A few big questions.

[deadanddrawn]

First off, my setup is 2 Ohm 6 ohm speakers out from a carver m1.0t 200 rms @ 8 ohm 2 channel amp. My first question is can i run more than 2 speakers from this? I currently have towers and i want to add two more bookshelf speakers.

My next question is if at 8 ohms the amp is 200 rms then what is it at 6 ohms? I tried to calculate it and got about 266. Is that right?

My third question is does wattage stay constant? I mean if i had 8 ohm speakers on and the amp is rated at 200 rms, no matter the volume would it always ouput 200 watts?

My final question is how can i measure the wattage being outputed from my amp? I heard you can take the voltage from the speaker terminals but for some reason they arent registering voltage when the amp is on.

 

[mulester7]

First off, my setup is 2 Ohm 6 ohm speakers out from a carver m1.0t 200 rms @ 8 ohm 2 channel amp. My first question is can i run more than 2 speakers from this? I currently have towers and i want to add two more bookshelf speakers

.....DeadAndDrawn, I've owned two Carver mt-1.0's, and when used normally as a two channel amp, I think I remember the 4 ohm rating was around 325 watts-per-side....you can also bridge this amp to 1000 watts for an "8" ohm load....but, my two mt-1.0's are currently being used, bridged to 1000 potential, to push unpowered "4" ohm SVS 16-46 Plus cylinder subs by my Son-in-law, and doing a good job of it without excessive overheating although they do get pretty warm at reference levels....since your fronts are 6 ohm speakers, even 8 ohm speakers paralleled with the fronts is going to take the paralleled ohmage load under 4....if the bookshelf rears you chose were rated at 6 ohms, you would have a load of 3 ohms combined with the fronts, and that's gettin' real iffy for the amp....it "could" work out ok for the amp not overheating too badly at moderate levels, maybe even louder, but you would probably need 100 watt-rated 4 ohm L-pads for balance between the fronts and rears unless you got lucky and had the balance you want without the L-pads....I've never seen L-pads rated higher than 100 watts....don't worry about the L-pads being rated 100 watts when you have more than that to run through it....they will take much more than what they are rated, trust me, and generally anything over 100 watts from the amp are peaks that are very short in duration anyway.....all this rambling I've just done, is based on getting you out cheap, and there is a chance the amp won't handle the load being under 4 ohms very well....the only reason I've suggested it might be ok, is the performance of the same amps strapped for 1000 at 8 ohm load pushing the 4 ohm subs I mentioned....but, since you're going to go under 4 ohms for sure, even with 8 ohm add-on's, you might try to pick up another 2 channel amp with gains for the rears should the paralleling not work, and you might use the amp with gains on the fronts, since your mt-1.0 has no gains....best I can do....no offense I promise, but your other questions are not really relevant except the last one, and you need MacMann to answer that one as I've never measured wattage from an amp, I only twist knobs and listen....and, welcome to Audioholics....whew, to bed....

 

[deadanddrawn]

What if i wired the speakers in a series and got 12 ohms? Think it could handle that fine? Or would it handle it toooooooo fine?

 

[deadanddrawn]

For some reason it wont let me edit my post...

But what i wanted to ask is if i add two 8 ohm bookshelf speakers the combined resistance would be 3.4 ohms (I havent been able to find moderatley priced 6 ohm bookshelfs). That is pretty damn close to 4. Do you think that would be ok? The loudest i usually turn my amp is maybe about a quarter of the way up.

And according to this site http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entry.php?sectionid=16&entryid=39 is that saying my amp can handle a min of 2 ohms?

 

[mtrycrafts]

For some reason it wont let me edit my post...

But what i wanted to ask is if i add two 8 ohm bookshelf speakers the combined resistance would be 3.4 ohms (I havent been able to find moderatley priced 6 ohm bookshelfs). That is pretty damn close to 4. Do you think that would be ok? The loudest i usually turn my amp is maybe about a quarter of the way up.

And according to this site http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entry.php?sectionid=16&entryid=39 is that saying my amp can handle a min of 2 ohms?

I like your two speakers in series idea better but that has problems too with their crossovers and you'd get lower max volume that may not be a problem at normal levels.

Speakers rating is nominal and you may have dips below that value. Paralleling them would could dip really low. That may not be a problem at low levels though. Why would you want to add 2 more speakers for a mono setup? Like the old quad almost.

If you want to edit your post, open it, there should be an 'edit' button at the bottom.

 

[mulester7]

For some reason it wont let me edit my post...

But what i wanted to ask is if i add two 8 ohm bookshelf speakers the combined resistance would be 3.4 ohms (I havent been able to find moderatley priced 6 ohm bookshelfs). That is pretty damn close to 4. Do you think that would be ok? The loudest i usually turn my amp is maybe about a quarter of the way up.

And according to this site http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entry.php?sectionid=16&entryid=39 is that saying my amp can handle a min of 2 ohms?

.....no, it is saying your amp is not 2 ohm stable, and you really shouldn't go under 4....but, you can parallel 20 4 ohm speakers on an amp section and there will be no explosion when you turn it on, although it will be a short time before the amp will achieve thermal cutoff when you put sound through the speakers with the amp section very hot to the touch....sure, the amp will remain cool enough with the speakers wired in series, there's actually more detail in the mids and highs, but whether the combo of four speakers wired in series puts out adequate low-end is the determining factor for me, as you will generally hear less low-end than paralleling....there will remain possible balance factors between fronts and rears with either wiring....here is a link concerning where to find L-pads, and how to wire them inline on the speaker wire going to the speaker that needs turning down....once the link is opened, scroll halfway down the page and click on "L-pad"....when you get to the site, you'll see why I had to do it this way....the site is Parts Express....your local Radio Shack used to have L-pads also, you might check....at either place, get 100 watt rated, and they will handle more than that......

http://www.bestspeakerparts.com/parts-and-accessories/?src=overture

 

[deadanddrawn]

Now what exactly are L pads? They just adjust individual channel volume? I can do that on my preamp. As for wiring in series...would it just be the bookshelves that loose a bit of low end? My towers already have a **** load of low end especially with the bass on the preamp turned all the way up (which i do rarely because it shakes my whole room and scares the piss out of me). Do you think the amp can handle a maximum of 14 ohms? Is there a maximum limit?

 

[mulester7]

Now what exactly are L pads? They just adjust individual channel volume? I can do that on my preamp. As for wiring in series...would it just be the bookshelves that loose a bit of low end? My towers already have a **** load of low end especially with the bass on the preamp turned all the way up (which i do rarely because it shakes my whole room and scares the piss out of me). Do you think the amp can handle a maximum of 14 ohms? Is there a maximum limit?

.....L-pads act as a variable resistor that presents a consistent ohmage load to the amp....they act as a volume knob that accepts watts from an amp section, but can only "turn down" the volume when mounted inline to a speaker....no, you can't vary the volume of the fronts or the rears independently from the other at the pre-amp level when the speakers are wired in parallel or series....no, all four speakers would seem to lose some low-end when wired in series including the towers, but yes, your present Carver amp would handle the wiring in series just fine and run cooler over the series wiring....no, there's theoretically no limit to the amount of speakers you can wire in "one" series "circuit", and the ohmage load presented to the amp section will remain constant as if you were only wiring 2 speakers in series, totally different from any laws of paralleling....here's something else to keep in mind....wiring 2 speakers in series "or" parallel is going to change the "voice" of the speakers from their normal....this can be ok in most cases, but you never know until tried....if you say you have tons of low-end from your towers normally wired by themselves, you will probably be ok to wire them and rears in series, and that is what I would suggest since your amp is not rated to go below 4 ohms....if you can afford it, I would still suggest picking up another dedicated 2-channel slave-amp with gains, for use either on the fronts or the rears, whichever needs the gains to achieve balance.....DeadAndDrawn, I just got called to go ride a train and will be gone for a couple of days up and back....someone else will have to jump in here now.....

 

[deadanddrawn]

Thanks a bunch mulester. Youve been a real good help. I think im gonna try out a series. This question is for anyone else to answer... If i just twisted the postive wires of two speakers and the negative wires of two speakers and then attached those to the respective terminals would that be series or parellel? My towers are heavy and huge and i dont feel like lifting them.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thanks a bunch mulester. Youve been a real good help. I think im gonna try out a series. This question is for anyone else to answer... If i just twisted the postive wires of two speakers and the negative wires of two speakers and then attached those to the respective terminals would that be series or parellel? My towers are heavy and huge and i dont feel like lifting them.

No, that is parallel. The negative of one speaker needs to go to the positive of the other speaker. You could also do this at the amp/receiver but you need to use a wire twist so it is not exposed, waiting for an accident. Then, the remaining wires to the respective + and - terminals on the amp/receiver.