16 ohm speakers to 8 ohm amp?

Max is confused, everyone else is correct. What EBS is trying to tell you is that the amp is not, "8 ohm". It is near zero ohms. The ohm rating on an amplifier is actually a current rating but instead of being expressed in amps it's expressed in "minimum ohm" to make it easier for you to understand the information. You can use any speaker rated 8 ohms or above on your amplifier.

The difference is that you can get as much as a 50% power reduction. For example, 2.83 volts across 8 ohms produces 1 watt. The same 2.83 volts across 16 ohms produces 1/2 watt. Due to the lighter loading the amplifier will be able to put a slightly higher voltage into the 16 ohm load so the actual loss will be somewhat less than 50%. Assuming the an 8 ohm speaker and a 16 ohm speaker have the same sensitivity rating the 16 ohm speaker will play - 3 dB softer than the 8 ohm. Speaker sensitivity varies dramatically however. Take an old Altec A7 "Voice of the Theatre" with 16 ohm drivers and it will play a good +10 dB louder than the typical 8 ohm home theatre speaker. So don't worry about the slight loss in power, it takes a 10x power increase/decrease to seem like a double or half in volume.

With 16 ohms your amplifier will run cooler and if anything, have a greater life expectancy than if it were powering 8 ohm speakers. So, if these speakers sound, good just enjoy!

mk

You can connect 16 Ohms speakers to an amp that it's specified for 8 Ohms. You will get lower max power from the amp. Amps output a voltage, up to a fixed max, independent on the speaker impedance. Example: Max Amp Voltage=64 volts; Power=Voltage^2/Ohms; so for 8 Ohms speaker, Power would be 64^2/8=4096/8=512 watts. With the same voltage but 16 Ohms speaker, Power would be 64^2/16=4096/16=256 watts. The opposite, using 4 Ohms speakers, may be less desirable, because although you'll get higher power the amp will have to be capable of higher current, and some of them are not. The impedance of the speaker cannot be changed, it is composed of the resistance of the voice-coil copper wire and inductance of the voice-coil in the presence of a magnetic field. It varies with frequency, but what matters is the "nominal" impedance.

16 Ohm Speaker

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RE:

16 ohm speakers to 8 ohm amp?

I just bought a front pair home theater speakers but i just noticed they are at 16 ohms while my amp is at 8 ohms. I've plugged them in and played some music and movies and they sound great and no distortion of what i can hear at high decibels.

But my question is, can i damage my amp with...

I just bought a pair of amplified speakers for my Laptop Computer. The speaker driver is rated at 8-ohms. My user guide says minimum is 16-ohms. Could this hurt my computer amp? How about if I always keep master volume down to say 50% or less? I just need to know if I should return speakers or not.

If the ohms were LOWER than 8 you could damage the amp - if the ohms are HIGHER you are fine. Higher ohms will just not play as loud for a given volume setting.

Do not re-wire your speakers.

Daniel is absolutely right. Besides if they sound great, that's a good sign that there is no problem.

16 Ohm speakers can't draw too much current from the amp, & that's the thing that causes damage.

The loudspeaker has an input impedance of 16 ohms or 8 ohms.

But there is no amplifier on the market which has an output impedance of 8 ohms.

All power amplifiers have an output impedance of less than 0.1 Ohms.

Help: "Audio amplifier's output impedance - Wikipedia":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Output_impedance#Audi...

There is much to learn: "Amplifier, Loudspeaker, and Ohms - How do they work together?":

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-AmplifierL...

Cheers ebs

Yes you can damage them, wire them in parrallel that should do the trick.

2 16ohm speakers in parrallel = 8ohm load