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Driving four 4 ohm speakers with an 8 ohm amplifier?

M

MJR68

New Member
I've been running 2 sets of 4 ohm Cerwin Vega's (AT-12's and RE-30"s) on my 8 ohm Sansui AU-517 amplifier for quite a while with no issues. Generally don't get too loud with it, but recently i cranked it a little louder so we could hear it from our patio, and it tripped the circuit protection on the amp. Should I be running the speakers in series instead of A+B as I currently have them? My understanding is that running them in series would make them 8 ohm. If so, how is it wired, and will it degrade sound quality?
 
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Yes, you should connect them in series if you want to run both sets at once. The rear panel is pretty clear about not running two 4Ω pairs in parallel. Will it affect sound quality? Possibly, but it won't cost you anything to check.

Since your amp has preamp outputs, you can also add a second power amplifier for the other pair of speakers.
 
If I understand correctly, I'd run from the amp positive to positive on speaker 1 then negative to negative on speaker 2, then a jumper from positive to negative between speakers 1 and 2?
 
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