Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff

On 23 Apr 2004 18:28:48 GMT, (JeffS87) wrote:

Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

You do not tell us what the speakers are. I suspect that you will be
better off with paralleled speakers on the 4ohm tap.

Kal

You do not tell us what the speakers are.

I have some some bookshelf speakers (Realistic Minimus 7) that have a woofer
and a tweeter. And some JBL LE8T's that are single cone full range speakers.

Does it matter?

Jeff

Hi RATs!

Whichever sounds better

Happy Ears!
Al


Alan J. Marcy
Phoenix, AZ

PWC/mystic/Earhead

JeffS87 wrote:

Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff

Parallel on the 4 ohm tap is preferable but series on the 16 ohm tap would be fine
too if the speakers are identical. How much power does the old Heath have?

TubeGarden wrote:
Hi RATs!

Whichever sounds better

Happy Ears!
Al

As usual, Al nails it. We can argue effective speaker impedances until
the cows come home, and make some educated guesses that perhaps two
8-ohm speakers in parallel will work best on a 4-ohm output tap, but
speakers are one of those things that are so variable that until you try
it, you won't know!

Cheers,
Fred
--
+--------------------------------------------+
| Music: http://www3.telus.net/dogstarmusic/ |
| Projects: http://dogstar.dantimax.dk |
+--------------------------------------------+

"JeffS87" wrote in message
...
You do not tell us what the speakers are.

I have some some bookshelf speakers (Realistic Minimus 7) that have a
woofer
and a tweeter. And some JBL LE8T's that are single cone full range
speakers.

Does it matter?

Jeff

yes-it matters;
use Realistic minis,and send that crapy JBL squakers to me ,for
disposal.........

--
--
--
.................................................. ........................
Choky
Prodanovic Aleksandar
YU

"don't use force, "don't use force,
use a larger hammer" use a larger tube
- Choky and IST"
- ZM
.................................................. ...........................

How much power does the old Heath have?

It has 25 watts.

Jeff

"JeffS87" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up
two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So
can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm
speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff

I suggest putting the two 8 ohm units in parallel on the 4 ohm tap.

Cheers,

Roger

JeffS87 wrote:

Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff


Using the series connection will reduce the effects of speaker wire
resistance. Otherwise
there is no difference (assuming the speakers do in fact present
constant impedance thruout
the audio spectrum, something I know doesn't really happen).

JeffS87 wrote:

Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff

Yes to both, but the imaging will be lousy.

Patrick Turner.

Hi RATs!

Yup, unlike our brothers in the retail fantasy, we are stuck in reality. Here
we hear what we listen to, and either we like it or we don't. But, unlike
fantasy, it may or may not matter to each of us. And, a system may be great for
some recordings and not for others. Each of us would have a different list

And we can, and will, change the lists

Parallel 8 ohms on the 4 ohm taps and series 8 ohms on the 16 ohm taps will
both work. The only thing we care about, as listeners, is which sounds better.
This has nothing to do with Ohm's Great Law 8^0

Neither setup will destroy the amp or the speakers at reasonable levels.

Either setup can destroy itself and/or your ears at head banging levels.

You may find you like single speakers better than series or parallel, or, that
you like the speakers in a magazine better than anything you have ever heard,
Life ain't logical. Which is part of the fun/terror

And, just between us, if you mistakenly hook up series on 4 or 8 ohms and/or
parallel on 8 or 16 ohms, not much is likely to happen at reasonable levels.
But, if you like it, don't tell us, because we would rather you do as we say,
not as we do ...

it is just audio, not religion. Let the good times roll. If you destroy life on
Earth, hey, it was fun while it lasted

Happy Ears!
Al




Alan J. Marcy
Phoenix, AZ

PWC/mystic/Earhead

MaxH wrote:

JeffS87 wrote:

Hi,

I have a Heathkit AA-181 mono integrated amp and I want to hook up two speakers
to it. The back has connections for 16, 8 and 4 ohm speakers. So can I hook
up two 8 ohm speakers in series to the 16 ohm output? Or two 8 ohm speakers in
parallel to the 4 ohm output?

thanks
Jeff

Parallel on the 4 ohm tap is preferable but series on the 16 ohm tap would be fine
too if the speakers are identical. How much power does the old Heath have?

Series on the 16R tap but connect the midpoint of the speakers to the 4R tap.
That will insure that each speaker is driven from a low impedance (high damping
factor)
source. Without the midpoint connexion each speaker see's the other as it's source.
Especially confusing for the speakers at their respective resonance's.

Cheers, John Stewart

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 11:46:18 -0400, John Stewart
wrote:

Series on the 16R tap but connect the midpoint of the speakers to the 4R tap.
That will insure that each speaker is driven from a low impedance (high damping
factor)
source. Without the midpoint connexion each speaker see's the other as it's source.
Especially confusing for the speakers at their respective resonance's.

Neat. It has been so long since I've thought about transformer-output
amps that such an arrangement was not on my radar screen.

Kal