An amplifier that runs in the 2 - 4 ohm range - think of all that heat. Hook the amp up to an auto transformer's 4 ohm tap and hook a 8 ohm speaker to the 8 ohm tap. The amp's power the speaker should see would be the full power that the amp can deliever @4 ohms. now for my question: How can the speaker see the full power of the amp. What would happen if you hooked the speaker to the 16 ohm tap? This senero assumes that all the components power rattings are matched.
thanks for all your help gary
thanks for all your help gary
Gary:
I don't deal with output transformers much, but I think your question is basic.
An 8 ohm speaker hooked up to a 16 ohm tap would only be able to get half the power that it would get if it was hooked up to the 8 ohm tap.
It would only have half the current available at the 16 ohm tap that it did at the 8 ohm tap. Hence, half the power.
This is assuming the 8 ohm speaker is 8 ohms throughout it's playing range. Actually, most 8 ohms speakers have several spots in their frequency range where they are 16 ohms or more, but that is another story. Actually, we call it 8 ohms because in most cases, that is it's minimum impedance-the point at which it draws the most current.
I don't deal with output transformers much, but I think your question is basic.
An 8 ohm speaker hooked up to a 16 ohm tap would only be able to get half the power that it would get if it was hooked up to the 8 ohm tap.
It would only have half the current available at the 16 ohm tap that it did at the 8 ohm tap. Hence, half the power.
This is assuming the 8 ohm speaker is 8 ohms throughout it's playing range. Actually, most 8 ohms speakers have several spots in their frequency range where they are 16 ohms or more, but that is another story. Actually, we call it 8 ohms because in most cases, that is it's minimum impedance-the point at which it draws the most current.
As he says, a speakers impedence is not a single value -- in almost all cases it varies fairly broadly, from its peak at resonance, which will be higher than the stated value, to much lower than that. So your idea may not be as easily applicable as you hope.
But two other thoughts: running signals through transformers changes them and not for the better -- which is why some moving coil users go to the hassle of head amps, and why very few transistor amps are run through transformers, even though transistors hate the complex loads that some speakers present (macintosh is the only company I know of that used them, and they were using their bifilar transformers, which presented fewer problems than regular ones).
And: transformers get hot in use -- wouldn't you simply be producing heat from two sources rather than one?
But two other thoughts: running signals through transformers changes them and not for the better -- which is why some moving coil users go to the hassle of head amps, and why very few transistor amps are run through transformers, even though transistors hate the complex loads that some speakers present (macintosh is the only company I know of that used them, and they were using their bifilar transformers, which presented fewer problems than regular ones).
And: transformers get hot in use -- wouldn't you simply be producing heat from two sources rather than one?
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