I am in dire need of help. I am preparing for a graduate art thesis show and am running out of time.
From a portable cd player (external power supply of 4.5V), I am trying to play sound through a string of salvaged, low watt speakers, each 8 ohms. I first wired them in parallels and no sound came through. I was then advised to balance the load by wiring them in 4 groups of 4, wired through series, then those 4 groups wired in parallel to my cd jack. still, no sound. do I need an amp? (I am a newbie and have never wired my own amps...)
I have gotten a range of mixed advice-- anyone feel confident a/b how to problem solve this?
From a portable cd player (external power supply of 4.5V), I am trying to play sound through a string of salvaged, low watt speakers, each 8 ohms. I first wired them in parallels and no sound came through. I was then advised to balance the load by wiring them in 4 groups of 4, wired through series, then those 4 groups wired in parallel to my cd jack. still, no sound. do I need an amp? (I am a newbie and have never wired my own amps...)
I have gotten a range of mixed advice-- anyone feel confident a/b how to problem solve this?
Yes, you need a power amp to drive the loudspeakers. If you're feeling adventurous, then have a look in the Chip Amp forum for some easy to build projects, or pop down to your local charity/thrift store and buy a cheap hifi amp, as long as you don't need it too loud, just about anything will do.
I agree with pinkmouse, you do need an amplifier, but there must be something else your overlooking as well. Almost any CD players headphone output will produce some level of sound into a 8ohm load, even if it is of very low volume or even distorted. If there is absolutely no sound at all, of any kind, I would check your wiring and/or hook up a pair of headphones to see if the output is even working.
the portable cd player output should be enough to drive a small speakers like ones used in our mobile phones.
check first. connect your headphone to your pcdp, make sure you have sound. a very loud sound must be obtained by turning the volume up. then you will be fine.
next the output jack have 3 terminals L, R and Ground. for your left speaker you connect it with L and Ground, for your right speaker you connect it with R and Ground.
If you get almost no sound, change your speakers to a smaller ones.
or add an amplifier. 🙂
check first. connect your headphone to your pcdp, make sure you have sound. a very loud sound must be obtained by turning the volume up. then you will be fine.
next the output jack have 3 terminals L, R and Ground. for your left speaker you connect it with L and Ground, for your right speaker you connect it with R and Ground.
If you get almost no sound, change your speakers to a smaller ones.
or add an amplifier. 🙂
the output is definitely working. and three speakers will work, but I'm wanting to use more than that to play off of one cd player but, did i balance my load correctly by wiring these small (.5 watt) speakers in 4 groups of 4 series-wired, then the last those 4 groups parallel-wired to the positive and negative wires that feed into my jack. I have 16 of these small i ohm speakers. i hope i'm being clear. I still am not understanding why they're not playing-- there's nothing wrong with these speakers, and it's not a volume issue. if i do get an amp, what voltage should i get-- b/c wouldn't too large of one endanger blowing out the speakers?
thanks so much for your time in answering me!
thanks so much for your time in answering me!
hellofarmers said:
You will get max level if you wire ALL of your 16 8-ohms speakers in series. Anyway, if you have *absolutely no* sound in any wiring setup, you are doing something wrong.
Jan Didden
- go to pawn store / thrift shop and get amplifier for $20
- look at back panel of amplifier, it will say "8 Ohms speakers"
- wire your speakers in series/parallel to get 8 or 16 ohms
example : if you have 4 speakers, make 2 strings of 2 speakers in series (16 ohms) and wire the 2 strings in parallel (8 ohms).
if it says 0.5W on the speakers, you can always measure the voltage on one of the speakers with a voltmeter while playing a sine wave and put a big sticker on the volume control "don't go past there", lol.
But it should be OK.
- look at back panel of amplifier, it will say "8 Ohms speakers"
- wire your speakers in series/parallel to get 8 or 16 ohms
example : if you have 4 speakers, make 2 strings of 2 speakers in series (16 ohms) and wire the 2 strings in parallel (8 ohms).
if it says 0.5W on the speakers, you can always measure the voltage on one of the speakers with a voltmeter while playing a sine wave and put a big sticker on the volume control "don't go past there", lol.
But it should be OK.
$20? That's a bit extravagant. Pick a vintage Pioneer receiver off a trash pile for free. Buy a pair of vintage KLH model 17 speakers at the thrift store for $5.99 a pair. (Should have been cheaper, because it was half-price day, but the checkout lady didn't believe the speakers were priced per pair.) Buy a 1/8" to phono cable at the dollar store. Cut cords off abandoned appliances and use them for speaker cable.
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