Stereo and amplifier minimum impedance ratingsAll amplifiers of any type – where it’s a car stereo amplifier, home stereo receiver, home theater amplifier, and so on, have a minimum Ohms (impedance) rating. Because of this, there’s some extra math needed to figure out the total resistance.The word used to describe this is called impedance.Speaker impedance is just a more advanced way of finding the total resistance, and by tradition is measured in units called “Ohms.”The good news is that you don’t have to worry too much about the details – it doesn’t matter for basic speaker use, and long as you understand the basic rules you’ll be fine!2. Loops of wire have a property called inductance which affects a speaker’s resistance value depending on the frequency (sound range) being played.As they have electrical properties that include inductance and capacitance, their “total resistance” can actually change with the music slightly.Be sure you wire speakers to meet the minimum Ohm rating you need.Remember: don’t use a speaker impedance below the rating given by the manufacturer. They ended up with a burned-out amplifier.An amplifier can only handle so much heat and stress before it fails, so be sure to observe these rules. (Two 8 ohm speakers in parallel is equal to 4 ohms total that the amp will see)I’ve seen many attempts by people who had friends who claimed they could “boost the power” or “get more power” by some claimed trick, but it doesn’t work. A home stereo, for example, may often list 6-16 ohms as being ok for use.Also, attempting to wire two 8 ohm speakers in parallel to an 8 ohm stereo would have the same effect. The recommended speaker impedance ratings are usually listed above the speaker wire posts. This increases the amount of stress and heat it has to handle.If your stereo is labeled by the manufacturer as being “8 ohm speaker compatible” or similar, that means connecting lower impedance speakers can cause excessive heat and possible damage very quickly.For example, connecting a 4 ohm speaker to an amplifier that is labeled as working with 8 ohm speakers would mean it would have to produce double the electrical current to the speaker!Image of the rear of a home stereo receiver/amplifier.
Speak polarity and why you should match speaker connectionsAs I mentioned, speakers work by moving a cone back and forth in order to produce sound. This is good news! It means you can’t harm your speakers in most cases by having the positive (“+”) and negative (“-“) wiring reversed.Unfortunately, it gets just a little bit more complicated when we use more than 1 speaker. What is speaker polarity?Speakers are different than other devices in that they work using alternating current (AC) instead of direct current (DC). Fuji finepix driverBasically, it’s simply because sound waves from one speaker are moving in the opposite direction of the other speaker – and if they’re close to the same time and frequency range, often they cancel out.This is why when 2 woofers are placed in a box and are wired in parallel but with opposite connections to each other, they are “out of phase” and have almost no bass! It’s because they are doing the opposite work rather than working together to produce more sound.While one is moving up, the other is moving the opposite direction, and so on.So the most important thing here to remember is to wire speakers consistently the same way as each other. When wired the same, sound waves add together for more sound.Speakers that are wired differently sound poor because much of the sound is canceled out. In most cases, you’ll notice a lack of bass sound and it won’t sound pleasing to the ear as expected.When speakers are wired the opposite of each other sound waves cancel out. It increases a few decibels (dB) for each speaker added.Doubling the power does not double the volume either.This is because of how the human ear works and the physics of sound, along with how speakers work and how much volume they can produce for a given amount of power.Generally speaking, the human ear will hear a very small amount of volume increase for each doubling of acoustic power: about 3 decibels (dB). You also may have wondered what would happen if you bought an amplifier with twice the power of your present one.There’s one important thing to understand, however: having 2 or 3 speakers instead of one does not double or triple the sound. Doubling the number of speakers or amount of power does not double the volumeIn some cases, more speakers can be added to increase the amount of volume you can get or to place speakers in more rooms, more locations in your vehicle, and so on. What this means is that little to no sound would be produced if another 2-way speaker is connected in series.Therefore if you have a home stereo or car stereo in which 2-way speakers are used, you’ll have to add more 2-way speakers (if the total impedance can be supported by the amplifier) or add more amplifier channels for more sound. Similarly, a woofer can’t produce high pitch sounds well and is prevented from doing so.Unlike standard separate speakers, 2-way and 3-way speakers that have a crossover can only be used in parallel and not in series.This is because unlike separate speakers with no crossovers, in this case, many sounds will be filtered out. The job of a crossover (also called a passive crossover, because it use basic capacitors and inductors rather than electronics) is to restrict the music production each speaker tries to produce.For example, tweeters can’t reproduce bass frequencies (and can in fact be damaged by them) so a 2-way speaker crossover is used to prevent this. Simluhtan pertanianIn some cases, a black dot or a red or black stripe is used to mark the positive terminal How to read speaker positive and negative labels (+ and -)Home stereo and car speakers normally often use a red or plus sign “+” to indicate the polarity for the speaker wiring terminals which you connect your wiring to.Here are a few things to know there as well: I like to use 50W or higher per channel as a good rule of thumb when buying an amplifier. Use higher-power rated speakers and a larger power amplifier if a lot more volume is your goalMost people need an amplifier that can produce enough volume to fill a room or vehicle and turn up the volume from time to time. Add more speakers if you have an amplifier that can support it Use more efficient speakers (speakers that produce a higher dB volume at 1W of power – higher is better) 1.5W Stereo Amplifier Schematics Serial Or ParallelTags diagram, how to guide, speaker impedance, speaker wiringI hooked it up as listed below, I don’t know if it is serial or parallel but tested to see if there was sound. Hopefully I’ve given you more understanding about how to connect speakers and get the most enjoyment out of your system.Have questions, comments, or suggestions? Be sure to leave a comment below or send me a message.Confused about tweeters? Here’s a helpful guide explaining what tweeters are and what they’re used for.Interested in bridging your car amp? Find out how to bridge a car amp in this post. For speakers with wire attached but the same colored wires, most have some small printing on the positive wire – be sure to check closelyHere I’ve provided you with a speaker diagram showing basic connections, I explained several important things you need to know about speakers and speaker wiring. For speakers with wire already attached, typically the brass or golden-colored wire is the positive one
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