Car Speaker And Amplifier Matching Guide
- Any good solid amp should be able to drive speakers from 4-8 ohms without a problem, the 8 ohm rating on the amp is where the power output is derived from, and is a measurement of resistance. Just keep an eye on the amp temp if you are gonna turn them up.
- The Speaker Wiring Diagram And Connection Guide – The Basics You Need To Know November 18, 2017 We all enjoy music and speakers make that possible – but it can be confusing if you’re unsure of how exactly to connect them.
There are many different types and configurations of car amplifiers. You'll find two-channel amps, four-channel amps, mono amps and amplifiers designed for reproducing different musical frequency ranges. It's important to match amplifiers to the speakers they'll be powering for the best performance in your car audio system.
Nov 12, 2010 A comprehensive matching guide for car subs and amps. Learning how to match a subwoofer and amplifier is easier than you think. Car Electronic Articles. I found an RE Audio CTX-1600.2 amplifier which has 700 watts of power bridged at 4 ohms (each channel has 350 watts of power at 2 ohms). Each subwoofer gets one channel, so each.
Step 1
Check the power handling specs of your speakers in their manual. Look for an RMS wattage rating.
Step 2
Speaker Ohm Matching To Amp
Check the wattage output per channel of your amplifier in its manual. Look for the RMS output rating. Match the power output of the amplifier to the power handling of the speakers. For example, a speaker that handles 100 watts is a good match for an amplifier with an output of 100 watts. Don't vary the difference between the two specs by more than about 15 percent.
Step 3
Match the number of channels of amplifier output with the number of speakers you'll be powering. For example, if you want to power four speakers, a four-channel amplifier is the best choice.
Check to make sure that the frequency output of the amplifier matches your speakers' application. For example, speakers being used for full-range sound reproduction need an amplifier that amplifies the entire musical range. Likewise, a subwoofer is best paired with a subwoofer amp that's designed to amplify low frequencies.
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For almost every speaker or set of headphones you can buy, you'll find a specification for impedance measured in ohms (symbolized as Ω). Seldom do the packaging and included product manuals explain what impedance means or why it matters to you.
Impedance is like great rock 'n' roll. Understanding everything about it is complicated, but you don't need to understand everything to 'get' it.
About Speaker Impedance
When talking about things like watts, voltage, and power, many audio writers use the analogy of water flowing through a pipe because it's an analogy that people can visualize and relate to.
Think of the speaker as a pipe. The audio signal — your music — acts as the water flowing through the pipe. The bigger the pipe, the more easily water can flow through it. Bigger pipes also handle more volume of flowing water. A speaker with a lower impedance is like a bigger pipe in that it lets more electrical signal through and allows it to flow more easily.
As a result, you see amplifiers that are rated to deliver 100 watts at 8 ohms impedance or 150 or 200 watts at 4 ohms impedance. The lower the impedance, the more easily electricity (the signal or music) flows through the speaker.
A lot of amplifiers aren't designed to work with 4-ohm speakers. Using the pipe analogy, you can put a bigger pipe in, but it'll only carry more water (audio) if you have a pump (amplifier) powerful enough to provide the extra flow of water.
Does Low Impedance Guarantee High Quality?
Car Speaker And Amplifier Matching Guide Service
Using lower-ohm speakers without equipment that can support them may cause you to turn the amplifier all the way up, which can damage the equipment.
Using mismatched speakers and amplifiers can cause problems when the receiver or amplifier is not up to the task.
Take almost any modern speaker and connect it to any modern amplifier, and you'll have more than enough volume for your living room. So, what's the advantage of a 4-ohm speaker versus a 6-ohm or 8-ohm speaker? Not a lot — just that low impedance sometimes indicates the amount of fine-tuning the engineers did when they designed the speaker.
The impedance of a speaker changes as the sound goes up and down in pitch (or frequency). For example, at 41 hertz (the lowest note on a standard bass guitar), the impedance of a speaker might be 10 ohms. At 2,000 hertz (the upper range of a violin), the impedance might be just 3 ohms. The impedance specification seen on a speaker is just a rough average.
Some of the more exacting speaker engineers like to even out the impedance of speakers for consistent sound throughout the whole audio range. Just as someone might sand a piece of wood to remove the high ridges of grain, a speaker engineer might use electrical circuitry to flatten the areas of high impedance. This extra attention is why 4-ohm speakers are common in high-end audio but rare in mass-market audio.
Can Your System Handle It?
Before you buy a 4-ohm speaker, make sure the amplifier or receiver can handle it. It may not be clear, but if the amplifier or receiver manufacturer publishes power ratings in both 8 and 4 ohms, you're safe. Most separate amplifiers without a built-in preamp or tuner can handle 4-ohm speakers, as can most high-end A/V receivers.
A relatively inexpensive receiver might not be the best match for 4-ohm speakers. It might function OK at low volume, but crank it up, and the amplifier might not have the power to feed the speaker. The receiver may shut itself off temporarily, or you may burn up the receiver.
About the Impedance Switch
Some amplifiers and receivers feature an impedance switch on the back that you can use to switch between ohm settings. The problem with using this switch is that impedance is not a flat setting, it is a curve that varies. Using an impedance switch to 'match' your equipment to your speakers intentionally cripples the full capabilities of your amplifier or receiver. Leave the impedance on its highest setting and buy speakers that match your equipment's impedance settings for the best performance.
Impedance of Car Speakers
In car audio, 4-ohm speakers are the norm. That's because car audio systems run on 12 volts DC instead of a 120 volts AC. A 4-ohm impedance allows car audio speakers to pull more power from a low-voltage car audio amp. Car audio amps are designed for use with low-impedance speakers. So crank it up and enjoy.