# is it safe to run speaker at a different impendace?



## djloui (Nov 10, 2014)

Hi, eveyone? Please help me with this. I have the behringer amp 3000dsp which handle a 8, 4 and 2 ohm load. I want to connect two speakers in parallel, one is 8 ohm and the other one is 4 which will make a load of 2ohm. The reason why I want to run them at two ohm is because if I wire them in series they wont be getting at least half of the required power/rms. While if I run them at 2ohm they will be getting near near its specification. My question, will I damage the speaker with this mismatch? I spoke with one of the speaker manufacture this morning, and they told that their speaker handle any load. However, I dont if it is safe to mismatch other speakers?


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

djloui said:


> Hi, eveyone? Please help me with this. I have the behringer amp 3000dsp which handle a 8, 4 and 2 ohm load. I want to connect two speakers in parallel, one is 8 ohm and the other one is 4 which will make a load of 2ohm. The reason why I want to run them at two ohm is because if I wire them in series they wont be getting at least half of the required power/rms. While if I run them at 2ohm they will be getting near near its specification. My question, will I damage the speaker with this mismatch? I spoke with one of the speaker manufacture this morning, and they told that their speaker handle any load. However, I dont if it is safe to mismatch other speakers?


1. It will not harm the speakers.
2. I do not understand your obsession with putting as much strain as possible on your amps.
3. 4ohms in parallel with 8ohms is not 2ohms; it is 2.667ohms, fwiw.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

I wanna know where all these parts come from!


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## djloui (Nov 10, 2014)

Just wanted more power on my speakers so that they could sound more louder.


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

Your 8 ohm speaker will be putting out substantially less volume/power than the 4 ohm one. 

Again, What are the power handling, sensitivity and other specifications of the two drivers?

What are you really trying to achieve? 
A system needs to be designed, not put together like some Frankenstein monster....


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

djloui said:


> Just wanted more power on my speakers so that they could sound more louder.



Buy a bigger amp?


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

This post, along with others from you lead me to a few conclusions:

You have a lot of gear, but nothing matches. 
You don't have the money to spend on replacing things so all your gear matches.
You're under the impression that More Power=Louder and Louder=Better.

What we can't figure out is your application. You're on this quest for more power, but we're not sure why. Your other posts suggest you have main speakers suited to a club or small outdoor PA setup, and a subwoofer suited to a small living room or computer desk. You've got a PA-grade amp, and you're trying to get every drop of power out of it. You're feeding this thing with an auxiliary cable off a phone... We're confused because we can't see your goal. Help us out...

What is it you're actually doing with this setup? Are you DJ'ing parties? Are you watching movies at home? Playing in a band? I think everyone here wants to give sensible advice, but it isn't clear what direction you're headed.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

DqMcClain, nice observation(s). Nor knowing what he's up to makes it nearly impossible to advise him. I think he should liquidate everything and buy what it is he needs for whatever his goal is. Psst, I still think he's secretly testing everyone...shhh lol


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## djloui (Nov 10, 2014)

Lol, im not testing anybody!! My set up is just for home audio such watching movies. But, mostly to play music. Im experimenting different setup to be able to come up with the best configuration or setup.


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

djloui said:


> Lol, im not testing anybody!! My set up is just for home audio such watching movies. But, mostly to play music. Im experimenting different setup to be able to come up with the best configuration or setup.


Then you are going about it in a very strange and unusual way. None of your choices indicate any concern for the quality of the sound, only its loudness. Is that all you want?


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## djloui (Nov 10, 2014)

Kal Rubinson said:


> Then you are going about it in a very strange and unusual way. None of your choices indicate any concern for the quality of the sound, only its loudness. Is that all you want?


I mean, not just loudness. I'm also concerned about the sound quality too.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

If sound quality is a concern than your still going about this very wrong. Get rid of those PA speakers, dont mix and match and get some decent tower speakers made by a reputable company. PA speakers are typically designed to fill a large space with sound and are by no means made for nearfield listening they are not usually what I would call Quality sound reproduction unless you spend alot of money.


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

djloui said:


> I mean, not just loudness. I'm also concerned about the sound quality too.


Well, this is the first mention of it that I recall. So, first off, what sort of space are you listening in? Short of a gymnasium, you will not need the power levels you have been talking about. 

Second, are you listening in stereo or mono? These days, one would get more musical information and satisfaction from stereo (or multichannel) than mono since all is recorded in stereo.

Third, since you seen to have a very limited technical background, you might be best served by setting up a traditional system and then learn  how things work so you can enhance or add to it.


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## UpperCut (Feb 8, 2016)

Kal Rubinson said:


> .... choices indicate any concern for the quality of the sound, only its loudness. ....


If I may say so - Is this not what everybody on any forum globally wants??? Well, at least that is the impression I got as nobody seems to even considers Quality in there Sounds any longer (At least not what I have seen so far).
Yet bigger is better so lets use 18" double, Triple and four of them would be even better, it does not really matter any longer what positioning, angles mend earlier on nor anything else for that matter as long the brain gets attacked with senseless Bum-Bum! 
As Loud As – So Is That What Audio Has Come To Now??? Simple looks like it!

rgs UpperCut


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Please keep the thread focused on the original poster's question. I don't know what you have been reading, but sound quality is very much front and center of what most posters here (and on other forums) are interested in, IMO. The post above adds nothing meaningful to the thread and I would remove it as it is clearly not made in the spirit nor letter of our rules, but I think it is instructive to point out periodically what we are NOT about. We are not about condescension and snark, and we do not allow this type of baiting in posts. Please do not respond to it and if you have any comment direct it to me personally. Any new posts in this thread will be focused on helping the OP achieve what is desired.


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