My girlfriend just bought herself a $3,000 pair of Dogg Digital tower speakers. She has it hooked up to an alright stereo but nothing special. Along with the pair of overpriced speakers, she has two more smaller Sony towers, and four other smaller speakers hooked up to them as well. Is she taking away from the performance/sound quality of the two expensive ones by doing this?
-Going deaf,
Morgan
It really depends on the kind of amplifier she is using, but since you indicate that the quality of the “stereo” is “alright”, I would gather not. Each time you double the number of speakers, you halve the ohms (which I believe is resistance). Using more than two sets of speakers is begging to ruin all the speakers. Since you indicate that she is playing them loudly (“going deaf”) this will happen sooner rather than later. If you mention this to her, you will be blamed for the actual “blowing” of the speakers according to the laws of female logic which makes everything bad the fault of men. Same if you tell her or hint to her in any way “I told you so”. You are in a no win situation buddy.
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- First of all, if the amp/tuner has separate hookups for that many speakers, then fire away, Scotty. I think what Spart was referring to was some people’s charming habits of connecting extra speakers to their stereos in spite of their lack of understanding of fundamental electronics principles.
- Second, what I gather you’re asking is, is the distortion from the lousy speakers affecting the perceived quality from the expensive ones, and yes, it would. It might be tough to hear though. When it comes to cheaper stereo equipment, almost all of the distortion you hear comes from inside the power amp anyway-- cheap speakers on a great amp still sound pretty good, but the best speakers on the lousiest amp will still sound like sheet.
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Dogg Digital? Yeesh. Let me guess - She bought them from the back of a van in parking lot at a supposed considerable discount?
Sorry, but Dogg Digital is one of the “brand names” ( others are Acoustic Response, Acoustic Image, Acoustic Lab Technology, Digital Dogg , Audio Grafdale, Digital Pro Audio, Pro Audio, Dynalab Audiofile, Digital Audio 2000, Denmark ) used in the White Van Scam. If they are what I think they are, they are utter crap that are worth $100 at most. See here:
and here: http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/InPerson/speaker_scams.htm
- Tamerlane
Wait…enter girlfriend stage left. She’s reading over my shoulder…she’s reading…What’s this?.. She rolls her eyes and she begins to unhook the extra speakers! The crowd goes wild!
Sparticus!.. Sparticus!.. Sparticus! Hehehe.
Now I need someone to explain to her that we can leave the clothes dryer on when we leave the apartment without burning the place down.
-Morgan
I think she bought them from some store at the mall…but let’s not tell her about what you said. Deal?
Fair enough ;). They do have a website, so I guess they may well be sold in retail outlets somewhere. But they really aren’t a name synonomous with quality.
But hey, if they sound good to you, in the end that is all that matters :).
- Tamerlane
I went to that link you sent…I bought a pair almost of the same from a white van last year and it happened just like it said in the article! Even the extra $20 for the beer money. It said people pay anwhere from $200-$1000…I was lucky enough to bargain down to $100.
It is true that haphazardly wiring speakers in parallel can damage equipment. But the item at risk is the amplifier, not the speakers.
Personally, if the dryer is well-maintained and the lint trap is clear, I’d feel safe leaving the house with the dryer on.
But (don’t let your girlfriend see this…) the National Institute of Helath and the National Fire Protection Association are on your GF’s side. Sorry.
Actually, both are at risk, but the amp is at highest risk.
- Amplifiers are designed to drive a specific impedence load. Each pair of speakers added in parallel reduce the impedence seen by the amp. As the impedence drops, the current increases. Increased current means more heat in the finals of the amp and in the power supply. A good quality amp will have adequate protection against this type of issue, but most consumer grade amps do not.
- Speakers, specifically the tweeter or high frequency drivers are at risk whenever an amplifier is driven into clipping. Clipping occurs earlier from an amp when the load impedence is very low as the power supply sags from the load. Clipping (squaring off the peaks in the output) is equivilent of putting very high frequency harmonics out to the speakers. This is a great way to smoke a tweeter.
scotth: You’re right – I forgot about the clipping part. This is also the reason why an underpowered amp can often do more damage than an amp with an abundance of overhead/dynamic range, since the former has more of a tendency to clip.