Watts and Ohms

swb502

Hello All!

Its been a long time since physics 101 and I need some help with the relationship between amp and speaker. I was using this site to try and help myself along but it hasn’t really answered my question directly:

http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

If I have say 2 Polk Lsi9 speakers, with 4 ohms, and wire them in series, that puts both at 8 ohms. So say I have a Emotiva xpa-1 that is rated at 500 watts per channel at 8 ohm and put those two Lsi9s on it. Is each speaker getting 250 watts then? Will the speakers or the amp be destroyed or is this within tolerances? Will the sound in both speakers get distorted because of the extra load?

Thanks for all the help!

TNRabbit

What you are saying is correct. Each speaker COULD get up to 250 watts, all things being equal. Doesn't mean you have to run them at the ragged edge, though...

TECHNOKID

swb502 wrote: »

Hello All!

Its been a long time since physics 101 and I need some help with the relationship between amp and speaker. I was using this site to try and help myself along but it hasn’t really answered my question directly:

http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

If I have say 2 Polk Lsi9 speakers, with 4 ohms, and wire them in series, that puts both at 8 ohms. So say I have a Emotiva xpa-1 that is rated at 500 watts per channel at 8 ohm and put those two Lsi9s on it. Is each speaker getting 250 watts then? Will the speakers or the amp be destroyed or is this within tolerances? Will the sound in both speakers get distorted because of the extra load?

Thanks for all the help!

Yes, your power should be fairly distributed between the 2 speakers. However, with speakers you are talking impedance not resistance and it reacts differently at various frequencies ideally, you should demo and see if the end results pleases you. As far as the amp, no risk of damage as long as you hook-up in series not in paralell.

By the way, welcome to CP swb502