C
chamelious
www.thesunexplodes.com
Can someone point me in the direction of a website or post or something explaining this? I have no idea what it means when people say *8 ohms at 200watts* or whatever. Cheers.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Here's the short answer: It's the load or measure of resistance in an AC circuit...... in contrast to DC circuits where resistance is independent of the frequency of a signal running thru it - in an AC circuit, resistance will vary according to frequency.
Now maybe some of the electronics guys can jump in here with the long answer...!
Now maybe some of the electronics guys can jump in here with the long answer...!
mshilarious
Banned
chamelious said:
Always listen to the Bear.
You're probably asking about amps and their ratings. Depending on the load the amp is feeding (which is impedance measured in ohms), the output (watts) of the amp varies. So amps will say x watts into 8 ohms but only y watts into 16 ohms.
What you need to know to understand that is Ohm's law, but I won't bore you too much with formulas. Basically, the less impedance a device (speaker, light bulb, whatever), the more current it will draw, which means it will consume more power.
Getting back to the light bulb analogy, a brighter light bulb is bright because it has less impedance and thus consumes more power. However, light bulbs are labeled with wattage because AC power has (nominally) fixed voltage.
Different audio amplifiers have different maximum voltages, so speakers are labeled with impedance and the amps will show you maximum wattage based on that impedance.
E
Ed Dixon
New member
The impedance measures resistance to current flow for a speaker.
A 4 ohm speaker will draw more current and power than an 8 ohm speaker connected to the same amplifier.
As the amp volume goes up, the speaker consumes more power, usually measured in Watts. The rating of a speaker is the max Watts it can take before problem may occur.
While there are different ways to measure Watts, generally using a speaker rated at say 200 watts with an amp rated at say 500 watts is not a safe thing. When you exceed the speaker rating, you run the risk of burning it out.
Most amps are designed with an 8 ohm speaker load in mind. Many amps can handle speakers with lower impedance, but this varies by amp. Connecting a speaker lower in impedance that the amp rating can cause amp damage.
For more info, go to www.google.com and enter Impedance definition speaker as the search criteria. You will find dozens of sites with more info, some very complicated sounding and some highlevel in nature.
Ed
A 4 ohm speaker will draw more current and power than an 8 ohm speaker connected to the same amplifier.
As the amp volume goes up, the speaker consumes more power, usually measured in Watts. The rating of a speaker is the max Watts it can take before problem may occur.
While there are different ways to measure Watts, generally using a speaker rated at say 200 watts with an amp rated at say 500 watts is not a safe thing. When you exceed the speaker rating, you run the risk of burning it out.
Most amps are designed with an 8 ohm speaker load in mind. Many amps can handle speakers with lower impedance, but this varies by amp. Connecting a speaker lower in impedance that the amp rating can cause amp damage.
For more info, go to www.google.com and enter Impedance definition speaker as the search criteria. You will find dozens of sites with more info, some very complicated sounding and some highlevel in nature.
Ed
5
5150 Musician
New member
Yeah.. what they said 
lol
It's all about consolidating the numbers. 16 8 4 and 2 - and sometimes 32
2 16 ohm cabs create an 8 ohm load
2 8 ohm cabs create a 4 ohm load
2 4 ohm cabs create a 2 ohm load
Really pay attention to matching ohms correctly in a tube amp, most solid state amps could really care less...
lolIt's all about consolidating the numbers. 16 8 4 and 2 - and sometimes 32
2 16 ohm cabs create an 8 ohm load
2 8 ohm cabs create a 4 ohm load
2 4 ohm cabs create a 2 ohm load
Really pay attention to matching ohms correctly in a tube amp, most solid state amps could really care less...