If you keep the volume down, the current will also be down. Once again it comes down to how loudly you listen. If an amp is rated at 6 ohms or above it really means that it can't handle the current that would result if a 6 ohm or lower impedance load is hooked up. The output impedance of most amps is way below 1 ohm. It does not sound pretty.ītw, the amplifier don't 'put out' a certain impdeance, such as 6 ohms. You'll likely hear this type of distortion in time to turn the amp down to protect the speakers. When an underpowered amplifier is run into clipping, the resulting non musical distortion byproducts can damage tweeters. Yes you can damage speakers by using an underpowered amp, but not because of protection circuitry. All you have to do is turn the amp down a bit and you'll likely be fine. What can shut down is the protection circuitry in modern amps that will be triggered by excessive amounts of current. Very useful!Ĭlick to expand.Most amps will drive the Advents. contains many pictures and descriptions of the Advent speaker series (to see the pics you need to register as a member). So I'll be recapping my Smaller Advents while waiting for the surrounds to dry.įun factoid: the Smaller was designed as an alternative to the Large Advent for people who wanted (basically) the same bass performance as the Large, but in an easier-to-deal-with package. they can go into their protect mode when the volume is turned up past a certain point.īut supposedly the Smaller presents a 'friendly' 4 ohm load to a power amp and so is easier to drive than certain other low-impedance speakers, an example of which would be an electrostatic loudspeaker.īTW since certain types of capacitors in a speaker's crossover can age over time and change chemically, they can reduce or sometimes completely block the power to the tweeter (and midrange if so equipped), causing the speaker as a whole to sound dull & veiled. But other amps, especially the amps in many modern home theater receivers, do not tolerate impedances below 6 ohms very well.or tolerate them at all i.e. Most better-designed amps will increase their power output as a speaker's impedance drops, in this case helping to offset the Smaller's low efficiency. Since the Smaller has such a low efficiency rating - producing those low bass frequencies out of such a relatively small enclosure has its tradeoffs - Henry Kloss designed it with a 4 ohm impedance rating. These Advents use an odd-sized nine inch woofer with the so-called spitwad dust cap, a feature designed to add weight to the cone assembly and in turn lower the cone's resonance point which helps that woofer reach down to frequencies a lighter cone could not. Sounds like you have the Smaller Advents (yep, spelled with a capital 'S') - I also own a pair which needs to be refoamed.

Original large advent speaker impedance