CAN YOU TEST THE OHM LEVEL OF SPEAKERS?

[unknownuser]

Can I use one of those multi-meters with an ohm scale to test the ohms of a speaker or an array of speakers?

If I put it on the positive and negative, will it tell me what the resistance is? So I know that I didn't screw it up?

What would happen if I used it on a tweeter.

Elvis


(Originally posted by: ELVIS)

[Pete Schumacher ®]

> Can I use one of those multi-meters with an
> ohm scale to test the ohms of a speaker or
> an array of speakers?

> If I put it on the positive and negative,
> will it tell me what the resistance is? So I
> know that I didn't screw it up?

> What would happen if I used it on a tweeter.

> Elvis

In a multiway speaker, only the woofer will show up with an Ohm-meter reading.

[unknownuser]

> In a multiway speaker, only the woofer will
> show up with an Ohm-meter reading.

What if you used it on the mid range portion of an array of the same speakers where some of them were in series and some in parallel, and where there was no crossover involved?



(Originally posted by: ELVIS)

[Pete Schumacher ®]

> What if you used it on the mid range portion
> of an array of the same speakers where some
> of them were in series and some in parallel,
> and where there was no crossover involved?

If you don't include a crossover, then yes, the multimeter should give you an accurate measure of the total resistance.

[unknownuser]

If one uses it on the tweeter portion of the array, it won't damage the tweeters right? I mean that you can't use a battery to test the polarity of individual tweeters. If I built an array, I would want to have a way to make sure I haven't wired it wrong and actually have it wired as a 1 ohm impedance when I thought it was 6 ohms, and thus blow my amp and the speakers.

Sorry for the dumb question.

Elvis


(Originally posted by: ELVIS)

[damkor]

> to make sure I haven't wired it wrong and
> actually have it wired as a 1 ohm impedance
> when I thought it was 6 ohms, and thus blow
> my amp and the speakers.

Not the answer you're looking for, but why not use at least one quality amp, i.e. one that can be shorted at the outputs without being damaged, like an Adcom, Rotel or just a decent receiver with circuit protection.

///The only amps I still have are the good ones, the ones that can "handle" zero ohm loads.

[unknownuser]

The real concern is when I would solder the connection of the speakers together that I have and it would be wrong.

I mean some people have used 30 tweeters per side. This works out to 5 parallel groups, of 6 tweeters in series. I'm not a regular solderer, and I would want to make sure that what I did was OK before I connect an amp to it.

Its only prudent. I'm really not anal enough for this.

Elvis


(Originally posted by: Elvis)

[jyourison]

> The real concern is when I would solder the
> connection of the speakers together that I
> have and it would be wrong.

> I mean some people have used 30 tweeters per
> side. This works out to 5 parallel groups,
> of 6 tweeters in series. I'm not a regular
> solderer, and I would want to make sure that
> what I did was OK before I connect an amp to
> it.

> Its only prudent. I'm really not anal enough
> for this.

> Elvis

If you left out all of your crossovers, including for the tweeters, then sure, you could get a combined resistance. That might help you avoid a major wiring mistake. With crossovers back in place, you won't be able to measure resistance the same way, especially with caps in the tweeter section, because they will look open to your meter.

And all of this has little to do with impedance, which expresses the final, combined AC "resistance" and varies with frequency along the full spectrum. But getting the basic resistance right is a good move. I'd do both woofers and tweeters in the array, but separately. If they all look good as woofers and tweeters, you should be okay in the final system, IF the overall modeled impedance remains high enough for your amp.

[marlboro]

This makes sense.

I did not do this. I just connected them all and said a little prayer. If Elvis is doing what I did, then he will have a separate line of tweeters and mids with a tweeter connection and a mid/woofer connection at the base the speaker. If he uses a capacitor for protection in the tweeter circuit, he'll need to make the check with the capacitor out of the circuit. I have a cap in mine to protect from low frequency amp start up noises.

For many of us, there is no crossover electronics in the speaker at all. All the crossover stuff is handled way before the power amp(equalizer and electronic crossovers between the preamp and the power amp) makes a connection to the speaker except for a cap to protect the tweeters.

Thus any impedance changes of the music are only those caused by the speakers not any caused by the passive crossover system since there isn't one.

Thanks for clarifying this for Elvis. I wish I'd thought to connect a multi-meter when I did mine; I would have been breathing better.

Marlboro