Older Stereo/Speakers Question: Make Momma Happy

[druryj]

Any Audiophiles out there help a brother out? I have an older Panasonic stereo, the kind with AM/FM, cassette and CD Player all built in. Had it since like 1994. Now, the wife has TWO nice iPod docking stations, a tower and a portable one so she can listen to her tunes wherever, but SHE WANTS TO BE ABLE TO PLAY HER CDs ON THE OLD PANASONIC AND I HAVE NO SPEAKERS for it...(how I lost them , I dunno...probably gave them to one of the kids years ago). Anyway, the thing needs 6 Ohm speakers and all the ones in the stores that I can find are 8 Ohm. The salesman at Best Buy said they, 8 Ohm ones, won't work with the Pansonic system that wants 6 Ohm speakers. Any help or sound advice (Get it? "sound" advice...yuck yuck yuck) from somebody who knows about this kinda stuff on finding a set of bookshelf style speakers that will work on this older Panasonic system so wife will be happy? You know the deal; Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

 

[Shoot Summ]

Any Audiophiles out there help a brother out? I have an older Panasonic stereo, the kind with AM/FM, cassette and CD Player all built in. Had it since like 1994. Now, the wife has TWO nice iPod dicking stations, a tower and a portable one so she can listen to her tunes wherever, but SHE WANTS TO BE ABLE TO PLAY HER CDs ON THE OLD PANASONIC AND I HAVE NO SPEAKERS for it...(how I lost them , I dunno...probably gave them to one of the kids years ago). Anyway, the thing needs 6 Ohm speakers and all the ones in the stores that I can find are 8 Ohm. The salesman at Best Buy said they, 8 Ohm ones, won't work with the Pansonic system that wants 6 Ohm speakers. Any help or sound advice (Get it? "sound" advice...yuck yuck yuck) from somebody who knows about this kinda stuff on finding a set of bookshelf style speakers that will work on this older Panasonic system so wife will be happy? You know the deal; Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

What the heck are those?

I would think 4 or 8 Ohm speakers would work just fine as long as you aren't running it at high volume levels, or just get her a small boom box that will play CD's.

 

[tRidiot]

8 ohm speaker will work just fine on the old system. However, the power output will be somewhat lower than if they were the rated 6 ohm speakers. Odds are, you won't notice much, unless you buy very power-hungry speakers.

4-ohm speakers will likely also work, though the system's internal amplifier will run hotter and may be more prone to frying, or distortion.

Think of the power to your speakers as water in a stream flowing downhill... the lower the impedance of the speakers (ohms), the steeper the hill, the faster the water flows (more power), but also likely more turbulent (distortion). The shallower the slope of the hill, the slower the water flows, but less turbulent.

Hope that helps a bit.

Oh... and whomever told you that the 8-ohm speakers won't work with your system needs one to the hip. They're sorely misinformed.

My advice... check the sensitivity ratings of the various speakers (if possible). Higher sensitivity means less power needed to achieve a given level of output (volume). Short version, if a speaker's sensitivity rating (at a given impedance and frequency, if you want to get overly technical) is 3dB higher than another, it will be audibly twice as loud with the same power. So, say a 6-ohm speaker with an 89dB sensitivity vs. an 8-ohm speaker with 95dB sensitivity (again, at same freq) will take much more power to achieve the same volume level. Theoretically-speaking 4x as much. So, the 6- or 8-ohm difference in impedance isn't usually something that's going to affect you much... amplifier will put out less power at 8 ohms than 6 ohms, but frequently those 8-ohm speakers will have a higher sensitivity rating, thus negating most of the power differences, as long as your amp is rated to run the lower impedance.

Going to a lower impedance (aka 4 ohms) may cause your amp to run hotter and harder, but the amp may have some good build quality and cushion built in and could handle it easily. A little more risky proposition.

8-ohm speakers WILL NOT be any harder on your amp.

 

[druryj]

What the heck are those?

I would think 4 or 8 Ohm speakers would work just fine as long as you aren't running it at high volume levels, or just get her a small boom box that will play CD's.

Uh...sorry; DOCKING STATIONS...Uh...oops.

 

[druryj]

8 ohm speaker will work just fine on the old system. However, the power output will be somewhat lower than if they were the rated 6 ohm speakers. Odds are, you won't notice much, unless you buy very power-hungry speakers.

4-ohm speakers will likely also work, though the system's internal amplifier will run hotter and may be more prone to frying, or distortion.

Think of the power to your speakers as water in a stream flowing downhill... the lower the impedance of the speakers (ohms), the steeper the hill, the faster the water flows (more power), but also likely more turbulent (distortion). The shallower the slope of the hill, the slower the water flows, but less turbulent.

Hope that helps a bit.

Oh... and whomever told you that the 8-ohm speakers won't work with your system needs one to the hip. They're sorely misinformed.

My advice... check the sensitivity ratings of the various speakers (if possible). Higher sensitivity means less power needed to achieve a given level of output (volume). Short version, if a speaker's sensitivity rating (at a given impedance and frequency, if you want to get overly technical) is 3dB higher than another, it will be audibly twice as loud with the same power. So, say a 6-ohm speaker with an 89dB sensitivity vs. an 8-ohm speaker with 95dB sensitivity (again, at same freq) will take much more power to achieve the same volume level. Theoretically-speaking 4x as much. So, the 6- or 8-ohm difference in impedance isn't usually something that's going to affect you much... amplifier will put out less power at 8 ohms than 6 ohms, but frequently those 8-ohm speakers will have a higher sensitivity rating, thus negating most of the power differences, as long as your amp is rated to run the lower impedance.

Going to a lower impedance (aka 4 ohms) may cause your amp to run hotter and harder, but the amp may have some good build quality and cushion built in and could handle it easily. A little more risky proposition.

8-ohm speakers WILL NOT be any harder on your amp.

Thanks! Too detailed for me! I am barely able to program the buttons in my car to even play the radio! In other words, I don't know nuthin' much about music systems...I'll just go buy her a set of bookshelf speakers that say 8 ohms then and if the whole damn thing blows up, it will not be a huge loss.

 

[tRidiot]

At 8 ohms you won't blow it up. May just not be as loud as at 6 ohms, is about the jist of all that.

If you know how much power the stereo puts out, choose some 8-ohm speakers with a slightly lower power rating, odds are, they'll work fine.

 

[tyromeo55]

8 ohm speaker will work just fine on the old system. However, the power output will be somewhat lower than if they were the rated 6 ohm speakers. Odds are, you won't notice much, unless you buy very power-hungry speakers.

4-ohm speakers will likely also work, though the system's internal amplifier will run hotter and may be more prone to frying, or distortion........

this is good advice

 

[1mathom1]

8-ohm will work just fine. tRdoc is correct. Quite likely that Panasonic only used 6-ohm in the first place because they wanted to advertise a few more watts output from the amp. One of the tricks of the industry.

I don't know if your Panasonic unit has the amp rating printed on the back....sometimes they do. If so, buy speakers with a rating slightly over what the amp says and you will be less likely to overspend. Example: if the Panasonic is maybe.....50 watts per channel.....try to find speakers rated at 75 to 150 watts input RMS....which is the average...not PEAK power. Probably in the bookshelf size speaker selection.


If you have the ability to check them when shopping, look for speakers with better sensitivity....usually listed as the decibel output measured at 1 watt with the measurement mic placed 1 meter way. On the specifications it will look like 80dB 1w/1m........or some such. The higher the number the better and the more sensitive speakers are........and the louder they will play at a given volume setting but more importantly, they will give you the sound you want at a lower volume setting and make the amp work less hard. The fancy term is headroom....but you don't really care about that.

 

[Zombie]

if ya ain't run out and bought nothing I was going to say I might have some 6 ohm speakers. I gotta check.

 

[druryj]

if ya ain't run out and bought nothing I was going to say I might have some 6 ohm speakers. I gotta check.

Yes! Please check and let me know? PM me if you find 'em...really wanting small or bookshelf size ones if I can find some. Thanks.