R50 CS1 Impedance
marceloculotta
Posts: 4
I recently installed a CS1 as my center speaker and sent my amp to the protected mode a couple of times before I decide to check its impedance. To my surprise, it is a 4 ohm speaker and the specs only state "compatible with 8 ohm systems". I thought I could be wrong so I measured every speaker in my home and most of them were 8 ohm as clearly specified in their manufacturers label except for the R50s which again resulted 4 ohm speakers.
For some reason, there is no impedance or power rating in my CS1 nor in my R50s.
I would appreciate if someone could measure the impedance of the CS1 and/or the R50s to verify my results.
I decided to keep the CS1 and for that I used a matching transformer for my center channel that is 8 ohm only. The R50s worked fine without any adaptation because my front channel accepts 4 to 8 ohm speakers.
For some reason, there is no impedance or power rating in my CS1 nor in my R50s.
I would appreciate if someone could measure the impedance of the CS1 and/or the R50s to verify my results.
I decided to keep the CS1 and for that I used a matching transformer for my center channel that is 8 ohm only. The R50s worked fine without any adaptation because my front channel accepts 4 to 8 ohm speakers.
Post edited by marceloculotta on
Comments
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The specs page says the CS1 and the R50 both have a nominal impedance of 8 ohms...
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Thank you RandyBox...
Online it says that, but both manuals say "compatible with" 8 ohm systems.
Since the CS1 was pulling enough current to get my amp to shut itself off, I decided to measure the impedance and I came up with 4 ohms. I used a 2x matching transformer and the problem dissapeared.
Since I could not believe that the specs were wrong I measured about five different speakers from Pioneer, Technics, Fender, Sony...al measured 8 ohms as stated in their labels, except for my R50s...again 4 ohms. That is why I asked for someone to verify my results. My CS1 and R50s have serial numbers, but no ratings at all in their labels. They are great speakers for what I paid for them, but I find that kind of strange...you need at least impedance and power handling in a speaker.
Thank you for your response. -
I just checked the online PDF for the CS1..."compatible with 8 ohm systems" in every language, except for English...it says 8 watt systems...another mistake I guess.
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This prob won't help that much, but I'm pretty sure it's not the only oddball 4 ohm center in Polk's lineup. The R-matched CSi25 is also 4 ohm, though it's not listed specifically as such ("compatible with 8 ohm is what this site says). I guess the CS1 is another such item. I can imagine lots of people buying these more affordable R and Monitor series (myself included, but I don't need a center) do not have receivers that can handle such current draws. Strange.
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Thank for your response you McCelery!
What I find strange is that they do not list the speaker's specs clearly in the user manual and the speaker itself comes with model and serial number...no impedance...no max power.
It is true that the impedance of the speaker varies with frequency...that is why it is usually listed as NOMINAL IMPEDANCE...they sound great if connected properly and the price is very good. The lower the impedance...the higher the current...it could blow your amp...worst case would be a short circuit = 0 ohms...from 8 ohms to 4 ohms you get twice the current...something to consider because you double the power.
