View Full Version : 3 ohms?
icehockeyboy
17-09-2019, 14:26
Anyone know of an amplifier that can drive 3 ohm speakers?
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Stratmangler
17-09-2019, 14:28
3 ohm speakers?
My speaker drivers are 3 ohm full range. I have a set set up like that and they worked OK with the amps I had. But I doubled them up and made 6 ohn versions.
Any 4 ohm amp should be OK. It will have more power drawn tho, but if they are efficient shouldn't be an issue
icehockeyboy
17-09-2019, 15:18
Chris : Yes.
Grant: Thanks!
Audio Al
17-09-2019, 15:27
Audio Innovations Valve amps have 4 / 8 / 16 ohm taps
just go easy to start with as the speaker impedence could go down pretty low depending... check amp doesnt get too hot etc... My drivers are actually 2.8 ohm but are very sensitive so i dont have to stress amp too much by turning up high... so worth being careful until your happy the amp is coping
Sherwood
17-09-2019, 15:36
I have Maggie speakers which go down to 2 ohms. I have found that they can be driven by many amps but only at moderate levels and without much dynamic performance. Most meaty amps with a good power supply will do a decent job providing that your speakers are relatively efficient.
Smegger68
17-09-2019, 16:24
Most butch Japanese power amps are good down to 2 Ohms. My Luxman is rated at 2 x 700w into 2 ohms!
My amps are rated at 680w at 2ohms. They are pro amps though.
Lawrence001
17-09-2019, 18:22
I was thinking Maggie's too.
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icehockeyboy
17-09-2019, 18:25
What are the speakers?
They are actually ones that are supplied with a Panasonic SC PMX9 mini system, but they sound amazing ( and I believe I’ve had some damned good speakers in my time!)
Possibly the fact they have a super tweeter in them...
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nonuffin
17-09-2019, 18:59
I thought the 3 ohm figure was a typo, but no, the spec clearly states 3 ohms.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/700773/Panasonic-Sc-Pmx9.html?page=18
A few years ago I sold a pair of ML CLS2s for a friend, and he provided a NAP 250 to drive them. It kept cutting out due to its thermal protection, and a dealer who came to audition said that he could not buy them on the basis of what he had heard. (They dip down to about 1.5ohms I believe).
I then used my ATC SIA150, and it was fine, even at high levels - many awards, and a Mk 1 will be quite cheap, I paid £800 in '02.
southall-1998_mk2
18-09-2019, 00:38
My Dad has a JVC UX-D457S. The supplied speakers are 2 ohms, lol.
S.
Lawrence001
18-09-2019, 07:54
Those little systems must have pretty good amps with high current delivery. Either that or they sound a bit crap with the packaged speakers [emoji23]
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icehockeyboy
18-09-2019, 13:59
Those little systems must have pretty good amps with high current delivery. Either that or they sound a bit crap with the packaged speakers [emoji23]
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They certainly do not sound crap!
I’m not easily impressed, hence once some time back visiting a former members house and hearing his MF lozenge shape CD player through the matching amp, into PMC GB1’s, and thinking how comparatively unimpressive it sounded.
This dinky Panny thing sounds amazing, as I said, possibly because of the super tweeters in the speakers.
When they were first on sale they sold at £600, now, I know in the great scheme of things Hifi, that isn’t a lot of money, but I’ve spent much more on ‘proper ‘ Hifi that didn’t sound as good.
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My Quad 510 monoblocks can provide 130W into any load impedance from 2 to 75 Ohm.
Any amplifier capable of driving 4 Ohm speakers should be suitable. The Quad 57s have an impedance which falls to 1.5 Ohm at 10kHz, yet all the Quad amps (303, 405, 510, 606 etc.) drive them well.
icehockeyboy
19-09-2019, 14:04
Thing is, I don’t know whether it’s the main body of the unit (amplifier) or the speakers that make it sound so good, possibly a combination of the two...however, the only amp I now have to hand only lists the power as being 60 watts @ 8 ohms, so I’m not sure about connecting the Panny speakers to it...?
It’s an Onkyo A 9211 by the way.
Sherwood
19-09-2019, 14:52
Thing is, I don’t know whether it’s the main body of the unit (amplifier) or the speakers that make it sound so good, possibly a combination of the two...however, the only amp I now have to hand only lists the power as being 60 watts @ 8 ohms, so I’m not sure about connecting the Panny speakers to it...?
It’s an Onkyo A 9211 by the way.
Surely that is 60 watts into 4 ohms. In any event, I can't see any problems with trying this out at moderate to low levels and seeing how your amp copes. If it gets hot or you have to push the volume control to very high levels than there may be a problem, though I doubt it. This will give you a sense of the performance of the speakers outside the system.
icehockeyboy
19-09-2019, 15:35
Surely that is 60 watts into 4 ohms. In any event, I can't see any problems with trying this out at moderate to low levels and seeing how your amp copes. If it gets hot or you have to push the volume control to very high levels than there may be a problem, though I doubt it. This will give you a sense of the performance of the speakers outside the system.
No, the online spec claims it’s at 8 ohms
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Sherwood
19-09-2019, 16:41
No, the online spec claims it’s at 8 ohms
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The manual says otherwise, but the point that matters is that the Onkyo does not appear to be much different in output than the system amp.
It will not go bang, worst case is that it just won't sound that good. There's no problem with trying it, would be interesting to see if it is better or worse. Or no different.
icehockeyboy
21-09-2019, 08:39
Well, firstly thanks for your replies, at the moment the Onkyo is doing kitchen duties, which I suppose is pretty OTT as my house is open plan and there are already 2 other systems in the sitting room!
When I can be bothered to pull it down from it’s current ‘home ‘ I will report on my findings.
icehockeyboy
21-09-2019, 15:06
Today I upgraded from normal to HD Amazon music, it’s awesome!
Apart from that it really has upped the game on this little Panny!
I appreciate aural memory is a bit iffy, but I kid you not when I say it’s equalling the SQ from quite a few of my far far more expensive set ups.
Please don’t say it could not do that, I assure you it does. ��
icehockeyboy
26-10-2019, 10:21
As a ps to this, the other day I ran the main unit through a friends Kef speakers, not sure of the model, but the ones with the rose gold drivers, and discovered it must be the ‘super tweetered’ speakers that makes it sound so good.
I didn’t realise that a super tweeter could make such an improvement.
walpurgis
26-10-2019, 10:31
I'm not aware of a KEF speaker that employs a 'supertweeter' as such.
icehockeyboy
26-10-2019, 10:32
I'm not aware of a KEF speaker that employs a 'supertweeter' as such.
No, you misunderstand me, or I didn’t make it clear what I meant!
The super tweeters speakers are the 3ohm jobs that came with the small but amazing Panasonic unit.
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