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Any 16 ohm speakers out there?

T

tommieboy

New Member
Someone help 'unconfuse me' I've been seeing all of these threads from audio-buffs telling me NOT to use two sets of 8 ohm speakers (one set on the "A", the other on the "B" = A+B on at the same time), because it reduces the input impedance to 4 ohms, and will cause your receiver to overheat, and fry your power supply (???) I've seen recommendations to buy 16 ohm speakers, instead of 8 ohm ones, to off-set this--but I can't find any! Am I looking for 'hen's teeth', or do they actually exist. I'm currently running a Realistic STA-2290, 90 wpc receiver with Bose 301s series IV on "A", and a set of Kenwood LSK 500s on "B" with no apparent problems, but am I tempting fate? If it's such a 'BAD IDEA' to use "A + B" at the same time--why do receivers have settings for it? I'd expect the "A" button to pop out, (If it's buttons instead of a dial...) when the "B" button is pushed in....I find the whole concept troubling....can anyone set me straight?
 
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BION, I once had a receiver (I think it was a Sony? Yamaha?) go DEAD on me when I tried to run two sets of speakers.....but with this 40 year old stuff, who knows? But ever since, I've been leery about doing it, but it sticks in the back of my mind that "You're gonna blow up another one!" Up until now, I never had multiple sets of speakers, but now that I'm retired and fooling with my 'sound system' (rejuvenating the vinyl!) again, I keep acquiring 'pieces' to play with. Thanks for the reply to put my mind at ease....but someone else will see this thread, and tell me "STOP! Yer gonna blow it up!"
 
In general, it's best not to run two pairs of speakers off a single amplifier if you can avoid it. Even if your amplifier can handle it, it normally doesn't sound as good.
 
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16 ohm speakers were never really popular. Technics made one pair in the early 70s, and that's the only one I know.
As said, it is electronically fine to run two 8 ohm speakers in parallel. However, don't do it. Firstly, it always sounds worse as dmckean pointed out. Also, many speakers labelled as "8 ohms" are actually 4 ohm units. The norm says that the minimum impedance must not be lower than 80% of the indicated rating (so, 6.4 ohms), a criterion that is hardly met. Speakers indicated as "4-8 ohms" are 4 ohmers.
While half-decent amps are happily able to drive loads below 4 ohms, I just wouldn't do it.
 
I've got more than a couple of pairs of 16 ohm speakers
Goodman Triaxiom 212c inch in folded horn, Celestion full range in Karlson cabinets
Coral 10cx 501 in cabinet of my design and another cabinet with 15 inch Pioneer alnico and l love them all.
Definitely not hens teeth
 
i dunno, onkyos, the big power 2 channel bpc units everyone bought in the 90's are VERY fussy over this. when you add to the fact they naturally run hot, are assembled with sparse paste - they desolder themselves anyways and the speaker question leads to spectacular light shows in your living room.

echo has a good thread on how 4 ohm loads stress your amp, Id read it...
 
MarZutra said:
Naaa... You should be golden. Many problems come when people connect 8ohm and 4ohm or two 4ohm speakers to the A and B on their amps/receivers.
For example, my old Pioneer SA9900, a beast of a thing, bluntly stated that it could run both A and B in 8ohm and 8ohm, or 4ohm and 8ohm, but not 8ohm and 4 ohm or two 4ohm...
Two sets of 8ohm should be AOK...
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This is the answer here ^^^
 
I went to 'hifiengine' to do some research on speakers, and everything they had listed under "Altec", 'Rodgers", "Goodman" and "Coral" were all listed as being '8 ohm impedance'--but that was only for the models that HAD an impedance listing--some of them did not. I'm not about to spend the kind of money it would take to build my own cabinets, and outfit them with custom 'hard to find' speakers. If "OLD" is the prerequisite to finding 16 ohm speakers, I'm not going down that road, either....anything from the mid '70's on up will serve me just fine--and most of them are gonna need re-foamed! Until I hear otherwise, from someone who makes a persuasive argument; I'm gonna go with the "Only use one-set (A OR B, not A AND B) when listening to my sound system....People who think that the 'audio world' is just about 'listening to music' have no idea just how complicated it can get!! I appreciate all of the input....
 
tommieboy said:
If "OLD" is the prerequisite to finding 16 ohm speakers, I'm not going down that road, either....anything from the mid '70's on up will serve me just fine
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@tommmieboy

Are you asking about 16 ohm speakers made by Altec Lansing and or JBL? or just in general?

The reason I ask this subforum is specifically about James B. Lansing and the speakers he was associated with
 
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