Generally, if you connect a 4-ohm speaker or lower to an amplifier with a higher impedance rating, there is an increased risk of ruining the amplifier hot or causing damage. It is therefore important that speaker ratings are matched with those of amplifiers to avoid damaging the amplifier circuits. Besides, doing this is more likely to result in poor sound quality as a result of increased distortion. As we already mentioned, speakers with lower impedance ratings will draw much more power from the amplifier compared to those with higher impedance levels.
A 6-ohm speaker, therefore, requires more power and will draw more current from an amp than an 8-ohm speaker to yield a similar loudness of sound. This means if you have a low power amp, a 8 ohm speaker is less likely to bow it than a 6 ohm speaker and a 8 ohm speaker will likely perform better.
This is because it is less likely to struggle for power. This current and impedance relationship occurs between resistance, current, and voltage in electrical circuits where, for any particular voltage, a lower resistance or impedance means a higher current. This is ohms law.
On the other hand, power is a function of current and voltage. The higher the current, the higher the power. Therefore, if you want to provide more current to the speaker, the amplifier to which the speaker is connected must have higher wattage or power rating. Amplifiers are rated just the same way as we rate speakers. We, therefore, have 4 ohms, 6 ohms, 8 ohms, and many more amplifier output impedance ratings. These are meant to be matched with speaker impedance ratings for maximum performance.
Therefore, if you have a 4-ohm speaker, you will need to connect it to 4-ohm amplifier output. A 6-ohm speaker requires a 6-ohm amp and an 8-ohm amp an 8-ohm speaker and so forth. This speaker-amplifier matching is very important as it helps both electrical devices to operate optimally and be able to deliver maximum audio quality. It causes sound distortion which leads to poor sound quality and introduces more chances of damaging circuits of the amplifier.
The problem is more aggravated when you listen to loud music because of the increased power demand. Now that you understand how speaker impedance affects their interaction with amplifiers, separate them in terms of which one is better. However, as already mentioned, the amount of ohms or impedance ratings of a speaker is just a value that generally determines how much current the speaker draws from an amplifier and not how much sound it delivers nor the quality of sound. This doubling of sound intensity increases loudness by 3 decibels.
More speakers mean more air displaced, which results in more volume. More bass does not necessarily mean better bass. The power is determined by the wattage of the subwoofer in question, where a higher wattage demonstrates a more powerful subwoofer. Higher volume means asking the amplifier for more power.
If it is unable to provide enough, your speakers will distort. If speakers are a low build quality, they can easily be damaged at high volumes, regardless of the amount of power from the amplifier.
As volume increases, the drivers extend further and faster. Speaker crackling is almost always caused by a connection problem.
The first thing to do is to check the wire connections between the amplifier and the terminals on the speaker itself. Clipping occurs when more power is required from an amplifier then it is able to deliver. This occurs when the highest and lowest points of the sound wave are cut — or clipped — off. When the audio signal becomes distorted in this manner, not only does the sound suffer, speaker systems can be damaged by clipping.
Facts about clipping: Any clipped signal can potentially damage a speaker. It does not matter whether the mixer, amplifier, or any other piece of audio equipment clips the signal in the system.
Damage can occur even when the amplifier is not at full output. If a loudspeaker is clipping, for example, the phenomenon can be aurally understood as distortion or break-up. Physically, if a loudspeaker remains in a clipping state for too long, there is potential for damage to occur due to overheating. The reason we care, beyond it sounding bad, is that our speakers have physical components that react to the audio signal. You might want your system to be at least 10 dB above the background noise level to achieve a good signal-to-noise ratio.
The calculations discussed here apply to anechoic or outdoor conditions. If the sound system is inside a venue, the room reverberation will increase the SPL typically by 6 dB. You can use this room gain as extra headroom. Suppose you need to supply watts for peaks, and your speaker's continuous power handling is watts. A speaker's peak power handling is typically 4 times its continuous power handling. So the speaker can probably handle watts peak.
That means you can use a watt amplifier to drive that speaker -- as long as you use that power for peaks, and do not drive the speaker continuously with watts. In other words, don't turn up the amp so high that it clips. What if your sound system uses an active crossover and a separate power-amp channel for each driver?
Apply the calculator to each driver type. Say you have a 3-way system. Determine the power separately for the subs, midrange drivers and high-frequency drivers. All three types of driver should produce the same SPL at the same distance. Note that horn-loaded drivers tend to have much higher sensitivity than subwoofers, so the horns need less power to produce the same SPL as the subs.
Suppose your sound system has multiple loudspeakers that extend into the audience area. For example: an outdoor festival with speaker clusters on delays every feet, or a set of ceiling-mounted speakers. Apply the calculator to each nearby speaker cluster or speaker. Once you know how much power you need, you can select a Crown amplifier from this list. There is some overlap in this list because each power amplifier produces different amounts of power depending on the load impedance.
You might want to choose an amplifier that has more power than you need in case you expand your applications. Also, it's wise to specify a little more power than you need. You can always turn down a power amp if the system is too loud, but you can't turn up a power amp past maximum if the system is too quiet! With the tools and advice in this article, you should be able to purchase or recommend a power amplifier with the right amount of wattage for the style of music and venue.
Howard W. In that same issue, Pat Brown wrote an article on amplifier power calculation. At Crown, we often are asked similar questions, and this article will provide some answers.
How much power can my speakers handle? Power vs. Application This section will suggest how big a power amplifier you need to fill a venue with loud, clear sound. The recommended power allows for signal peaks of 10 dB for folk, jazz and pop music. Actually the peaks might be as high as 25 dB, but we're allowing for some inaudible short-term clipping.
The recommended power allows for signal peaks of 6 dB for rock music that is highly limited or compressed. According to Crown's chief amplifier engineer, Gerald Stanley, amplifier continuous power and amplifier peak power are nearly the same. Typically, peak power is only 1 dB higher than continuous power, and depends on peak duration. Power Calculator On the Crown website is a calculator that determines the amplifier power required to achieve the desired SPL at a certain distance.
Click on the following link to go to Crown's power calculator: Calculator To use that calculator, you need to know the loudspeaker sensitivity, peak headroom, listener distance, and the desired SPL.
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