Some wiring / speaker wattage questions

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:19 pm

Couple of questions folks:

1. For 8 ohm speakers that are going to be drawing power from a 4 ohm amplifier, does it need to be wired differently?

2. I see a couple of posts about giving extra wattage to speakers which results in a increase in db levels. On the flip side, if I am not after SPL, is there is a minimum amount of power that is required for the speakers to sound optimal? I read somewhere else that tweeters at 15 watts can generate quite a load db-wise. Having extra headroom is always a good thing I suppose, but what would be a rough minimal gauge for it to sound optimal?

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:29 pm

Ohms reffers to what an amp will see, which will vary depending on how you wire.

So if your speakers are 8 Ohms and ytou run each one into the amp thats what the amp will see. Likewise if you amp is rated @ 100 WRMS into 4 Ohms and you give it 8 Ohms the power output will drop to 50 WRMS...

You usually want to give speakers about 70-90% of rated power.

Rave'n · Post by **Rave'n** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:01 pm

If you wire them together in series it will bring the impedance on the amp down to 4 ohms.
Still dont know how to post pics.lol
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/home/
^^ This site can help you with wiring them together.

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:16 pm

Eh? I am getting a little confused. So I have to wire them in series so that the amp will supply 4 ohms to the speakers?

Rave'n · Post by **Rave'n** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:26 pm

No, you wire the speakers to 4 ohm then bridge your amp.

Ohm's refer to the impedance on your amp.
Higher the impedance the lower the power to the subs will be.

High Society · Post by **High Society** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:33 pm

Also, are they single 8ohm, dual 8 ohm? How many subs do you have? What kinda amp?

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:36 pm

These are 7" drivers, single 8ohms. Powered by a 4-channel amp that does 60w at 4 ohms. I am not planning on bridging the channels as 2 of them will be powering my tweeters.

High Society · Post by **High Society** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:47 pm

well you will be gettin low wattage from that amp at 8 ohms.....Whats the rms on the woofers?

Rave'n · Post by **Rave'n** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:48 pm

what ohm and rms are your tweeters?

your speaker should be fine.

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:23 pm

tweeters are 4 ohms, max rms should be around 200wrms, long-term usage should be around 100wrms?

long term usage for the 7" drivers is 80wrms.