Submitted by anonymous on Fri, 04/08/2005 - 19:29

This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but what are ohms? I don't really know, and whats the difference between 2ohms. 4ohms, and 8 ohms.

Comments

I'm a licensed electrician, and have been doing electrical work for 15 years. Played music for 20.
So I could bore you to death with the "what are Ohm's" deal. :?
But I won't! 8)
To make it real simple to understand,
Ohm's are just a unit of measurement. And what you are measuring is resistance.(remember Ohm's & resistance are the samething) If you put an Ohm meter on your speakers (and read the speakers coil windings) you get a reading in numbers.
That is what we refer to as "Ohm's".
All it does in a musicians standpoint is help us "match up" our power-amp outputs with the inputs to the speakers "coil windings".
That way the entire circuit we are creating has a closer relationship with the resistance in the circuit path (when both the amp and the speaker cabinet are more closely matched)
Because if you didn't.......you would get more heat created, and lose some of your power. (that's what heat is. Wasted energy in an electrical circuit)
Hope this helps! :D
And....DONT WASTE YOUR POWER MAN!!!!!!
You need that for kickin ass! :!:

jbeutt wrote: factor of reactice rather than resistance, right?

Reactance deals with a deeper theory of resistance. You have to first understand Inductive Reactance. And then Reactance makes more sense. Here is how you calculate Inductive Reactance...

XL =2pie or 6.28 x fl

XL=Inductive is (L) and Reactance is (X)
6.28=pie times 2 (pie is 3.14)
f= is the frequency
l= is the length of the signwave

So once again we are talking about measuring a different type of resistance. There are 3 different types of resistance in a curcuit. Inductance, Capacitance, and Reactance. This is what is called an LCR curcuit.
L=Inductance
C=Capacitance
R=Reactance
LCR curcuits are made up of ALL KINDS of variables. And how they effect other curcuits are a direct result of the many variables.
High Voltage or Low Voltage can be one of the main indifferences?
High Voltage is way different than lower voltages. In the way that is induces the magnetic flux lines on to other curcuits, cables, and anything that is conductive. Or even in the way the you might sometimes pick up a radio station or a truck drivers CB radio on your amp.

George Simon Ohm found as a result of experiments on conductors that the relationship of the voltage applied to the current that flowed was linear (in most of the cases). The constant of proportionality was called the resistance:

Voltage divided by Current equals Resistance!

If we want to cover AC and AV with Ohm's law, then additional "resistances" that arise due to the rate of change must be considered because of inductance and capacity.

As an OLD frikkin eeelectrician myself,its good to see folks still remember their theory.In a simplistic view of resistance,think of it as the size in diameter of the hose you're trying to get water to flow through.The diameter is described as Ohms and the water as current.Think on the reactions of more water less hose diameter as opposed to less water more diameter.Which will work better?