amplifier needs


I am looking for an amp that will power 2 small outdoor speakers to a screened porch on one side of my home and also 2 small speakers in the pool area which is adjacent. The cable run is probably 25 feet in both directions. I've got a really nice Sansui G9000 at 160W that is a spare amp but I don't want to mess it up if the load would be beyond it's capability. Any suggestions you more knowledgeable guys might give me would be appreciated
markus1299
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Markus -- I couldn't find an impedance vs. frequency curve on those speakers. I did find this descriptive information, which might be of interest:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=70808

The fact that the low frequency driver has no crossover elements in series with it lessens my confidence that its impedance does not drop below significantly below 8 ohms over a significant part of the spectrum. So I would not hook them up in parallel to the G-9000.

If all four speakers are the same Presidian model you could try wiring them in series, and see how you like the sound. The main sonic consequence of the series connection, given that the speakers are identical, would be to bass damping, but they probably don't have much bass response anyway. Also, the maximum power available to each speaker would be reduced substantially, perhaps to 25% of the amplifier's capability (the nominal 160 watts reduced to 40 watts), because each speaker would see only half of the voltage being put out by the amplifier at any given instant.

Alternatively you could add a second amp as Bob has suggested, or else purchase an amp known to be able to drive low impedance loads. The older Adcom models (GFA-535, GFA-545, GFA-555, GFA-565 etc.) would do fine, and are not expensive. Also, probably any amp that can be strapped for use as a monoblock would do well, because a bridged mono amp sees a load equal to one-half of the speaker's impedance, and therefore presumably is designed to drive low impedances. Bridgeable amplifiers usually specify that nominally 8 ohm speakers should be used in bridged mode, as opposed to nominally 4 ohm speakers, btw.

Hope that helps,
-- Al
How loudly do you intend to play these extension speakers? If you won't be using the receiver at it's higher output capabilities; it's not going to have any "thermal runaway" issues. If you just intend to provide music at moderate volume levels, you'll never have to worry with them hooked in parallel(though hosting poolside disco reviews may require some rethinking). Then again; are there any children, with access to the volume knob, to be considered in the equation?