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resistors resistance impedance

Anonymous
Not applicable

Anybody have a solid grasp on these things.

Say I have an audio speaker that is testing on a meter as 1 ohm. Yes 1. Most home audio amplification prefers to see 6 or 8 ohm resistance at the speaker. Say an amp is putting out 100 watts out the speaker line. Not line out...speaker.

Can I put a resistor on one side of the speaker cable going to the 1 ohm speaker? And if so which one? And would I need the same resistor on the other side of the cable as well?

Assume to get it to about 6 ohm testing.

 

I see car audio mentions 1 ohm sometimes. But then I'd have to convert 110v AC to 12v DC to run it.

 

Thanks

11 REPLIES 11


@Anonymous wrote:

@will13am wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@will13am wrote:

No idea off the top of my head.  Perhaps some sort of overload.  Need to think about it.  My sub just packed it in.  I have to run my system as a 7.0 set to speakers until I buy a new one.  Any suggestions?  The failed sub is a definitive technology prosub.  


 @will13am

Thanks.

Yes I would suspect it's a protection in the amp really not liking this 1ohm wire hanging off of it. These are the times when I wish I knew more about this stuff.

I've decided to not use a sub anymore so now I'm sitting on a powered Kef 8" in storage with original box. You would probably turn your nose up at it 🙂

I'm no audiophile due to not being rich so my gear is nothing to write home about.


Not really, if we were in the city, we could potentially have a solution for each other's problem, lol. 


City?! How about province?! 🙂


If you include free shipping like Amazon...  Smiley Very Happy

Anonymous
Not applicable

@will13am wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@will13am wrote:

No idea off the top of my head.  Perhaps some sort of overload.  Need to think about it.  My sub just packed it in.  I have to run my system as a 7.0 set to speakers until I buy a new one.  Any suggestions?  The failed sub is a definitive technology prosub.  


 @will13am

Thanks.

Yes I would suspect it's a protection in the amp really not liking this 1ohm wire hanging off of it. These are the times when I wish I knew more about this stuff.

I've decided to not use a sub anymore so now I'm sitting on a powered Kef 8" in storage with original box. You would probably turn your nose up at it 🙂

I'm no audiophile due to not being rich so my gear is nothing to write home about.


Not really, if we were in the city, we could potentially have a solution for each other's problem, lol. 


City?! How about province?! 🙂


@Anonymous wrote:

@will13am wrote:

No idea off the top of my head.  Perhaps some sort of overload.  Need to think about it.  My sub just packed it in.  I have to run my system as a 7.0 set to speakers until I buy a new one.  Any suggestions?  The failed sub is a definitive technology prosub.  


 @will13am

Thanks.

Yes I would suspect it's a protection in the amp really not liking this 1ohm wire hanging off of it. These are the times when I wish I knew more about this stuff.

I've decided to not use a sub anymore so now I'm sitting on a powered Kef 8" in storage with original box. You would probably turn your nose up at it 🙂

I'm no audiophile due to not being rich so my gear is nothing to write home about.


Not really, if we were in the city, we could potentially have a solution for each other's problem, lol. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@will13am wrote:

No idea off the top of my head.  Perhaps some sort of overload.  Need to think about it.  My sub just packed it in.  I have to run my system as a 7.0 set to speakers until I buy a new one.  Any suggestions?  The failed sub is a definitive technology prosub.  


 @will13am

Thanks.

Yes I would suspect it's a protection in the amp really not liking this 1ohm wire hanging off of it. These are the times when I wish I knew more about this stuff.

I've decided to not use a sub anymore so now I'm sitting on a powered Kef 8" in storage with original box. You would probably turn your nose up at it 🙂

I'm no audiophile due to not being rich so my gear is nothing to write home about.


@Anonymous wrote:

 @will13am and whoever else might be interested in piping in with audio/electrical knowledge.

 

So I finally got it all hooked up. I have a 5.1 amp currently connected to Front Left, Centre, Front Right. I have that other thing that measures about 1 ohm connected to centre...so both in the same speaker output.

Listening to 5.1 content at a normal volume..the amp shuts off after just a few minutes. I disconnect the 1 ohm thing and the amp will play an untested amount of time.

 

Ideas? Some kind of resistor in the 1 ohm thing to make the amp see something resembling 6 or whatever ohms? Do I need one at both the + and - sides?

 

My current thinking is a speaker out to line in converter into another much smaller amp and the 1 ohm thing out of there.

 

Thanks


No idea off the top of my head.  Perhaps some sort of overload.  Need to think about it.  My sub just packed it in.  I have to run my system as a 7.0 set to speakers until I buy a new one.  Any suggestions?  The failed sub is a definitive technology prosub.  

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @will13am and whoever else might be interested in piping in with audio/electrical knowledge.

 

So I finally got it all hooked up. I have a 5.1 amp currently connected to Front Left, Centre, Front Right. I have that other thing that measures about 1 ohm connected to centre...so both in the same speaker output.

Listening to 5.1 content at a normal volume..the amp shuts off after just a few minutes. I disconnect the 1 ohm thing and the amp will play an untested amount of time.

 

Ideas? Some kind of resistor in the 1 ohm thing to make the amp see something resembling 6 or whatever ohms? Do I need one at both the + and - sides?

 

My current thinking is a speaker out to line in converter into another much smaller amp and the 1 ohm thing out of there.

 

Thanks


@Anonymous wrote:

@will13am wrote:

There is no need to impedance match unless you want to crank the volume sky high.  Keep in mind that each 3 dB increase in volume requires a power doubling.  Down at the sane volumes and a power doubling of a very low value is no big deal.  That last power doubling from say 50 watts to 100 watts, if you can avoid it, then you are good to go without any of this fancy impedance matching or concern of blowing the amp. 


Alright thanks. I'll go with that. I'll keep the volume sane (as I would) and not worry too much. If the amp gets affected then I guess I'll just replace it. But it doesn't sound like it would inside of sanity. Or take a very long time to.

Thanks


The logarithmic relationship between dB and power will protect your amp.  Only your sanity can protect your ears.  Smiley Happy

Anonymous
Not applicable

@will13am wrote:

There is no need to impedance match unless you want to crank the volume sky high.  Keep in mind that each 3 dB increase in volume requires a power doubling.  Down at the sane volumes and a power doubling of a very low value is no big deal.  That last power doubling from say 50 watts to 100 watts, if you can avoid it, then you are good to go without any of this fancy impedance matching or concern of blowing the amp. 


Alright thanks. I'll go with that. I'll keep the volume sane (as I would) and not worry too much. If the amp gets affected then I guess I'll just replace it. But it doesn't sound like it would inside of sanity. Or take a very long time to.

Thanks


@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks @will13am. It's that I've read that to attach a low ohm speaker to an amp could somehow damage the amp. Maybe at sensible volumes it's alright? I don't know. No I don't run at ear-splitting volumes.

Thanks for the link. Still not sure which options I might need if at all. Impedance matching transformer. Resistor.

 


There is no need to impedance match unless you want to crank the volume sky high.  Keep in mind that each 3 dB increase in volume requires a power doubling.  Down at the sane volumes and a power doubling of a very low value is no big deal.  That last power doubling from say 50 watts to 100 watts, if you can avoid it, then you are good to go without any of this fancy impedance matching or concern of blowing the amp. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Thanks @will13am. It's that I've read that to attach a low ohm speaker to an amp could somehow damage the amp. Maybe at sensible volumes it's alright? I don't know. No I don't run at ear-splitting volumes.

Thanks for the link. Still not sure which options I might need if at all. Impedance matching transformer. Resistor.

 

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

Are you talking about something like what these guys are discussing in this forum?  One resistor should be fine.  As noted, you are going to need a resistor that can soak up a lot of power.  I think it would be fine to use a lower impedance speaker and don't drive the volume up to max.  Surely the ear drums would start to hurt well before the amp blows.  Just remember that dB and watts is not a linear relationship.  Double the power increases loudness by 3 dB.  Each incremental dB is harder and harder to achieve.  The last couple of notches on the volume knob is worth a lot of watts. 

 

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/increasing-the-impedance-of-a-speaker.218820/

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