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thirty-six thirty-six is offline
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Default 6 ohm speakers - uprate to 8 ohm?

On Feb 19, 10:59*pm, Ian Jackson
wrote:
In message , Tim
Streater writes







In article ,
"David WE Roberts" wrote:


"Tim Streater" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:


On Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:09:52 -0000, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


However, just realised that the speakers are 6 ohm, and the
connectors on the back of the amp say Speakers (6-16ohm) and
Surround Speakers (8-16 ohm).
Grr....gnarghh....there goes my plan to use the spare set of
speakers for surround speakers.


So is running 6 ohm speakers on an 8-16 ohm speaker circuit
likely to blow the speakers or the amplifier?
Is there an easy way to uprate the speakers to 8 ohm?


This question has no meaning.


Likewise the answer :-)


Were you imagining that I posted an answer?


1) The ohms rating of a speaker is only a guide, since it tends to vary
with frequency.


2) AFAIK, any decent amp is unconditionally stable under any load. I
think that's what the bumf for my Quad 303 (vintage 1970) claims,
anyway.


So I see no reason that it should matter. The more the speaker's ohms
rating matches the output impedance of the amp, the more power will be
available for the speakers - AFAIK. However there are I think some here
who've actually designed this stuff so I defer to them.


The amplifier's output will be essentially a voltage source, and its
impedance will probably be only a small fraction of an ohm. A 6 ohm
speaker will draw around 8/6ths of the 8 ohm current, and the power will
be 8/6 squared more (appx 1.78 times more). But whether it sounds louder
probably largely depends on the design of the speaker. You may need to
reduce the volume control setting. Also, even at the same audible
volume, I believe that the distortion performance might not be quite as
good. Personally, I doubt if anyone would know the difference.
--
Ian


It will depend on the relative sensitivities of the speakers and the
precise design of the amplifiers. It's not even worth the trouble
investigating what chip is used, it really is a matter of connecting
it up and ensuring that the background speakers aren't intrusive or
out of phase with the front speakers. If the back speakers are
intrusive or distorting at what is a usable front speaker level then
some resistance requires adding to the rear. Cheap co-axial wire is
most suitable for remote speaker connects and simple ellipticals or
dual cone ellipticals work well for this.