Home audio systems

[wheeler]

Does anybody on here know anything about home audio systems ?
One of my rear surround speakers has packed in so I have bought another set off ebay. The impedance of the original speakers is 3 ohms but the new ones I have are 8 ohms. Can these be used straight onto my system ? I have not tried connecting them yet as I don't know if it can damage the system by using a different impedance ? If they are ok to use will it affect sound quality ? or is it best to get same rating ?

[Mandrake]

Connecting an 8 ohm speaker to an amplifier designed for a 3 ohm speaker won't cause any damage, (the reverse is not true) but given the differences between old and new speakers (differences in impedance are the least of your worries!) just changing some of the speakers to something very different is not likely to give good results. At the very least you're going to have to re-adjust the volume balance between old and new speakers as their sensitivity will be different, and the frequency response of the speakers is also likely very different.

Depends how fussy you are I suppose!

[CitroJim]

Simon, I second what you say...

[white exec]

Another similar vote. Going from 3 to 8-ohm won't be a problem, but you may have to increase the volume setting for the rears a tad.

[lexi]

Ohms Law.............resistance is futile

[white exec]

Watt was that ?

[myglaren]

Ohms Law.............resistance is futile

Impedance in this case though.

[Peter.N.]

Have you actually tested the old speaker to make sure it is duff? Swapped it with the other channel?

Peter

[wheeler]

Yep, swapped the units L to R & the fault moves with the speaker.

[Peter.N.]

Fair enough, its pretty rare for speakers to fail. As already mentioned it wont do any harm to use an 8 ohm speaker so give it a try.

Peter

[wheeler]

The said speaker is actually pretty much brand new. I bought the system about 6-7 years ago but only ever set up the fronts & sub because the living room setup at the time wasn't really ideal for rear speakers & knew I would be moving house but I did plug them in at the time with the wires trailing across the floor just to try them out & they were ok. Since then they have been sat back in the box in the loft for a few years, recently I was going to set them up again in this house & found this one wasn't working. I have had the speaker apart & there is nothing visibly amiss inside.

[Peter.N.]

Check the resistance across the speech coil, should be pretty low probably an ohm or two, if that reads OK you have a fault in the lead/plug somewhere. If you don't have a meter connect a 1.5 volt battery across it, you should hear it crackle.

Peter

[Stickyfinger]

Ohms Law.............resistance is futile

Impedance in this case though.

No Impedance here now