Ohms getting the most clarity?

[kdrm]

Does it affect the way your speakers sound, or their performance if you run 4ohm speakers at 2ohms. I'm running a set of comps and a set of coaxials off of 2 channels. Dropping the amp to a 2 ohm load. Also how does this work with subs?

[CBFryman]

The only thing it can do T/S wise is change the BL and posibly the Qts. as for the amp. running at 2 ohm may make it easyer for the amp to clip in order to produce the extra wattage. but if you have even a decent quality amp this wont happen

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by CBFryman

The only thing it can do T/S wise is change the BL and posibly the Qts. as for the amp. running at 2 ohm may make it easyer for the amp to clip in order to produce the extra wattage. but if you have even a decent quality amp this wont happen

It would only change the BL and Re (not Qts) if you're talking about a dvc speaker being wired in parallel vs series, and when you factor in the change in current the power of the motor still works out the same even with the change in BL. When you're talking about 2 different speakers being wired together then nothing will change as far as the speakers go. The amp will have a higher level of distortion due to the extra current and stress on the internal components, not because of clipping (easier to clip? that makes absolutely no sense), but this extra distortion will still most likely be inaudible so it doesn't really matter.

The main things to keep in mind are that your amp will run hotter, and you will lose the ability to fade if you attach both sets in parallel on a single pair of channels.

[Diceman83]

How does going the other direction affect sound quality? (i.e. doing a Dual 4Ohm VC in series for 8Ohms) I don't have my wiring yet, so I can't try it out, but that's what I think I'm going to have to do. My amp is too cheap to do bridged 2 Ohm.

[sr20de4evr]

Like I said above, the load your amp sees doesn't affect the sound quality, at least not enough to be noticeable. To list everything that happens when you wire to 1/4 the load, so from 8ohm down to 2ohm (just reverse for wiring to a higher load)...

THD is quadrupled
damping factor is cut in fourth
amp runs hotter
efficiency drops
speaker's inductance, BL, and Re are cut

the damping factor and inductance changes sort of cancel each other out (lower inductance is good, lower df isn't), the BL change doesn't really matter because it works out the same, the Re change is actually what you're trying to change with the change in wiring, the THD difference will be way too low to be audible, the only real effect that you'll notice is the amp running hotter. Again if you're talking about running the amp at a higher impedance then you can just reverse everything listed.

[CBFryman]

Sorry, i was htinking of ampere's. if the power supply cant keep up with the extra amperes flowing it will distort. which isnt relaly clipping but if iti s bad enough it may audiable.

[ngsm13]

Good info in this thread!

I could type a long explanation, but basically it would say what's said on www.bcae1.com it's a "technical" but understandable explanation check it out under resistance and ohm's law on the site!

NG

[CBFryman]

i think we should all just stop giving adivice and let SR20 do it because even if we think we are right in our daze od stereo knowledge he comes back and says what we ment to say or where saying in our heads but not our hands.