[Captain Humble]

A friend just called with what he thinks is a stupid question.
Well I'm stumped

He has a moddest system. Yamaha A/V 6.1 Receiver
Speaker wire very tiny.

He wants to know if he can plug in more than one speaker into the main speaker outs.  In other words have two or three speakers sharing the same speaker out port on the receiver.

What are the ramifications of this if any?

Thanks.
Jeff

[mgalusha]

The short answer is: probably not.

The reason is that when speakers are connected in parallel the impedance drops. IE 2 8R speakers in parallel would present a 4R load. Since many speakers have impedance dips to 3 or 4 ohms the load might be as low as 1.5 - 2 ohms.

Most inexpensive (and some high priced) recievers can't drive a low impedance load very well. If he must connect them to a single pair of outputs he would be better off wiring them in series. Of course this has it's own set of issues but toasting the amp won't be one of them.

HTH - Mike

[Captain Humble]

Thanks for the response mgalusha.
My friend got this link the same day.

I would assume that the same issues apply when using a straight A/B switch.

[R_burke]

Most that I've seen don't allow multiple sets of speakers to be played at the same time, so the answer is no it wouldn't apply to A/B switches.  

If all your friend wants is several sets of speakers to one receiver and to only be able to play one set at a time there are several A/B switch units available.  Several allow up to 4 or more sets of speakers.

[MaxCast]

There are devises that will let you connect more than one pair of speakers and select one, none, or any combo.  They normalize the load too.  I believe Niles is one mfg.  Check crutchfield and radio shack.

[Captain Humble]

Thanks guys.

MaxCast Said:

There are devises that will let you connect more than one pair of speakers and select one, none, or any combo. They normalize the load too. I believe Niles is one mfg. Check crutchfield and radio shack.

I'm sure this is what he needs.