Newbie Discussion - Compression drivers/tweeters

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Compression drivers/tweeters

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Category: General
Forum Name: Newbie Discussion
Forum Description: Newbie Discussion/Questions. Look less stupid here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=107587
Printed Date: 06 June 2023 at 10:00pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Compression drivers/tweeters

Posted By: dj jammin
Subject: Compression drivers/tweeters
Date Posted: 31 December 2022 at 12:27am

Question: is there any reason to favor 16ohm compression drivers over 8ohms? If the comps are active crossed and have their own amp channel the only potential advantage I can see is being able to power more comps per amp channel.. correct me if I'm wrong..

Also, I've always thought it's best with compression drivers/tweets to not run at low impedance/too many drivers on one amp channel, i try to keep to one 8ohm driver per amp channel if poss or 2 8ohm drivers per channel at a push.. my question is: could there be any issue running say 4 16ohm drivers or 2 8ohm drivers from an amp channel for hf? Is there really any advantage running hf amp channels at say 8ohms max?

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Reverence Sound system

Replies:

Posted By: ceharden
Date Posted: 31 December 2022 at 12:47am

If you're just running a single compression driver then there's no big difference between 8R and 16R drivers, except that the higher impedance driver will require a higher Voltage from the amplifier for the same power.

When looking at a system as a whole, there are various reasons why a designer might choose to use 16R drivers. If a cab contains multiple compression drivers (such as a line array) then two drivers can be paralleled but still present an 8R load for a single cabinet.

In the case of a 2 or 3-way cab containing a passive crossover and where the HF needs to be attenuated (as is normally the case), a 16R HF driver may reduce the power needing to be dissipated in an L-Pad for example because the driver will naturally draw less power for the same Voltage input.