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16 ohm speaker operation


92rslt1

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Hello everyone, 

 

a while back I posted some questions about some ceiling speakers I acquired. They are commercial IC-6t model 6 inch 70v or 16 ohm speakers. My problem is that when these speakers were removed from a retail outlet they were very loud and had plenty of bass. However for some reason when connected in bypass mode to a 220w pioneer reciever they sound weak and distort at low volume and have no bass at all. The woofers barely move, I'm starting to think the amp does not like the 16ohm aspect. 

 

I want to get these speakers sounding good, I would have expected that my current amp was ok, since it powered my old  8ohm 12 inch speakers just fine. However I am starting to think I will need to invest in a 70v system, or change out the 16 ohm speakers for a 8 ohm set of speakers. 

 

 

I have them set up so there is 2 speakers per channel. 

 

http://www.klipsch.com/products/ic-6t-in-ceiling-speaker

 

does anyone have any ideas for me to try prior to buying a new amp/reciever? 

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I think that you would need a 70v commercial amp if you are using the step-down transformers on each speaker.

I'm not familiar with 70v speakers, but there is supposed to be a switch on the front of the IC-6t to select 8 ohm operation. 

Even set at 8 ohm your amp wouldn't like the voltage requirements due to the transformers.

Does the switch also allow you to bypass the transformer, or do you just have the choice between 70v and 100v operation?

 

Can you totally bypass the transformers and then hook up the speakers in parallel?

Then your amp should only see an 8 ohm load even if the individual speakers are still 16 ohm.

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Yea, Theres a tap on the face of the speaker for voltage selections, and one of the selections is 16 ohm, which supposedly bypasses the transformer. I'm not able to get inside the enclosure to verify if that's actually the case or not because they are sealed enclosures. 

 

Im almost wondering if the transformer is soaking up some of the power. 

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4 minutes ago, 92rslt1 said:

Yea, Theres a tap on the face of the speaker for voltage selections, and one of the selections is 16 ohm, which supposedly bypasses the transformer. I'm not able to get inside the enclosure to verify if that's actually the case or not because they are sealed enclosures. 

 

Im almost wondering if the transformer is soaking up some of the power. 

If the transformer is still in the circuit, then that is your problem.

I'm assuming you got them for a cheap price as used speakers, so I would risk taking the drivers out from the front to sort out the wiring.

Try to take the transformer out of the circuit and wire them direct.

 

Your other option is to purchase a commercial 70v amp, but that will be more "$pendy".

And then you would still need to sort out the individual settings for each transformer.  The variable transformer settings are there to prevent line loss from long wire runs and the first speaker may need to be set to step up the voltage and subsequent speakers down the line may need to have the voltage stepped down (or visa versa...I'm no electronics expert).

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