How many actual watts agre getting to each speaker?

Question

I have a Carvin 2000 Watt amp. 1000 Watts Per Channel at 2 Ohms. I connected 4 Cerwin Vega 15" (8 Ohms) in Parallel per channel. Are each cabinet getting 1000w each or 250w each?

Answer 1

Four 8 ohm speakers in parallel at a 1000 watt output would see 250 watts getting to each speaker. However, the same is true of hooking them up in series. In parallel, each speaker sees the same voltage from the amp, but the current to each speaker is only 1/4 of the total. In series, each speaker sees only 1/4 of the voltage, but gets the same current as the others. Also, keep in mind that that's a maximum rating, and that if the speakers are efficient, you only need about 20 watts of power for fairly loud sound. The rest is a "reserve", and avoids distortion at the higher power levels (but still much less than the max).

Answer 2

If you put four 8 ohm speakers in parallel, the amp will see a 2 ohm load. Since the amp is rated at 1000W @ 2 ohms, it will output it's full 1000W into that 2 ohm load. That 1000W will divide equally among the 4 speakers yielding 250 W per each speaker.

Just a side note: (which you did not ask about) If you connected these 8 ohm speakers in series, and connected them to an amp that is set up to produce 1000W into a 2 ohm load, then the amp would see a 32 ohm load. Then the amp will produce only 1/16 of it's output current, which each speaker would receive, but because they are in series, each speaker would get only 1/4 of the voltage, also. Thus, each speaker would produce only 1/64 of the amp's capability, or 15.625W.

Answer 3

TitoBob's "However, the same is true of hooking them up in series. ..... In series, each speaker sees only 1/4 of the voltage, but gets the same current as the others." is confusing.

In parallel each 'speaker receives the total output voltage from the amplifier.

In series each 'speaker sees only one quarter of the total voltage and the current will be one quarter of the value in the parallel case.

So the (total) power developed in the series connected 'speakers will be one quarter the (total) power developed in the parallel connected 'speakers.

Answer 4

Ive never heard of that brand of amp but most of the time the wattage is way overrated so you probably are pushing about 600-750 watts total. GEt an mtx and you get all the watts plus 10% more.

Answer 5

Simple you have four speakers on one 1000w channel. 1000w divided by four speakers will give you 250w per speaker.