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Question

I have a 4 channel yamaha amp hooked up, and its great. But I just found some more speakers in my basement. I want to hook these up, but all the channels are in use. I could buy a new amp, wire the new speakers to that one, and split the RCA wire from my mp3 into two to go to each amp. Is this the easiest way?

Answer 1

If you know the impedance of the speakers, and also know the capability of the amp with regard to speaker impedances, you can use the additional speakers with the same amp. In order to do this, the following requirements need to be met:

1) The new speakers should be nearly the same impedance as the existing ones (all 8-ohm or all 16-ohm, for example). Small differences are ok (e.g. 6 and 8 ohm can be mixed, but not 4 and 8).

2) Connect the new speakers either in series or parallel with the existing ones; which way depends on the amplifier impedance specification. Connecting the speakers in series adds the impedances: two 8-ohm speakers in series will give an impedance of 16 ohms. In parallel, the combined impedance will be half of each if they are the same, so two 8-ohm speakers in parallel give 4-ohms. Pick a combination that gives an impedance that the amplifier will handle (it will specify a range, like 4 - 16 ohms). A 6 and 8 in series gives 14 ohms, but in parallel gives 2.4 ohms (too low for most amps).

3) When connecting the speakers pay attention to the polarity;

Series connection: Amp + output to speaker 1 + terminal, speaker 1 - terminal to speaker 2 + terminal, speaker 2 - terminal to amp - output.

Parallel connection Connect both speaker's + terminals together to the amp +, and both - terminals to amp -

The output volume may change depending on the connection, but you can easily adjust for that with the volume control.

Of course, if you are willing to add a new amp, that will also work and in addition give you greater power output capability.

Answer 2

you can buy a switch box, the switch box will give you additional channels for you to plug more speakers into. (it connects to where a set of speakers should be). However i don't recommend it as you will have less power for each set of speakers you use. Buy a new amp with more channels.