the country. Too many illegal things now. Food for thought: One thing that would not be instantaneous would be moon bouncing. There would probably be a 4 second delay. By the way one of many discoveries for instantaneous transmission was discovered in the book of Job! Don't mess with Ham or Uncle Charlie (FCC) will be sending you a hefty fine!
What I really learnt was how not to go wrong while matching the speakers with the amplifier. But what I wish to know is whether using multiple speakers in parallel or series make any difference in audio quality.
HURRAH...that was the best explanation I've seen so far...now I completely get it..!!!
Thank you 😃👍
The back track music completes this video. Well done. What's the track?
Geoff, THX for this very helpful Video. My question is : Does wiring 2 pairs of Bookshelf speakers in Series affect the sound quality ?
I repair amplifiers. This video is great for my business! Thanks!
Giblet535 me too, letr blo
Here is a graphical way to arrive at equivalent resistance of two resistances in parallel. Draw a horizontal line near the bottom of a piece of paper. That is the ground. Draw a vertical pole coming out of the ground whose height is proportional to the larger of the two resistances. Some inches away from the first pole, draw a second vertical pole out of the ground whose height is proportional to the second resistance. So, if you are connecting in parallel, an 8-ohm and a 4-ohm resistance, one pole should be twice as tall as the other. Now draw a line from the top of each pole to the base of the other. The height of the point of intersection of the two diagonal lines above the ground is the equivalent resistance of the two in parallel. (It doesn't matter how far apart the poles are.) One important thing you can see from this method is that the equivalent resistance is always less than the smaller of the two.
Excellently done video the only thing I would add is does going on 4 ohms versus 8 ohms change the actual volume sound
Thanks for wonderful information.
I want to connect 8 ohms qty-12 speakers in my house. Can I? If possible what will be wiring configuration from speakers to an amplifier
Good and simple explanation - gongrats from an electrical Engineer !!!
If you think this video did a good job explaining anything, you're no electrical engineer. You need to ask whatever school you went to for a refund.
Sir, thanks it's help me a lot more , waiting for your next tutorial about transformer series & paralal connection .
❤️ From INDIA 🙏
Thank you. Currently getting to install a whole home audio setup
i want to do the same, but its a little bit confusing at first, trying to get the right gear!
4 ohm speakers draw more current, 8 ohms speakers draw less current by a factor of 50 percent less, for home theatre a set of 8 ohm speakers is realistic as you will not place as much current demands on your PSU as opposed to a 4 ohm set. 4 ohms speaker sets are for the Car Audio spectrum as these can be powered by the Car alternator when the engine is on providing the needed current and power.
Best speakers connection tutorial on youtube, congrats!
this is excellent! very good video. every day i learn always something useful congratulations and thanks!
Very informative, im gonna forget in 5 mins but know I can come back and listen again
best vid yet on youtube i have a 600 watt amp (( 4 - 16 ohms )) need to run 4 mid speakers and one 750 watt sub can do it now no need to buy a over priced amp again ,,
Learning something new is a wonderful thing, thank you Geoff!
this is just a good way to confuse ppl. The result...see the comments below thats the best proof
Telephone speakers
this video was just fine. maybe the title is what was misrepresenting what the video would be explaining but what the video did explain it did with great detail. honestly the level of detail and comprehension used to explain impedance in this video is that of a 1st grade math teacher. i mean cmon how many different ways did they explain how to calculate impedance using simple math.
Hmmm, it was so clear to me ... and I'm certainly not a sound engineer (far from it)! IMO, this video explains in simple terms impedance without getting too technical. The term itself, 'impedance' is by definition easy to understand: To IMPEDE or in this context of sound and speakers, 'to RESIST / RESISTANCE'. It should be expected, anticipated, that there will be some v-e-r-y BASIC math here and in fact, there is even a helpful automatic calculator shown as well as color coded wires. Can't get any easier than that.
Hi sir, this is a grear video ever .just a question sir can we apply this to combine the 2 of the same kind home theater 5.1 speakers too? godbless u
These loads turned out to be very much the opposite of what thought! This is awesome. Now I can build a bigger and better tower speaker!!!
This was great. What about a 3 speaker system? Passive L, R & Base connected to a "two" amplifier system, i.s. amp with single L&R outs.
Good god the music is simultaneously incredible and painful
Yes it is
Something so sweet must have a thorn somewhere , lol.
Ha! I enjoyed it as background. No problem at all.
80's sitcom
Awesome video, impedance explained in the simplest way possible.
Hi Geoff, just subscribed. Thank you for all your help! I can now connect 2 speakers to each amp, 4 in total to the stereo's two amps.
Here's something I always wanted to know:-
You build two dual subwoofer boxes carrying two 18 inch 8 ohms speakers each. You wire the speakers in series in both boxes which would mean they would both play at 16 ohm impedence. If you were to then 'daisy chain' the two boxes together at the speakon connectors, would they then both be playing at 8 ohms impedence or at 16 ohms?
Jeff good lookin out and great source for a start to understanding wiring speakers correctly so I can tweak the system correct and most of not blowing amp..I will be in touch after I write down all my ohms on back of my gear
thanks on this, very helpful on us beginners like me i understand very well. i have one question. if we install two 8 ohms speakers it says total of 4ohms. is there any possible way to make it 8ohms? or not.
a 4ohms resistor in series with the 4ohms, 2 x 4ohms = 8 ohms in series.
"now the fun starts" love this part of the video
thanks for this
You can use a double pole double throw switch to change between two speakers series and parallel. I used a quadruple pole double throw switch on 3 12 volt batteries to switch easily between 36 volts to run an SMSL SA98E amplifier I have and 12 volts for other devices and/or charging. I unfortunately can't show you how to wire it in a youtube comment though.
Your videos are awesome. I need your help today and I m sure that u r the one who can help me with. I have two speakers of 50W, 8 Ohm each. I want to make a woofer so how to wire these both speakers and what type of amplifier ( Power rating) I have to use. pls explain me about it.
Give me a link for the background music used thats sounds cool
Great solution. But while it talks about the impedance ..what about the watts? Suppose I need to connect 4ohm full range (15 watt) + 6 ohm (30 watt) tweeter to an amp which has 100 watt power and 6 ohm Minimum Load Impedance, per channel. Note: 2 speakers will be connected to a single channel (100 Watt/6 Ohm), so total 4 speakers(2 full/2 tweeters). So as per this video, I need to add one 6ohm resistor before connecting 2 speakers in parallel. But then should I also need to match the watts? Or should I go with the lesser watt resistor, say around (30 or 50 watts per channel).
Love your channel. everything easy to understand for the regular man. Q: I have a 100w x2 mini hifi amp that is rated for 4 to 16 ohm speakers. I have two 3ohm 300 watt Panasonic speakers, will the amp be ok if I connect the speakers to it?
It will, but only if you connect them in series. Then the impedance will be 3+3=6 Ohm. In parallel they would have 1,5 Ohm which is not in the range 4-16Ohm
My main speakers are Infinity RS III/B that are 4 ohm, but actually can drop down to 1.8 ohms at specific frequencies. Because of their EMIT tweeters, which I really like, I don't want to switch to a different speaker.
.... ist ok beim "nackten" Lautsprecher. Beim Anschluss von Mehrweg Boxen passt die parallele Schaltung auch noch, aber bei der Serienschaltung muss berücksichtigt werden, dass nur absolut baugleiche Baugleiche LS - Boxen den Sound nicht verändern. Spannend wird es bei verschiedenen Typen! DIE FREQUENZWEICHEN ergeben zufällig einen guten oder miesen Sound bei Serienschaltung. Viel Spaß beim Experimentieren!
But I still have one question:
I have a marshall mg100dfx turned in a head.. and this amp has 100w. At the loudspeaker output it only says (use minimum 4ohms) so my question is: I own a marshall 1936 2x12 in parallel so each speaker has 8ohms and 75w... Can I plug my mg100dfx in stereo (in only one speaker) with my joyo bluejay bantamp on another?
The higher resistence (8ohms) of the cabinet will low the voltage of 100w and I won't blow my 75w celestions? Thank you very much!!
When buying speakers for my cabinet I was told I did not need to protect my horn tweeter from the lower frequency like my other tweeter with a capacitor. I was told the horn tweeter would automatically cut its self off, but can't remember why? Also told from the speaker supplier that I could connect all three speakers in parellel the woofer is 8 ohms but don't know what the other two are? If the other two are 8 ohms then it would be less then 4 ohms?
very helpful indeed! Thank you for your time and sharing this.
thankyou so much. I needed this. more blessings to you
What if you had to wire two 4 ohm component speakers in parallel because they each had built in crossovers, yet needed a total load impedance of 4 ohms? Could you add a heavy duty high wattage 2 ohm resistor inlee to increase the total impedance?
Yes and in Winter time ypull get some extra heat for home
If I associate speakers with diferent impedance value, respecting the minimum impedance of amplifier, is ok?! For example: Associating a speaker midrange or even a woofer 4 Ohms with a tweeter 6 Ohms in a amplifier 4-16 Ohms is alright?! Thank You!
hello sir .. it is ok to add resistor to match the impedance ? because i have 800watts 4ohm speaker and i cant use my amplifier 8ohm load ....what resistor i need for my speaker to match the ampli?
In theory you could add a 4 ohm resistor, however in practice you will not find a 4 ohm resistor able to handle 800 watts of power. And if you did, the speaker would only get half the power that the amplifier supplies.
If you need to drive the speaker at its maximum, the better solution is to buy a commercial amplifier capable of working into 4 ohms or even 2 ohms.
Geoff
ok sir thanks ..
5:30 Will you need one transformer *per speaker* or you could use one for each pair?
-> I'm having a really tough time finding impedance matching transformers online, any tips?
Good article for the non technical people. However, there are several generalizations that are simply not correct. The amp indication about impedance is a convention, what really matters is the limits of the amplifier of delivering voltage and current. I certainly can connect a 4ohm to a 8ohm transistor amplifier. It won't explode unless there is no current limitation and I put volume to insane levels. If I connect a 16Ohm speaker, the limit would be the voltage the amp can deliver, but for hifi there are no 16Ohm speakers that I am aware of.
Please read the rating of any amp. It will state power at 8 and also at 4 ohms, the latter being usually lower.
BTW, 1 watt with regular sensivity speakers is very loud for home use. I monitor the power in my amp and I read 50mW-0.2W with my 89dB speakers in my studio. In my living room if I reach 2W I will have complaints.
My speaker enclosure having 3 speakers ..it is mentioned 8ohms..my amp can handle 4to 16 ohms....my question is.. unfortunately the mid speakers are not working and I got a 4 ohm speakers with the same size...I didn't found any crossover in the speaker enclosure ..only one caps is hooked with tweeter...my woofer is 8 ohms..so now does it required to add additional resistance with the mid speakers....
thanks...im happy to know that...i thought that the amplifier only support the ohm that recommended..example 4-16ohm for both channel...this video show us that it divided for both channel 1 channel support 4-16ohm.. another channel also 4-16ohm...thank you for sharing
Most understandable instructions ive watch
So how this work does the chip detect the value of your speaker not to burn them as if I use a chip that works with 9 & 24V for 50W max & I use a lower speaker like 20W 4ohm I could potential burn the speaker at 24V amplifier
I want to hook up 25W 3" 32ohm speakers to a 1050W 2 ohm amp. How many speakers do I need to buy? How much speaker wire and what gauge wire should I get? Should I use a bandpass enclosure for the ones I use as subs? How do I calculate the frequency the box I need to build will need to be tuned to? XD
very good explanation but what about the wattage - what's wattage role on both amp and speaker? (tube power amps in particular)
this I would love to understend well too, are wattage added up too? say I have a power amp of 300w per channel and I use 2 speakers each 300w what will happen to the wattage of the speakers? or it does not matter how many speakers I use provided the impedance matches to amp?
Kindly reply to britsynth
Regarding speaker named wattage, it is given to list the MAX wattage a speaker can handle it's not used in any impedance calculations.
@@britesynth The Amp must be really big to handle 300W per channel. Imagine 2x300W in home amp. It consumes more then 2.7A from 230v socket... Trafo as big as whole amplifier... 600W is way to much for house...
This is specifically about speaker IMPEDANCE. Wattage, while related, is only relative, not indispensable.
By one speaker (in this video) does it mean by one speaker driver? How about those 3 ways speakers with 8 ohm? It’s fine to connect each 3-way speaker to left channel right? Same goes for the right channel.
In case if you don't know how to calculate overall impedance:
Series
Total Impedance = R1 + R2 + ... + Rn
Parallel
1/Total Impedance = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... + 1/Rn or
Total Impedance = 1/(1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... + 1/Rn)
Does using a speaker selector work in a live setting like a concert? I have passive speakers and I am running an issue with impedance.
Do you set your TV up with Dolby 2.0 or 5.1, which is the default, when there is no sound system at all (it's just the TV)? I figured the TV just knows that nothing is connected for surround sound output so it plays the default stereo sound from the TV equally no matter what. Because it is very hard to tell when you switch from 2.0 to 5.1 without any speakers hooked to the TV. What do you think?
It will depend on a number of things.
Many TVs have a virtual surround sound using just the two speakers on the TV. This can normally be turned on/off in the sound menu of the TV.
It also depends on the program material. Many programs (and channels) only transmit a simple stereo sound. If and when they send 5.1, the virtual bit should kick in.
Some sound systems will simulate surround even if there is no 5.1 signal in the program transmitted.
I would think that a series resister would be a speaker fidelity disaster. This would be the same as using extremely high impedance ( long & thin) cables which demonstrably cause frequency based filtering & distortion. You really want the total speaker wiring impedance to be < 2% of speaker load impedance for an exceptional audio performance. Though 5% is usually considered quite adequate for PA which is something of an indictment on PA performance generally. Most PA gigs have atrocious fidelity and only succeed because it's ear splittingly loud with a chest thumping bass. Whether that is an issue, largely depends on venue. Not a so critical in noisy gigging environments like pubs/clubs or streets. Big problem in top performance auditoriums though. Church PA is usually pathetically bad.
I know this is a controversial topic but IME within reason, it's true. However, whether it makes an audible difference on a specific system greatly depends on the performance of the rest of the system. Theory of errors says total system errors is the square root of the sum of errors squared = (E1^2 + E2^2 + ..... En^2)^(1/2). What this means is that fixing the largest error is the only thing that may noticeably improve a system but only if it is very significantly larger than any other error. If there are several errors of similar magnitude, noticeable improvement will only be achieved once the last of them is fixed. This is all fine if you can actually measure distortion and filtering problems in a system. Often, that is extremely difficult. You many be able to implement a null test in some situations but you have to be scrupulous how you do that and probably wont be able to fully isolate problems, especially after an amp or with digital devices. So your only option is to go over every single bit of kit, connection and cable and check it's compliance to a high standard. Check, gain structure, get unity signal at the earliest possible point and maintain it at every step. Check impedance matching is correct. Check connection impedances. regularly service gear and use a quality cleaner/conditioner/lube on all controls, pots faders, even trimmers something like Deoxit F5. It's expensive but wort it. Don't use cleaners from cheep chain stores they don't do a good job and don't last.
brilliant but i will forget this no sooner than now is the a pdf file or something that i can put on paper , cheers
And just like that, you became my spirit animal. Wow, thanks for this Geoff!
Hi, great video... I have a question... I have an integrated stereo amp with 4-8 ohm and 120 watts and a Bose 301 speaker with 8 ohm impedance at minimum 10 watts and maximum 70 watts. Is the best way to just connect the speaker to one channel on my amp, or is there a way to connect it to both channels to get more out of the speaker?
Just realize that my chinese 5.1 speakers are suffering from a mod i did 😅
it does not matter how many speakers you wire in parallel, the impedance will always be a little bit above half the impedance of the speaker with the lowest value and will drop, with every extra speaker a little bit more towards the exact half.
for example: two 4 ohm speakers = 2,5 ohms - three 4 ohm speakers = 2,2 ohms - twenty 4 ohm speakers = 2,05 ohms - one 4 ohm speaker + four 8 ohm speakers = 2,5 ohms ...and so on.
Thanks for all your great help Geoff! Jesus Bless Your Life my Friend.👋👋👍✌
hi, i have been trying to find an answer but no ones better than you. i want to build a speaker with 2 woofers and one tweeter.. who can i connect them? can you give me and example of their ideal rated powers and impedance if im gonna use a 2 * 50w amp?
Very clear, now I understand! Thank you much!
Can it be connected a 16 Ohms tweeter (with the filter capacitor) to the 4 Ohms full range driver? What would be any difference in sound? Is it safe for both tweeter and the full range driver? What the method should follow? Kindly explain? Thank you.
Sir, since speaker has an INDUCTIVE IMPEDENCE and AT 3:41 when connecting it with a resistor of 4 Ohms in series, It will make a series RL circuit. How can we add resistance and inductive reactance as arithmetic SUM??
Z = SQRT(R^2+Xl^2)
(for home application) if we use an active subwoofer will it still draw power from the amplifier and still have to formulated first or just plug it in into a pairs of the socket (back L & R maybe) since it already have it own power source??
one the two KEF 101 speakers has a crackle sound on one of the speakers, but I don't know if it is the tweeter or the board.
Could you assist/direct me in this matter? Thank you
I have a Klipsche ProMedia 4.1 system with subwoofer R and L front and R and L Rear. the speakers get there power from the subwoofer. If i have 2 more of the satellites can i hook them to the amp so i have 2 R and 2 L front speakers?
If I have 2 speaker cabinets that are 4x12 and to match the cabinets at 8 ohms for the setting, what should I set my 50W Marshall plexi at your play thru both cabs safely? It has a 4 ohm 8ohm and 16ohm setting.... even with the video I’m totally lost
One question about how an amplifier is considered,as a constant voltage source,or as constant current source?
It would be nice to add why low résistances are not appreciated as loads , a short sentence like « at constant output power of the amp , a low resistance will increase dramatically the current and as a possible consequence the load (speaker) may heat too much and burn or the output transistors of the amp
I like very much the inside view of the two types of speaker selectors , thx very much
Assuming my connection became 2 ohms and the min of the amp is 4 ohms. What will be the effect both for the speaker and amplifier? Will it be noticeable or we can just ignore the impedance value?
it well burn the amp
What does lowering the impedance actually mean? Is 0 ohms basically no impedance and no resistance also what does going over 16ohms mean? That it'll have too much resistance and not have enough power to use it properly? Also is a speaker says 2x16 is that the same as 1x8 ohms?
will this also works with a car speaker, say i have a 4 channel head unit that is 4-8ohms capable @ 4x50watts, if the both rear channel speaker is @ 8ohms, and i do want to have 6 speakers setup, can i use two 4 ohms speaker wired in series for the front channels? the speakers are rated @ 35watts and 30watts RMS. is that doable? and will the head unit reads it as 8ohms for all four channels even though the 2 front channels do have 2 speakers each?
Hello I have a set active speakers of 30 kohm each, I would like to buy a set of speaker cable. What is the matching impedance in this case for the cables?
What about 3 speakers 8ohms connected to amplifier. In series and parelal ?
Please 🙏
I have tried to ask a question on your site, but the Submit button does not seem to work. Is there something I need to do?
Sorry about that, it worked when I tested it yesterday. Email me at geoffs@geofftheygreygeek.com
@@Geoffthegreygeek thanks Geoff. I get it sent right off. You are my last chance at getting an answer. I tried the email listed, but it kepps, getting returned. I took out the Y so, it's geoff@thegreygeek.com, and not geoff@theygreygeek.com. It went through without the Y.
Please, let me know if you didn't get it.
I have 6 and 16 ohms output speaker on my amplifier, how many ohms speaker should i use if I conneck 6 speakers per channel? Thank you & more power.
so..considering correct crossover points is a 100 watt tweeter overkill on a 100 watt channel as the cross over blocks low frequency and as such only 15-20 watts of high frequency is being allowed through that channel.
So if the sub is a 4 ohm and the amp says it can do 2 ohm would the amp put out more power if I purchase a two ohm sub? The two ohm rating is higher on the back of my old school 2 channel mono amp from mtx. Or does this already drop it to 2ohm , I'm only using one sub bridged
Awesome video. Thank you for the time in making such an informative and clear video.
I have a 4 Ohms Speaker and a 8 Ohms High-Freq. driver and A 8Ohms 300Wmax 2-way Crossover.. Can I setup with these 2 speakers or do I have to change it to 8-8 Ohms?
i have a question for the channel owner geoff and others who can answer correctly.
i want to connect 2 speakers to 1 side ie. left channel and 2 speakers to right channel respectively. so talking about 1 channel only eg. left channel... my 2 speakers are rated 6 ohms impedance each. my amp is rated to accept 4 to 8 ohms. so if i put my 2 speakers in parallel it becomes 3 ohms and if i put them in series it becomes 12 ohms. so what is the simplest possible thing i can do so that the system works? i think i put two speakers in parallel and add 2 ohm resistance to the positive wire. so how to put a resistance there? i am asking as a layman.
i also want to ask that do the speaker really has positive and negative polarity, so we must wire the positive to positive and negative to negative from amp or whichever side we put +ve the other side becomes negative and vice versa? pls answer.
Hi Shasahu,
Your calculations are correct. If you don't ever run your amp at full power, then it will probably cope with a 3 ohms load at the lower power levels. Otherwise wire them in series to be safe. See my article on How to connect 2 speakers to 1 amplifier for more details.
Regarding using a 2 ohm resistor: you can certainly do this. You need to ensure the resistor can handle the power from your amplifier, it is often hard to find a resistor capable of 50 watts or more. It would simply connect to the positive terminal of the amp, and then connect the speaker red wire to the other end of it. Because this can all be too much effort, most people use a speaker selector switch to do this work for them.
A simple series/parallel speaker selector would be a good solution. Have a play using the different types of switches on my speaker selector switch simulator. The second simulator will also tell you how much power the resistor will need to cope with.
hope this helps
Thanks for the reply. Pls share link to the switch simulator and resistor power calculator.
Thanks.
geoffthegreygeek.com/how-to-connect-2-speakers-to-1-amplifier/
geoffthegreygeek.com/speaker-selector-switch-simulators/
shasashu 3 ohm might be fine, see if it works or kicks off. If it plays see how hot it gets under load a while.
In the manual for the Sansui 5000 is the following: Caution: Never attempt to use two or three 8 ohm speaker systems at the same time. For use with three speaker systems, the impedance must be more than 8 ohms each. For use with two speaker systems (A+B or A+C) the combined impedance of the systems must be more than 8 ohms.
I am not understanding exactly what this means. My plan was to connect 2 pairs of Sansui SP-2000 speakers, which are 8 ohm speakers, but based on this warning I don't think I can now do this? Can you advise me?
Thanks
* *Mike Cook,* * You posted your comment 4 years ago.
*How did this turn out for you?*
I have 6 ohm home stereo speakers and afraid to hook them to my 8 ohm amp.
Thanks you for the information . I have an idea how to use ohms...
Hello, i have a 5 channel amplifier my front speakers are 5x7 4 ohm and rears 6x9 4 ohm they take 110w rms and my amplifier produces 110w x4@ 2ohm and only 50w x4 @4 ohm is there a way i could wire it to make the high speakers 2ohm or would this damage the speakers? I feel i am not delivering enough watts to my high speakers
What If I hook a pair of 6 Ohm (or 4/8 Ohm) satellite speakers in Parallel with a Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble ii module (which has 6 Ohm woofers)? There are only two sets of 5-way Binding posts for both speaker wire and to hook up to the amplifier. No speaker inputs.
Will I damage the amplifier, especially one rated for a load impedance of 2-8 Ohms?
Can you please explain about amp with 4 channels A, b output
Hi i have 15' subwoofer the sub has 1 ohm 2 voice coils if i wire the voice coils wires in series should i result in 2 ohms?
I was planning to build a 3 way Speaker connected to an 8 ohm Amplifier.
Can you Provide me the connection so that the total ohms would be 8 ohm?