Speaker - Amplifier matching and other matters

[god2007]

I am a novice on these matters. Hence Please answer these questions in detail.

1. What are the technical factors to be looked for when buying and connecting speakers and amplifiers ?

2. Apart from impedance matching how the power difference will affect the performance ?

3. What will be the effects of unmatching speaker - amplifier pairs ? like a 250W speaker is connected to an amplifier of 100W and vice versa ? Which have the possibility of damage due to the mismatch ? speaker or amp ?

4. What will be the effects of more than two speakers are connected to one amplifier output ? Say two 250W speakers to a 500W amp ( same channel).

I do not have any brands or makes in my mind. These questions are mainly to know more of these topics.

 

[shanmune]

I am a novice on these matters. Hence Please answer these questions in detail.

1. What are the technical factors to be looked for when buying and connecting speakers and amplifiers ?

Impedance rating of the speakers is the first thing to be checked. Only few amplifiers do support speakers with impedance around 4 ohms. Amplifiers specification will have a row specifying a set of impedance values it can support.

[2. Apart from impedasometimes.nce matching how the power difference will affect the performance ?

Ideally the max output power of the amplifier should be around 1 to 1.5 times more of the speaker's rated power. At the same time, we may not be able to get that idealistic combination In that case, many people recommend 50:50 price ratio between the amplifier price and the speaker price. Let's say - the amplifier power is 'X' and the speaker power is 'Y', then make sure that X/Y is less than 2 if X is greater than Y. If X is lesser than Y, make sure Y/X is less than 2. Again this is recommened setting and not a strict rule.

[3. What will be the effects of unmatching speaker - amplifier pairs ? like a 250W speaker is connected to an amplifier of 100W and vice versa ? Which have the possibility of damage due to the mismatch ? speaker or amp ?

If the speaker is a power angry speaker and the amplifier is a low power rated one, then you would see sound clipping. If there is a impedance mismatch (let's say the speaker impedance is very less), then you may end up buring the amplifier. If the amplifier power is too much for the speaker to handle, your speakers can get damaged if the volume level is very high.

4. What will be the effects of more than two speakers are connected to one amplifier output ? Say two 250W speakers to a 500W amp ( same channel).

Don't do that unless your amplifier can support that. When you connect two speakers to the same channel, they can be connected either in parallel fashion or in serial fashion. In parallel fashion, you can burn your amplifier as the overall imedance of the speakers decrese and so making the amplifier to deliver very high current. Don't do that.I do not have any brands or makes in my mind. These questions are mainly to know more of these topics.[THere are several brands available in market. The price ranges from 20k to 3 lakhs (or even higher than that.