Ohms&monitors?

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muzeman

muzeman

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This may seem like a dumb question,but,can I use a 4 ohm amp with 6 ohm monitors?
Is there signal loss,or any possibility of damage by not matching the impeadance right?

Thanks,
Pete
 
The only time that impedence is critical with solid state amps is if you go beyond the range the amp is designed to handle. I think you should be fine at 6 with a 4 ohm amp as long as you don't drive it to clipping. The thing to remember is at 6 ohms the amp will put out less power so it'll be closer to clipping at the same volume all things being equal i.e. speakers with same efficiency rating. If the amp clips hard it will likely fry your speakers. It's always better to have more amp than speakers with transistors.

With tube amps it's important to match the speaker load to the amp. Some amps will tolerate mismatches better than others. With tubes you will likely fry the amp with a mismatch because the output tubes will be operating outside their range, but they don't produce square waves when they clip.
 
Thanks very much,Mr.Brane.

The amp I'm looking at delivers 130 watts into 4 ohms.
The monitors,Reveals,are rated at 6 ohms to handle between 50 and 100 watts.

The thing is,Tannoy recomends an amp at 8 ohms,between 30 and 100 watts.
I don't even see any 8 ohm amps around.

I'm still a little confused about the ohms,the amp will match whatever load the speakers put on it?
If it's a problem with clipping,a higher watt amp than the speakers are rated at would help with that?

Thanks very much for your help,just want to make sure I get the best performance from the monitors,and don't fry them!

Pete
 
Since the Reveals are 90db efficient, they should be pretty loud with 100 watts. Unless your deaf or want to be you shouldn't have a volume issue with that combo. :D

Most of the time the impedence rating on a solid state amp is the minimum load the amp will handle.

On speakers the impedence is stated as nominal because just about all speakers have different loads at different frequencies (usually a hump in the low-mids) and gain resistance as the power into them is increased.

If you find yourself driving the amp consistently at or above 50% you'll definately want to get something bigger.
 
Thanks again,
I really appreciate the help.

I'll be monitoring from within 2 feet of the speakers,so I'll probably never go past 50%.


Pete
 
Thanks again, I really appreciate the help.
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No problem. My good friend & drummer is getting into building low wattage tube amps and wants me to build speakers for 'em so I've been researching this stuff lately. ;)

My JBL near-fields are 89db and I've been driving 'em with a 40WPC stereo amp and can hit 90db at about 1/3 on the volume control at about 3' from the speakers. You really don't want to monitor at that level for extended periods. I usually keep 'em at about 80 most of the time and take frequent breaks. I need to keep what hearing I have left. :D
 
I need to keep what hearing I have left.
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I started wearing earplugs at work,construction,for the same reason.
Home Depot sells 50 packs of disposables for about $12.

Thanks again,
Pete

BTW-How hard is it to build your own moinitors?
 
muzeman said:
BTW-How hard is it to build your own moinitors?
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If you've got a table saw, router, drill and a soldering iron the construction is no problem. Getting 'em to be flat & accurate is the tricky part.;)

There are software programs for calculating the cross-overs and box sizes. A simple pair of small two-way bookshelf speakers would be a fun weekend project.

I'm looking at building some single drivers to use with tube amps under 10 watts. Some of the cabinetry for these things can get pretty elaborate.

Check out this site and some of the links to see what I mean. Some of the horn setups are downright bizarre! :D
 
muzeman said:
BTW-How hard is it to build your own moinitors?
Click to expand...
Designing your own monitors well is a very difficult task. This is something that requires deep understandings of acoustics and electronics, sophisticated test equipment, and mostly a lot of experience. If you wanted to design your own stereo speakers I say "go for it, jump right in!". But monitors are used for reference and therefore much more critical. I don't recommend designing them as your 1st, or even maybe your 10th project.

You can, however, build yourself some very nice monitors from plans and kits. You can build the cabinets yourself or even buy them. But don't count on getting something good for cheap. If you're just looking to save money on monitors that cost a few hundred dollars, this isn't the route to go. The mass produced monitors will always win in price. But if you're looking to get a very good set of monitors, say in the $2000+ range, you can save yourself a ton of money. A $600 to $1000 kit will get you into the performance range of monitors costing 2 or 3 times as much.

Here are couple links. http://www.zalytron.com/ http://www.speakercity.com/

I can recommend some kits or plans if you're interested.

barefoot

http://barefootsound.com
 
Thanks for that link to Zalytron, Barefoot. Hadn't found that one yet. Looks like they've got some drivers that would be perfect for my project. Pretty good prices too.
 
Wow,thanks very much guys!

I'm definatly going to check those sites out.
Kind of figured it would be beyond me.
(I do have a table saw though!):eek:

I've made my own cables,but don't have any test equippment.
Guess it can't hurt to look though.

Looks like I'll be buying a pair,what do you think of the Reveal/Sampson combo?
Is that the best bet for around$500?
I just want flat accuracy,(don't we all!)

Thanks again,
Pete
 
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