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Can you make an amp see a 4 ohm load from an 8 ohm speaker?????


dachuckster

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Sounds like dumb question, problem is i have a marshall Mg series practice amp w/ a 12" speaker. It is a four ohm speaker (amp at 4 ohms) and needs replacement. I have several 8 ohm speakers and have heard of car audio installers using caps or resistors on speaker connections to increase or decrease the load an amp sees.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

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I'm pretty sure you can use a 8 ohm with a 4 ohm load and it wont fry. but an 8 ohm load with a 4 ohm cab...bad news. you can push uphill, but not down. I read that in a GW a while back (I knew they'd come in usefull for something...)

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It is safe to use an 8 Ohm speaker on a solid state amp to replace an 4 Ohm. You'll get less output. See how it works with the speaker that you have, you may decide its OK. There's no point in adding resistors in this case.

I have a little 10W MG10, which has an 8 Ohm speaker. I often run it through a 16 Ohm cab and its fine - and still loud.

The above would not be true if it were a tube amp. Then you'd need to match the Ohms.

John

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The half wattage statement is approximately correct.

(the approximate part is due to a few other factors such as teh power supplys ability to deliver current - you may therefore get slightly more than half)

The amp can produce a certain voltage output, dependent on not clipping to the power supply levels.

Power = voltage x current = voltage x (voltage / resistance)

So for a given max voltage swing from the amp, doubling the resistance halves the power.

Its only a 3db drop in audible loudness, which is not all that much in practice.

here endeth the lesson

John

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half the wattage, from 4 to 8 ohms. ? .
:freak:

.


man, you are way off bro.


goodnight.



you're way off. that's why amps are rated at a certain wattage with a certain impedance. if you double the impedance, you half the wattage, and if you half the impedance, you double the wattage.

there is a lot of debate about the pros and cons of impedance mismatching. all i can say is, try what you have...if you like it, keep it. if you think it sounds bad, (or worse than before) get an exact replacement.

tube amps can take impedance mismatches just as well as solid state...if not a bit better. just make sure that the cab impedance is more than the load selector on the amp...a 16 ohm cab will not harm an amp set to 4 ohms.

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