Speaker Help - before I blow my amp

[admin_exported]

Never posted before, and need a question answered

Why is it that you can't run 2 sets of speakers from 1 output on an amp?

The advice I've read and been told is it could damage the amp and speakers

Why???

I have a Yamaha AV reciever with 2 outputs for the front speakers and a button on the front with switches between the 2. I wanted to set up 4 floor standing speakers on one of those inputs to use when i'm listening to music, and the other output purely for my front speakers on my 5.1 system.

will my amp blow up?

ps, this probably makes no sense as my heads cockled already just writing it

 

[Andrew Everard]

It won't blow up, but it may well trigger the amp's protection meaning it will cut out, or could cause damage to the output stages of the amp.

You could connect a pair of speakers to the 'B' outputs for music listening if you wanted - not sure why you want to have four floorstanders on them anyway - as long as you don't use the A and B outputs at the same time.

The problem is that speakers run in parallel like this create problems of low impedance, which in very rough terms means the speakers are sucking more power out of the amps than the power supplies can deliver, so the amp runs out of puff, and the output devices can overheat trying to deliver the power demanded. Hence the protection circuit will kick in to prevent the amp running into serious problems.

If you really want to run four speakers - though I still don't get why you'd want to - connect them in series. That is, on each channel, a cable from the red output on that amp channel to the first speaker's red input, another from the black socket on that speaker to the red one on the second speaker, and a final cable from the black socket on the second speaker to the black socket on the receiver channel. That way they'll present a more benign load to the amplifier

But again, be very careful not to have A and B speakers selected at the same time.

Given that your head was already spinning, maybe I've just accelerated it even more.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks Andrew, you can probably tell i'm a little new to this!

the four speakers were because i have a very long narrow living/dining room, i was gonna have 2 at one end and the other 2 at the other, so music fills the whole room. when i'm in the front room part of the room, where we watch films, all speakers are positioned corecrtly and obviously sounds great, but when we go into dining area , where there's no speakers not as good

would my rear surrounds and centre speaker suffice? which are at one end, and some floor standers at the other, if i choose the 5 channel stereo option on the amp

My existing front speakers and on brackets pointing down at one end of the room, which are the ones i can switch between