Ohms vs watts with amps and speakers

crazeuk

New Member
Jan 10, 2023
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Hi all.
Firstly I am new to amps, speakers and this forum. Closest thing to decent equipment I personally have is bose and B&O personal portable wear.

I am helping a friend who has just opened a new restaurant.

It had a pre existing amp: Adastra RM60
With 16 speakers (not sure on model).

The refitters managed to take them out, mess with wires, damage clamp fittings and play with the settings knob.

So, I am unsure what the watt vs ohm situation is. I did notice some of the speakers where louder than others, so played with the settings on each speaker and realised 8ohms works the best.

The speakers are grouped in 4 x twin cables.

Then I did reading to work out what it ohms does.

Apparently makes a bad situation complicated.

What is the best setting to put the speakers on and wire the speakers (parallel/ series).

Any advice would be great. Thanks
 

cjf

Well-Known Member
Nov 19, 2012
452
101
948
Hi all.
Firstly I am new to amps, speakers and this forum. Closest thing to decent equipment I personally have is bose and B&O personal portable wear.

I am helping a friend who has just opened a new restaurant.

It had a pre existing amp: Adastra RM60
With 16 speakers (not sure on model).

The refitters managed to take them out, mess with wires, damage clamp fittings and play with the settings knob.

So, I am unsure what the watt vs ohm situation is. I did notice some of the speakers where louder than others, so played with the settings on each speaker and realised 8ohms works the best.

The speakers are grouped in 4 x twin cables.

Then I did reading to work out what it ohms does.

Apparently makes a bad situation complicated.

What is the best setting to put the speakers on and wire the speakers (parallel/ series).

Any advice would be great. Thanks
Since the amplifier your friend has is a commercial unit having what looks to be 100volt taps available I think you would be best served to use that Tap and feed the number of speakers you are dealing with...assuming each speaker already has a Step Down Transformer installed. This assumes ultimate sound quality isn't of concern here. If it is, then I would start over Rip/Replace everything.

Knowing the Wattage of the speaker is almost a requirement in this type of system though. You need that info to determine how many speakers can be connected to the amplifier before running up against the 60 watt rating.

Given the amp in question being a 60watt unit I can only assume the existing speakers (given the quantity in use 14) must be fairly low in terms of their individual Wattage rating (maybe 4w each) otherwise the Amp will not be happy.

This type of system typically only care about the Wattage rating and not the Ohm rating of the speaker because the Stepdown transformer attached to each speaker (or at least one should be) will handle the details for you. The individual speakers should all be wired in parallel.

Here is a manual if you haven't already seen it

 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Welcome to WBF, crazeuk!
 
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AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
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UK
ifi-audio.com
Hi all.
Firstly I am new to amps, speakers and this forum. Closest thing to decent equipment I personally have is bose and B&O personal portable wear.

I am helping a friend who has just opened a new restaurant.

It had a pre existing amp: Adastra RM60
With 16 speakers (not sure on model).

The refitters managed to take them out, mess with wires, damage clamp fittings and play with the settings knob.

So, I am unsure what the watt vs ohm situation is. I did notice some of the speakers where louder than others, so played with the settings on each speaker and realised 8ohms works the best.

The speakers are grouped in 4 x twin cables.

Then I did reading to work out what it ohms does.

Apparently makes a bad situation complicated.

What is the best setting to put the speakers on and wire the speakers (parallel/ series).

Any advice would be great. Thanks
Hey @crazeuk, welcome to WBF. So connecting speakers together can be done in two ways: series, or parallel. Series connection doubles the impedance. Parallel halves it. The goal is to have a group of speakers with an impedance within the rating of the amp. That is assuming all of the speakers are the same. In addition, you need to check the impedances and solve the proper connections. What speakers does your friend have?
 
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crazeuk

New Member
Jan 10, 2023
2
0
1
43
Hey @crazeuk, welcome to WBF. So connecting speakers together can be done in two ways: series, or parallel. Series connection doubles the impedance. Parallel halves it. The goal is to have a group of speakers with an impedance within the rating of the amp. That is assuming all of the speakers are the same. In addition, you need to check the impedances and solve the proper connections. What speakers does your friend have?
I will need to get back on the ladders and check, although the screw clamp mechanism is terrible.

The problem is, given the wires are hidden in a ceiling, I don't think there will be a way to rewire.

i will try to draw a diagram by disconnecting each of the cables to find out what is on them.

From CJF's response (thanks) I think I definitely need to buy an alternative amp. Would an adastra a8 do?

Any other reccomendations?
 

Holmz

Active Member
Apr 19, 2022
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Hey @crazeuk, welcome to WBF. So connecting speakers together can be done in two ways: series, or parallel. Series connection doubles the impedance. Parallel halves it. The goal is to have a group of speakers with an impedance within the rating of the amp. That is assuming all of the speakers are the same. In addition, you need to check the impedances and solve the proper connections. What speakers does your friend have?

It seems obvious that in sets of 4, one would do a pair in series, and then bond two of those together in parallel.

The OP may be better off hiring a person to set it up, especially of time is more important than $.
 
Last edited:

AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
2,636
1,153
260
43
UK
ifi-audio.com
I will need to get back on the ladders and check, although the screw clamp mechanism is terrible.

The problem is, given the wires are hidden in a ceiling, I don't think there will be a way to rewire.

i will try to draw a diagram by disconnecting each of the cables to find out what is on them.

From CJF's response (thanks) I think I definitely need to buy an alternative amp. Would an adastra a8 do?

Any other reccomendations?

It seems obvious that in sets of 4, one would do a pair in series, and then bone two of those together in parallel.

The OP may be better off hiring a person to set it up, especially of time is more important than $.

@crazeuk That sounds like a good idea, please keep us updated. Without the speaker information, it is difficult to provide a suitable answer. I also agree with @Holmz , it would be better if you contact a contractor to get it set up. You can reply to this thread when you have the required information. Please keep us updated. :)
 

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