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Is it safe to use a pair of 4ohm speakers with a stereo amplifier which is spec'd for 8ohms?

H

hififansince1965

Member
Is it safe to use a pair of 4ohm speakers with a stereo amplifier?

The amp is a Copland CSA14 integrated amp, which has a valve part in the preamp but the output section is solid state.

The specs of the amp quotes 60watts per channel into 8ohms.

I have read one review where the author said:
"Sandwiched in between
20,000 worth of Krell CD player and speakers ranging from 15 ohm minis
to sub-3 ohm ribbons, the Copland never behaved like the weeny little
amp its case suggests."
So from this info, it does seem like a lower impedance speaker can be accommodated by the amp...

I have a set of 4 ohm crossovers and speakers which I would like to try using.

Is this going to be a safe combination? I generally use the amp on about 25% of full volume.

Thank you!
 
Mark Packer said:
You should be fine at those listening levels. Although you may need to turn the amp up a bit higher than with your current speakers.
Click to expand...
We don't know what the listening levels are, really, though. '25% of full volume' probably means the volume knob is 1/4 of the way round from minimum. On most amps, where min is set at around 7 o'clock on the dial and max is at around 5 o'clock, 25% of the way round could be 90 degrees, so, say, 10 o'clock. For many amps, that's quite a loud listening level, volume pots not being linear and all that.

Having said that, many speakers dip to 4 Ohms or so in the bass (which is also where highest power, and thus current, demand will be) and I'd expect a Copland hybrid to take that in its stride. The problem might arise if the '4 Ohm' speakers dip significantly below 4 Ohms for any significant part of their operation.
 
Mark Packer said:
Although you may need to turn the amp up a bit higher than with your current speakers.
Click to expand...

I would suggest quite the opposite, for the same voltage output, i.e. determined by the gain, or position of the volume control, the 4 ohm speaker would draw twice the current the previous 8 ohm speaker would and hence double the power. Simplified Power = Voltage x Current
 
Roog said:
I would suggest quite the opposite, for the same voltage output, i.e. determined by the gain, or position of the volume control, the 4 ohm speaker would draw twice the current the previous 8 ohm speaker would and hence double the power. Simplified Power = Voltage x Curren
Click to expand...

Thanks Roog, apologfies to the OP I got it the wrong way round... still I would expect an amp like your Copeland to "take that in its stride" as Steve says..
 
Shouldn't have any issues, I used a CSA 28 ( same circuit, same output, slightly later R/C model) with both 4ohm and 8 ohm speakers, no issues whatsoever.
 
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