4 ohm Speaker to a 2 Ohm amp? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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m500
11-19-2005, 10:35 AM
What would happen when I installed a 4 ohm speaker to 2 ohm output?

For home system, if you have a 2 ohm out put Amp you'll be able to power almost any speaker out on the market. Due to 2 ohm amp will have no problem power any speaker rate at 4/6/8//16 ohm effort lessly. The only draw back is you might blown the speaker when playing too loud as 2 ohm output could be too much for it. But if you do the reverse to hook up a 2 ohm speaker to a 4 ohm amp then you'll running the risk of over heating your amp as now your amp will need to work twice as hard to push a 2 ohm speaker.

So, apply this logic its should be okay.

Anyone done it with your car that can give me more convincing reason of why I should not do it?

kexodusc
11-19-2005, 12:21 PM
You don't output ohms. 2 ohms mean it's stable delivering current to a 2 ohm load. I'm guessing you can use just about any conventional speaker with ths amp.

2 ohm speakers resist the current less than 4 ohms speakers, so the current is just gushing out of the amp...so much so that a 4 ohm amp rated amp is being over-stressed.

For your car, I'd just be curious to know if your battery can hack it.

m500
11-19-2005, 02:33 PM
You don't output ohms. 2 ohms mean it's stable delivering current to a 2 ohm load. I'm guessing you can use just about any conventional speaker with ths amp.

2 ohm speakers resist the current less than 4 ohms speakers, so the current is just gushing out of the amp...so much so that a 4 ohm amp rated amp is being over-stressed.

For your car, I'd just be curious to know if your battery can hack it.



All I'm doing is just replacing the OEM speaker. The OEM BOSE Head Unit its 2 ohm stable and so are the speakers. Its just so hard to find any Aftermarket speaker rated at 2 ohm at a decent price range.

This Guy
11-20-2005, 02:51 PM
It doesn't have to be 2 ohm, 4 ohm speakers will work just fine, it would just be 3 dB less efficient assuming both of the speakers are of the same sensitivity.

m500
11-20-2005, 02:58 PM
It doesn't have to be 2 ohm, 4 ohm speakers will work just fine, it would just be 3 dB less efficient assuming both of the speakers are of the same sensitivity.


Sorry, I didn't quite understand the 3 dB less efficient part. Can you elaborate on it a little bit?

I thought a 2ohm Amp would be able to power a 4 ohm speaker with the same sensitivity & power handling easier/louder.

markw
11-20-2005, 03:40 PM
Due to the laws of electricity, the amp won't deliver as much power to those 4 ohm speakers as it would to 2 ohm speakers.

As Judge Dredd would say "Da law is da law"!

Or, to put it another way, at the same volume settting as you used to use, they won't play as loud. Initially you may have to kerfutz with the balance/fader controls a bit. Once they're set you should be good to go.

On the positive side, the amp will be less stressed and be a lot happier.