4ohm Speaker / Amp Question

 

Jakeandthefatman
Unregistered guest
Hi,
I have some large Infinity Home speakers rated at 4 ohms. There are many power amps rated out there that are 100 wpc at 8 ohm and 200 wpc @ 4 ohm. If I hook one of these power amps to these speakers, will the amp automatically be putting out the 200 wpc @ 4 ohm because they are hooked up to a 4 ohm floor standing speaker?

Thanks
Jason
 

Anonymous
 
I have the same exact question... Been trying to figure it out myself. In reading elsewhere on the site it appears that it is pretty important to match the impendance between speakers and receiver.
 

J. Vigne
Unregistered guest
In theory your amp should double its power when the impedance load is halved and half its power when the load is doubled. The problem arises in the real world use of speakers and amplifiers. Not all amps can perform up to spec in a real world situation. Particularly when the impedance load is lowered. No speaker will remain at a constant load over its entire frequency bandwith. A 4 Ohm speaker will undoudtedly fall lower than 4 Ohms at some point and may be as low as 1.5 - 2 Ohms at some point. This is a difficult load that most amps will not tolerate and could lead to failure of components. Combine this with the nature of a speaker to also rise in impedance (particularly at the frequency of the port tuning) and you have an example of a speaker that few amps can adequately drive.

See "defintions and descriptions" under the "Speaker" portion of this forum for more information on impedance and the effects on an amplifier.
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