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Help: Can I run Bose 501 4ohms with EPI 100's

Amcrebelfan

Amcrebelfan

Super Member
I was checking human speakers and it says Epi 100s are 4ohms dc and 8ohms nominal, which my newb self doesn't understand. I just refoamed some Bose 501's that are 4ohm and want to run them on a Pioneer SA-8500 with the EPI's. The Bose will eventually become Ewaves but until then I want to keep them in use. So will these work together? I don't know the whole ohm thing yet. Any help would be much appreciated.
Steve
 
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Don't underestimate the effect of 4 ohm and lower loads on amps. The older Pioneer stuff don't like 4 ohm loads. Some of their stuff wasn't even spec'ed at 4 ohms. It won't take much before you start running into trouble with that set up. The SA is nice stuff, at it's age, don't push it too hard.
 
Nothing is free. Two pairs of speakers reduces the load the amp sees. Each set of speakers will have it's own resistance peculiarities the SA will have to deal with at a resistance lower than the SA is rated for. A recipe for disaster. Use a single pair of speakers with the SA, the EPI's are 8 ohm nominal, I'd go with them.
 
To help clarify the ohm thing, if you parallel a 4 ohm and 8 ohm speaker together, you'll be showing 2.7 ohm's to the amplifier. Think one of the above replies got a little mixed up on this, as lower impeadence to the amplifier, actually increases the load it see's. In this case, by almost 3 time's the rated 8 ohm's, and not at all recommended.
 
On the other hand you could experiment with running them in series. Not a lot of people do that but I have seen it done before. Just a thought. You may not get good results but at least the impedance won't be so low. Just another option.

In parallel I think that the answer is a definite "No".
 
coonmanx said:
On the other hand you could experiment with running them in series. Not a lot of people do that but I have seen it done before. Just a thought. You may not get good results but at least the impedance won't be so low. Just another option.

In parallel I think that the answer is a definite "No".
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Yeah, you're better off running them in series. Here's how. You definitely do not want to hook up the Bose to your Pioneer when the speakers are rated at 4 ohms, here's why.
 
Not sure why you'd want to run the 100s with anything else, especially Bose. Sorry, not at all a fan. The 100s are killer speakers that need no help, assuming they have original drivers.

Set them on the floor, set the tone controls flat and pour the power to them. They'll knock your socks off. The more power they have on tap, the better.
 
Basically depends on the amps ability to deliver current, but if you keep the volume fairly low you'll be fine. If you like push it though I'd be very careful and monitor the temperature closely
 
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