Hi All! I am a relative newbie to electronics so am asking for some thoughts. I have a Yamaha 7.1 receiver working fine and it has the ability to send audio to separate zones ( I guess a variation of Speaker A or B). It is recommended that the speaker impedance be 8 ohm. I found a set of 3 Pioneer speakers (accessory set to make a centre and back pair) at a garage sale for $10 and checked one and it was 8 ohm. Got home to find the other 2 were 16 ohm. I remember reading on the net somewhere that “high will fly, low will blow” so do I just connect the 2 16 ohm speakers up and see how they sound? I’m not looking for hifi as this zone is just for background music in my outdoor undercover bbq area. Elsewhere on the net I read that I could install a 16 ohm resistor in parallel across the terminals to give a nominal 8 ohm impedance. Any suggestions much appreciated. Cheers, Tony
Hi Tony,
The important thing to remember is what you are measuring. Impedance is an AC measurement, resistance is DC. I assume you are using an ohm meter to measure the speakers (or you are just reading the spec). However, given that most of these systems are common design and construction, you would likely be just fine hooking them up and running it. A minor difference would not cause any harm in that case. I recall when I was younger (before I knew electronics) I had a receiver that I had hooked up 3 sets of speakers. 3 on the left, 3 on the right. All different speakers on the same A channel, this was grossly under the recommended impedance causing high power consumption had I ran it at higher power. The key was I did not run it at a high volume, so it never ran hot or overloaded anything. I also believe that it had adjustable output impedance so check if yours does. Either way, 16 ohm speakers would not cause an issue in your case wanting 8.
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Hi @radtekman, Many thanks for your comments. The impedance is noted on the speakers and the resistance without current was roughly the same. I think I will just hook them up and see how it goes. Cheers, Tony