On 12/21/2010 7:36 PM Jeff Thies spake thus:

On 12/21/2010 2:25 PM, Sam Takoy wrote:

This is offtopic, but related to home improvement and this is where I
get my best information.

I want to connect my ipod - amp - speaker selector - speakers

My amp is 4 Ohms (Pyle PTAU45)

My speakers are 4 Ohms (Pyle PWRC51)

But the speaker selector that I want to buy (Pyle PSS6) says "with
speakers systems that are 8 Ohms minimum".

We aren't matching impedances, what we are doing is making sure that the
amp doesn't blow up! (Impedance matching is tube stuff)

Odd thing to say: actually, transistor amps care about impedance
matching too. In fact, it may be even more important with solid state,
as there's no output transformer as in a tube amp to isolate the load
from the final stage. Very easy to smoke transistors (or to cause the
angry gods to activate the shutdown circuit or blowenfusen). In
transistor amps, speakers are (more or less) directly coupled to the
output stage, usually with a large capacitor to block DC.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.