Help me obi-wan 4 ohm + 8 ohm

[senseijeff]

I've bought a small standalone amp (pyle PCA3) to power two speakers... Which I plan to install outside for my deck area. Just for some light background music.

The Amp is 4 ohm... But most of the outdoor speakers I've seen on the market are 8 ohms. (speakers yet to be bought)

(I only want 2 speakers, so running 2 speakers on the L and 2 on the R side in parallel is not something I'd like to do.)

From what I've read... it's Okay (8 Ohm speakers on a 4 Ohm amp), but there is some loss of power, or quality but I'm not sure how much considering my application here.

The system is no-way to live up to home-theater standards... I just don't want to blow an amp out... or worse, have it sound like my walkie-talkie when I was a kid.

Ciao,
-Jeff

 

[CraigV]

If you were putting 4 ohm speakers on an 8 ohm amp, there might be problems. Going the other way is OK. Does the amp have rated specs into an 8 ohm load? What make/model is the amp?

 

[senseijeff]

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The Amp is a cheap unit to be sure, but fits the bill for my "light" needs. Here's the stats from the info sheet. Thanks for your knowledge and help!

Pyle Electronics PCA3

2x15W 1% THD and 2x75W MAX at 4 Ohms


Cheers

 

[The Dukester]

You can hook up the 8 ohm speakers, but will lose power. You can't afford to lose much as that amp is only rated at 15 watts at 1% THD. If you only want a really low volume, you will be OK. If you want more for a party, etc, then I suggest a bigger amp. You should not lose quality as much as volume with the 8 ohm speakers and you won't blow up the amp. You would get into more trouble running 4 ohm speakers on an 8 ohm amp which would run the amp hot.
For the best solution with that amp, though, you seem to know to run two 8 ohm speakers in parallel per channel to get to the 4 ohm load.

 

[senseijeff]

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This is all good info. But I'm so resistant to getting 2 sets of speakers if I can help it.

I take it you guys think it would be better to get 4 ohm speakers to take advantage (of what limited) power there is out of the amp...

I can't post a link yet (Newbie restriction) But I was thinking of Pyle
PDWR40W. If you googled that... with 4 ohm you'd get the stats (Sorry I can't post a link...I would if I could)



Cheers and thanks again for your knowledge !!!

 

[Adam]

You mentioned listening to light background music, and I think that amp should deliver that with 8 ohm speakers. I'd suggest that you look for speakers that have higher sensitivities if you're worried about not having enough volume (or get a more powerful amp). If you aren't familiar with speaker sensitivity, speakers with higher sensitivities will play louder given the same amount of power as compared to speakers with lower sensivities. Sensitivity is generally given in terms of "dB" (usually at 1W/1m). For example, a speaker with a sensitivity of 90dB at 1W/1m will have an output of 90dB if you are one meter away and are putting one watt through it.

 

[The Dukester]

Those should be fine. Not sure of the sensitivity on them as it is not listed, but should be fine.

 

[lsiberian]

The amp should drive to 7.5 watts per channel

Which means you can get well over 90db. We are talking 94 or 95. So you should have no issues with low power speakers. However you might glimpse at 4ohm speaker options if you need a 3 db boost.

 

[senseijeff]

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Thanks to all for the knowledge... This is your field, and I appreciate you folks being my "Sensei" on this...

But some more questions from the audio-phile white belt here...

It was metioned by Isiberian - "I should have no issues with low power speakers" - Sir, do you mean I would have no problem with 4 Ohm or 8 Ohm low power speakers? Thank you.

My drive on this seems to be - That there are so many good selections of 8 Ohm outdoor speakers out there! And only one outdoor set that is 4 Ohm (the Pyle PDWR40W). Which yellow brick road do I take?

Ciao,