Hooked up 4 ohm 6.5''s speakers to z-5500.. couple questions.

[Fel]

Right now i just have 1 3.5mm cord going from receiver to the computer because i lost the one it came with that had all 3, so my sub/center and rear isn't connected. I'm just using 2 speakers right now anyway and i don't notice the sub any quieter with it not being hooked up.

So my question is can i hook up my other 2 6.5''s to the same slots the ones i have hooked up right now to on my z-5500? All this will do is cut the power each speaker receives by half and make it 4 ohms, right? This would even be better correct?

If you don't know exactly what you are talking about please don't tell me anything that will damage my shit, i can't afford to replace anything. I'm almost 100% sure that the setup i have right now is fine, i have no distortion or anything, and these kenwood 6.5''s are rated 200w max 80rms.. and the z5500 set is 65wrms. Of course i literally just now plugged them in so i guess i'll know if it is damaging them very soon haha.

Also just another random question, is there any way to just increase the bass my sub puts out on youtube and games etc.? I know there's got to be one for foobar at least, i just haven't checked in a while.

 

[mannyman]

Ok so you hooked car audio speakers to your z5500's? If im not mistaken the z5500 satellites are 8 ohm. A amplifier will produce more power at a lower ohm but it will also produce more heat and sometimes is not stable depending on the Ohm load. Also i don't think the logitech speakers are getting 65 rms.

And as for more bass you are loking for a equallizer, im sure there is a program to do what you ask but ill let someone else chime in on that.

How do they sound?

 

[TESLA]

Which 4 Ohm 6.5" speakers are you referring to, specifically? And are these speakers rated at 4 Ohms or 8 Ohms?

Are you asking about running 4.x surround using your z-5500's amplifier and 4 x 4 Ohm speakers? Or are you planning to connect two 8 Ohm speakers to each terminal (left and right) and run two pairs of speakers in parallel such that each terminal sees a 4 Ohm load?

More specifics are needed. Otherwise, the best I can give you are generalizations:

Decreasing the impedance of the connected speakers means increasing the current necessary to drive them. Amplifiers rated for 4 Ohm loads are designed to handle this increase in current, but this is not always true for amplifiers lacking explicit load ratings. You most certainly can kill an amplifier by attempting to drive a load outside of its specifications.

That said, many factors contribute towards making a speaker difficult or easy to drive, and not all 4 Ohm rated speakers are going to kill an 8 Ohm rated amplifier. And even if the amplifier does eventually die, it can be a slow process caused by overheating (due to the increase in current handling over its lifetime) or it can occur in an instant as you attempt to turn up the volume beyond the amplifier's capability to handle its load.

Speakers, too, can be damaged. Amplifiers forced run outside of their capabilities will often clip, which is the leading cause of damage to speakers. You mentioned that you currently hear no distortion, so you may be OK here, butt hat does not mean you should dispense with caution.

Lastly, the amplifier within the z-5500 was purpose-built, and I would not trust its power ratings or assume its ability to handle a 4 Ohm load. In fact and ideally, I would be wary of running anything off of that amplifier, other than the speakers which came paired with it, for any extended period of time.

 

[dandragonrage]

4 ohm speakers over 8 ohm speakers will double the power at any given voltage, up to whatever limit (probably current in this situation) is reached first. There are basically two types of protection an amp can have that could come into play here.

1) Short circuit protection could detect the speaker load as being lower in impedance than whatever threshold they set, and the amp could disable itself immediately.

2) Overcurrent protection could kick in and shut the amp down once your output current reaches a set threshold. This essentially means that you will get up to 3dB LESS output with a 4ohm speaker than an 8ohm speaker because your current capability will stay the same, whereas the voltage required to reach that maximum current will be halved, and thus your max output power (via equation P=IV) will be halved.

Or the other situation is the amp has no protections for this situation, and either it will just self-limit (you will get distortion at a lower volume than with 8 ohm speakers which will limit you to a lower power level), or it will blow up. There are also some other possibilities that would happen more immediately, like the amp could just be unstable at 4 ohms and you could get extreme distortion or an immediate explosion (as in "it starts smoking and stops working," not "movie explosion") of the amp. Also, even if it works, it might be running with more distortion (a LOT more for some amps). And that amp is probably not very low distortion to begin with (when compared with a receiver). But if you can't hear a difference then it's probably not too bad.