Speaker hookup (1 Viewer)

[reng]

Just got a Harman Kardon stereo amplifier and want to connect 2 pairs of in ceiling speakers to speaker 1 and 1 pair of speakers to speaker 2. Can someone please tell me how to hook this correctly without putting a strain on the amplifier. Thanks.

 

[GrahamT]

Assuming the speakers are 8 ohm nominal, You could hook up one pair to speaker 2 and the other two pairs in series in speaker 1. But that will leave you a total impedance of about 5.3 ohms nominal which is a hard load with 6 speakers.
You might want to pick up some power amps or some more stereo amps unless you will only play them at a low volume.

 

[reng]

Thanks, the spec says compatible with 4 Ohm outputs. Whatever that means! Could you also help me to understand how to hook the speakers up in series? Thanks again.

 

[GrahamT]

It may be rated at 4 ohms but because they are not as efficient in series you will have to run it harder. In series you just go from + on the amp to + on one of the speakers, then - from that one to + of the next, then from - on the second speaker back to - on the amp. Hope that is clear. Just repeat for the other channel and run the second zone output as usual. Hope it works out for you. If you dont push it too hard it should work.

 

[reng]

OK, I understand, but won't that degrade the sound quality at all?

 

[GrahamT]

If the amp is pushed hard it will affect sound quality and possibly if it clips, damage the speakers. Series wiring is less of a concern than overdriving the amp. The best thing to do is to get another amp or two.

 

[reng]

Thanks GrahamT for your help. I really appreciate it! I'l let you know how I make out