old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

[henrysin44]

I have a pioneer Sx-3400 and 2 10" sub's. I put the subwoofer out on my yahmah to right aux on the pioneer and hooked up the 2 sub's to right out on the pioneer. It worked fine for 10 minutes on vol level 8 of 10 then a fuse popped on the pioneer. Can I fix this problem (fixing the amp is not the problem) or do I have to fork over $180 for a subwoofer amp.

[momaka]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

Check impedance of the speakers and also check the amp's manual to see what is the minimum that it will accept.
Some older amps are strictly rated for 6 or 8 Ohms per channel minimum. According to HiFiEngine, this amp is rated for 15W into 8 Ohms. If your 10" subs are rated for 4 Ohms impedance each and you had them hooked in parallel, the total impedance was 2 Ohms. Most older are not rated for an impedance that low. If you had them hooked in series, you might have not had a problem. But who knows. You may have just been pushing the amp too far, as well. Did you hear any clipping from the 10" subs while you were running this setup?

[henrysin44]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

Check impedance of the speakers and also check the amp's manual to see what is the minimum that it will accept.
Some older amps are strictly rated for 6 or 8 Ohms per channel minimum. According to HiFiEngine, this amp is rated for 15W into 8 Ohms. If your 10" subs are rated for 4 Ohms impedance each and you had them hooked in parallel, the total impedance was 2 Ohms. Most older are not rated for an impedance that low. If you had them hooked in series, you might have not had a problem. But who knows. You may have just been pushing the amp too far, as well. Did you hear any clipping from the 10" subs while you were running this setup?

no clipping, ill try 1 speaker per channel. If it doesnt work ill try and find another amp from my local recycle center.

[momaka]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

Again, you have to check the impedance rating of your subwoofers. Otherwise you'll simply keep blowing amplifiers (and possibly your subwoofers too) if they made to drive those subwoofers. Most speakers have a label on them that states their impedance. Gotta make sure the woofer impedance is the same or higher than the minimum supported by the amplifier. If the subwoofers are 4 Ohms each, go with a car amplifier. Even a cheap one will do okay. You don't really have to spend $180 on a subwoofer amp.

[henrysin44]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

8 ohms, should i try putting them in series?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

One per channel will work if they're 8 ohms. But that amp is pretty weak for subwoofers. Putting them in series will definitely work, but they'll be even quieter that way, so it's pretty pointless.

[henrysin44]

Re: old stereo recover as subwoofer amp

One per channel will work if they're 8 ohms. But that amp is pretty weak for subwoofers. Putting them in series will definitely work, but they'll be even quieter that way, so it's pretty pointless.

I can't believe I never thout about one per channel.