Bi-wiring /Impedance

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OP posted.. saw warning label

OP assumed 6ohm is not safe... It is. safe. 4 ohms? no. he doesn't have to bi-wire.
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OP wants to run his new ones and his old ones. The fat lady sang!

Read his post. He asked about running ONE pair of 6 ohm speakers, connected in a bi-wire configuration. There is no impedance issue, as his amp can handle down to a 4 ohm load.

Bi-wiring has no effect on the load presented to the amp...other than the very slight effect of running two pairs of wires per speaker. This effect is comparable to using one pair of heavier gauge speaker wires.

As has been pointed out several times, with the OP's amp he can double up the speaker wires on one set of terminals (A or B), or split them across A and B...no difference, other than the need to select A plus B.
 
What is your issue? imo you are just splitting hairs. OP can do it either way, right?
no difference, other than the need to select A plus B
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Oh... the hell of it all.. has to push one button!! :D

Excuse me, there are other posters with much more difficult issues that need assistance. :D
 
In what way am I out of line?

You advised the OP not to bi-wire because of potential impedance issues with doing so. You are incorrect on this point. If that is insulting to you, so be it.

He also asked if he can use A and B to bi-wire a single pair of speakers, and if he could, alternatively, double up the wiring of his single pair of speakers on the A terminals.

The answer to both is yes.
 
Get two more of those speakers and wire each channel in a series. You'll gain two more speakers and have less of a load on the amp.:rockon:

Just kidding, only I would do something like that just for the hell of it lol.
 
Spark1 is correct. The reason the amp does not see a lower impedance load is because the tweeter section is only accepting the upper frequencies, and the woofer is only accepting the lower frequencies, and the (nominal) impedance of each section is 6 ohms. It is not the same as placing two 6-ohm full-range speakers in parallel, because at any given frequency, there is only one part of the speaker it is going to. Basically the same reason that woofer+midrange+tweeter in parallel can still present an 8 ohm load and do not act like three speakers in parallel. The reason is the action of the crossover network.

So, biwire away if it pleases you. And since your amp is apparently set up with A and B outputs in parallel, you can either use both, or connect two sets of wires to A (or B for that matter). Electrically it's the same.
 
You advised the OP not to bi-wire because of potential impedance issues with doing so.
You... were not out of line.

There's nothing on the back of the amp. saying 'bi-wiring' There's always 'potential' .. potentially you can slip on bar of soap.. I'm always on the side of caution because point you guys missed is OP had only 1 one single newbie post. who knows who put that feather in his cap? Amp is old.. speakers old.. maybe amp can't handle additive wattage. So best to test independently. Do you guys automatically no test 'bi-wire' all your new speakers? NO! You wouldn't take the chance. Did OP say he tested speakers? NO. ----And suppose he doesn't know crap and wires them up wrong?
You guys didn't even post a frigging diagram!
 
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What is "additive wattage"? Bi-wiring has virtually no effect on the output of the amp...it is, by and large, no more or less risky than standard wiring.

Again...the OP is talking about running one pair of 6 ohm speakers on an amp rated for 4 ohm loads. By the way...the speakers are not old. Per the OP, they are new...not that this makes any difference.

As regards diagrams...the link provided by rickb119 illustrates bi-wiring quite nicely.

As regards "nothing on the back of amp saying bi-wiring"; why would you think there would be?

Bi-wiring has nothing to do with running multiple pairs of speakers. Do you understand this?
 
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You... were not out of line.

There's nothing on the back of the amp. saying 'bi-wiring' There's always 'potential' .. potentially you can slip on bar of soap.. I'm always on the side of caution because point you guys missed is OP had only 1 one single newbie post. who knows who put that feather in his cap? Amp is old.. speakers old.. maybe amp can't handle additive wattage. So best to test independently. Do you guys automatically no test 'bi-wire' all your new speakers? NO! You wouldn't take the chance. Did OP say he tested speakers? NO. ----And suppose he doesn't know crap and wires them up wrong?
You guys didn't even post a frigging diagram!

@spark1 and the others are correct but the confusion is understandable because two speaker leads are being used gives the impression the load is being doubled.

But this is not the case and electrically there is no real difference between using jumpers (with normal single wiring) and bi-wring in this scenario. The output is still passing through the speaker's crossover and it still wouldn't even matter if both A & B speaker output terminals are used. It is the same.
 
Diagram's on how to bi wire, are here post four and five. But neither article mentioned that the impedance does not change?? So apparently even bi wired it's still a 6 ohm speaker. Safe enough. :)
 
There are two sections of the crossover, one for the mid/tweeter or tweeter and one for the woofer. Whether you connect those two sections together inside the box or at the amplifier speaker terminals makes NO difference to the amplifier. It CANNOT get any simpler than that.

Craig
 
okay... geezz I never said he could not do it. bi-wire. Because there is nothing wrong with running the combination of 6 and 8ohm on a+b. .. so why confuse the crap out a one post newbie? That's the way I interpreted orig. post and warning label. okay? I get a like out of it because OP can run his new 6 ohm speakers and if he wants 8 ohm, too with a+b.

You guys are inferring using 2 pairs of speakers and bi-wiring them from what I get from reading your posts.
 
okay... geezz I never said he could not do it. bi-wire. Because there is nothing wrong with running the combination of 6 and 8ohm on a+b. .. so why confuse the crap out a one post newbie? That's the way I interpreted orig. post and warning label. okay? I get a like out of it because OP can run his new 6 ohm speakers and if he wants 8 ohm, too with a+b.

You guys are inferring using 2 pairs of speakers and bi-wiring them from what I get from reading your posts.

Then you must not be reading them very well.

The knowledgeable responses have all addressed ONE pair of speakers, as originally asked by the OP and as specifically noted in my responses and those of others.

Frankly, you are the one that has added unnecessary confusion to this thread.

Side note...you say that there is no problem running a set of 6 ohm speakers on A and 8 ohm speakers on B. If the OP were to run them simultaneously, there would indeed be a problem.

Specifically, the load presented by two pairs of such speakers would drop below the rated capability of the amp. The amp may well be able to accommodate such a load, but generally it would not be advisable.

The topic of running two pairs of speakers is, of course, off topic...the OP was asking about connecting only one pair. I address it only because of your comment suggesting "no problem" running a load below the rating of the amp. That is bad advice.
 
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OP's amplifier speaker warning label says A+B Speakers 8 - 16 ohms meaning each pair must be a minimum of 8 ohms each or 4 ohms minimum (A or B)

8 + 6 ohm in parallel is 3.43 ohm so probably just okay...provided heat is monitored if played at high levels for a long duration.

It's not as if suddenly something happens at 3.43 ohms all that radically different than at 4 ohms. The variable of duration plays a role, not to mention the impedance curve at certain frequencies.
 
True enough. Perhaps the OP should modify his amp with a thermal protection circuit, if it doesn't already have one. Alternatively, he could just operate it within the guidelines of the manufacturer.
 
The manual states: When using two sets of speakers (A and B) be sure that your speakers have a nominal impedance rating of 8 ohms - 16 ohms. When using only one set of speakers (A or B) use speakers with a nominal impedance rating of 4 ohms - 16 ohms.

So I'm taking it you don't want to be below 8 ohms on Each channel if you're using four speakers to avoid overloading the amp.
 
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