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Impdence Question

In experimenting with an unusual loudspeaker enclosure for which only a certain high-end car speakers fit the design criteria, there is concern about their low impedance damaging the amplifier. Driver impedance ranges from 2.8 ohms to 3.4 ohms. Will this do harm? And if several speakers are used in a 5.1 surround setup, does this increase the load and the chance of damage?

If the low impedance is indeed risky, is their any means of raising it perhaps by placing something in the chain (other than wiring a pair together for series or parallel operation)?

Thank you in advance.
silas
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,445 posts
 
Duke - I'm leaning toward your view. I think that my previous experience with in-series woofer connection might have to do with other factors. One of them is doubling inductance in the circuit while another is getting stronger resonanses since they might be slightly different, power being proportional to square of the increased voltage on the speaker.

As for "winning" - I have met here many "scientists" with extremely high credentials that prevented them from learning.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
I tend to agree with Duke - the electrical aspect of wiring up two woofers is not such a big deal.

To me the issue is the problem of precise driver matching and the backwave acoustic coupling in the box and the fact that two small woofers with two small voice coils rarely perform like a big bad boy woofer with a massive 4 inch VC. For starters the big VC is going to dissipate heat much more easily due to the larger surface area. The other issue is lobing - by separating the drivers spatially then you run into this problem at lower frequencies than a single driver - this can cause a reduction in reflected energy at certain specific frequencies.
silas OP
7 posts
 
Thanks you for the responses. Yes, I am basically locked down to car audio drivers for this application, with the one exception of some Israeli made drivers which the manufacturer has opted not to supply.

I have no intent or need to wire multiple drivers on a single channel but going over the topic of series/parallel wiring again was interesting.

A separate question: I am attempting to source the binding posts on the Morel Soundspot speakers. They appear to be rather conventional brass posts, but they are smaller, more compact. Any suggestions?

Cheers all
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