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Whats the deal with the impedance on my paradigm titans?? (1 Viewer)

Ryan T

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 10, 2001
Messages
406
Hi,

I measured the impedance on my Paradigm Titans today and I'm concerned about the impedance. There supposed to be 8 Ohm speakers but the Digital Muiltimeter says there 3.9 to 4 ohms. Whats the deal? I always thought my H/K receiver runs a little hot. Now I'm worried that I might be over driving the Amp. Is there something wrong with my Titans? If anyone could help it would be appreciated.

Ryan
 

Patrick Sun

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1999
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39,660
Impedance is frequency dependent, plus what you are measuring is the Re ("DC resistance") of the total network at DC, not AC, which is where the nominal 8 ohm impedance rating of your speakers.
 

Brian Fellmeth

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Messages
789
Relax. What you measured was the DC resistance of the driver-crossover combo which is typically lower than the impedance load seen by the amp which is AC.
 

Ryan T

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 10, 2001
Messages
406
Phew, Thanks for the help. by the way is there some way to measure the AC impedance(If thats what it's called)? I'm still confused about the impedace with speakers. I have some car speakers and the are 4 ohms on my Multimeter. Since the Titans also say 4 Ohms can I run the car speakers with my reciever?

Ryan
 

Mark Krawiec

Agent
Joined
Jan 9, 2002
Messages
49
the problem with ac impedance is that it varies as a function of frequency. it's not so much a single value as a graph.
two speakers can have similar dc resistance yet have wildly different impedance vs frequency graphs and so the amp may have a difficult time with one, but not the other.
there's not an easy way to tell without generating this graph. you end up needing a bit of testing equipment.
or, conversely, you can use something like speakerworkshop to generate the curves.
 

Steve Berger

Supporting Actor
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Sep 8, 2001
Messages
987
A quick look at Paradigm's website reveales the cause of your confusion on impedence. They are not 8 ohm speakers they are probably 6 ohm with a max wattage of 60 watts . I once traded emails with Cerwin-Vega for two weeks before they finally admitted that their "8 ohm compatible" speakers were in fact 6 ohm. Most amps need to have biasing set to 4 ohm when using these speaker impedences. While this doesn't mean instant death on an 8 ohm only amp, it does mean that extended use at high levels will overheat the amp and it could die. Also if you turn up a 100 watt amp to high levels you may damage the speakers. I had an old Pioneer 100 watt amp melt the voice coils on on some Advent "suitable for 20 to 100 watt amp" speakers. We opened them up and found the woofer marked 20 watts. I personally believe (pet peave) that anyone that doesn't list actual impedence and RMS wattage on their speaker to be deceiving you. BTW the simplest device to measure impedence fairly accurately is an LCR bridge.
 

Ryan T

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 10, 2001
Messages
406
So the Titans are really 6 Ohm speaker. What would Paradigm have to gain from makeing there speakers 6 ohms not 8? Oh well I'm wanting to buy some new speakers anyway.

Ryan
 

Aaron Silverman

Senior HTF Member
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Jan 22, 1999
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FWIW, my Sony STR-DN1080 receiver says to connect speakers with impedance from 6-16 ohms, and in the year or so I've had it, it's gradually blown out three of the four Titans (v2 from 1999) that I started with. (Although the original sub's internal foam disintegrated years ago, so I question the Paradigm build quality anyway.) I start to hear a little crackle, and over a few weeks it gets worse and worse. Once two of 'em went, I bought a new pair of (Sony) surrounds, and now a third is going, so I have to get new fronts.

Not that I'm heartbroken about an excuse to shop for new speakers. . .
 

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