Is there anything higher than 8 Ohm speakers?

Dominick22 · 6th January 2006, 08:00 PM

I was wondering why 8 Ohms seems to be the starting point form resistance into a speaker?? Can there be a 10 Ohm or even higher Ohm speaker?

I was thinking that a speaker with a greater Ohm rating would be easier for my LM4780 amplifier to push??? Am I right?

Dominick in New Jersey

TerryO · 7th January 2006, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dominick22
I was wondering why 8 Ohms seems to be the starting point form resistance into a speaker?? Can there be a 10 Ohm or even higher Ohm speaker?

I was thinking that a speaker with a greater Ohm rating would be easier for my LM4780 amplifier to push??? Am I right?

Dominick in New Jersey

Dominick,
Back in the bad old days of tubes there were many speakers that had higher Ohm specs, 16 ohms wasn't all that unusual. My focused arrays are series/parallel wired and measure 9.9 Ohms across the terminals. I have a LM4780 chip amp (a custom job by Kevin Haskins) and these sound very good indeed. At the Seattle DIY Meet held at Adire last October, we used the 4780 in the upstairs room for most of the day and none of the builders requested a change to another amp. I really don't see any advantage to any speaker over 8 Ohms, at least with SS amps. With Tubes, YMMV.
Best Regards,
TerryO

el`Ol · 7th January 2006, 03:43 AM

PHY-HP drivers are 16 Ohm. And as far as I know 16 Ohm (and high sensitivity) are essential for the 6C33 OTL (transformerless) amplifier concepts.

Paul Dimaline · 7th January 2006, 08:47 AM

Scan Speak have a 16ohm mid-bass, here.

Scottmoose · 7th January 2006, 09:12 AM

Once upon a time, Phillips made, I believe, an 800ohm (!) 12" wide-range / full-range driver. It was mentioned on the Single Driver Site when Herbert Jeschke stuffed some into a pair of 8" tall 'Voigt Pipes' (P.G.A.H. Voigt must be spinning in his grave -see here if you want to look at them: to be fair, thy certainly look impressive! http://melhuish.org/audio/oswaldsmill.html).
Now, I take that value with about a ton of salt, but you get the idea. The original, legendary BBC LS3/5a was nominally rated at 15ohms; it's computer-optimised second varient (which Harbeth reckon really should have been called the LS3/5b, so many changes were made) was rated at 11ohms. So yes, indeed you can get higher. 8ohms is the most common, though that doesn't necessarily mean they will be!

Best
Scott

Geek · 7th January 2006, 10:10 AM

There's a WR125 that's 16 ohms.

el`Ol · 7th January 2006, 10:56 AM

If you are interested in really bad drivers you can get a 750 Ohm Freischwinger from the thirties/ fourties. Probably they were only used to let Adolf sound rrrrrreally horrrrrrible.

Scottmoose · 7th January 2006, 11:38 AM

The worst driver I ever came across was a big, 10" bextrene job from 1976 or thereabouts I think. 12ohm, 82db sensitivity, and about as rigid as a politician's morals. The sound... well, you know the frequent complaint about plastic cones was that they 'quacked'? This thing sounded like a country pond full of mallards. Needed 200wpc to say boo to a goose (or another duck for that matter.) Unutterably vile.

Cal Weldon · 8th January 2006, 06:35 PM

A number of PA drivers come in 16 ohm

dnsey · 8th January 2006, 06:55 PM

Many early transistor radios were fitted with 25 - 35 Ohm speakers, to avoid the need for an output transformer. Academic really nowadays and in a Hi-Fi context

6th January 2006, 08:00 PM	#1
Dominick22 diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2005	Is there anything higher than 8 Ohm speakers? I was wondering why 8 Ohms seems to be the starting point form resistance into a speaker?? Can there be a 10 Ohm or even higher Ohm speaker? I was thinking that a speaker with a greater Ohm rating would be easier for my LM4780 amplifier to push??? Am I right? Dominick in New Jersey __________________ A real amateur enthusiast!

8th January 2006, 06:35 PM	#9
Cal Weldon Speakerholic diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: British Columbia	A number of PA drivers come in 16 ohm __________________ Next stop: Margaritaville Some of Cal's stuff \| Cal Weldon Consulting

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7th January 2006, 03:43 AM	#3
el`Ol diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Bavarian Forest	PHY-HP drivers are 16 Ohm. And as far as I know 16 Ohm (and high sensitivity) are essential for the 6C33 OTL (transformerless) amplifier concepts.

7th January 2006, 08:47 AM	#4
Paul Dimaline diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Lincolnshire, UK	Scan Speak have a 16ohm mid-bass, here.

7th January 2006, 09:12 AM	#5
Scottmoose diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK	Once upon a time, Phillips made, I believe, an 800ohm (!) 12" wide-range / full-range driver. It was mentioned on the Single Driver Site when Herbert Jeschke stuffed some into a pair of 8" tall 'Voigt Pipes' (P.G.A.H. Voigt must be spinning in his grave -see here if you want to look at them: to be fair, thy certainly look impressive! http://melhuish.org/audio/oswaldsmill.html). Now, I take that value with about a ton of salt, but you get the idea. The original, legendary BBC LS3/5a was nominally rated at 15ohms; it's computer-optimised second varient (which Harbeth reckon really should have been called the LS3/5b, so many changes were made) was rated at 11ohms. So yes, indeed you can get higher. 8ohms is the most common, though that doesn't necessarily mean they will be! Best Scott

7th January 2006, 10:10 AM	#6
Geek diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2004	There's a WR125 that's 16 ohms.

7th January 2006, 10:56 AM	#7
el`Ol diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Bavarian Forest	If you are interested in really bad drivers you can get a 750 Ohm Freischwinger from the thirties/ fourties. Probably they were only used to let Adolf sound rrrrrreally horrrrrrible.

7th January 2006, 11:38 AM	#8
Scottmoose diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK	The worst driver I ever came across was a big, 10" bextrene job from 1976 or thereabouts I think. 12ohm, 82db sensitivity, and about as rigid as a politician's morals. The sound... well, you know the frequent complaint about plastic cones was that they 'quacked'? This thing sounded like a country pond full of mallards. Needed 200wpc to say boo to a goose (or another duck for that matter.) Unutterably vile.

8th January 2006, 06:55 PM	#10
dnsey diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Shropshire, England	Many early transistor radios were fitted with 25 - 35 Ohm speakers, to avoid the need for an output transformer. Academic really nowadays and in a Hi-Fi context