Hi guys. One of the sattelites on my Logitech Z2300 blew.  I really like my woofer and the amp it contains. I've been thinking of buying a set of bookshelf classic 2.0 speakers and use one of them in place of the blown speaker.

Now, i'm trying to wade through all of the implications of impendance though.  The impendance i need per speaker is 8 Ohm.

Unfortunately this issue is complicated by the fact that all the PC speakers (well, decent ones) seem to have their own built-in amplification, and i have no idea how that would impact on their impendance.

Can anyone help me out with this?  I don't want to blow either the amp or the speaker.  It almost seems that blowing the amp might be more of a risk (if too much current is drawn from it by too low an impendance) than blowing the speaker.  Though of course putting too much current thorugh the speaker, might blow the speaker again. I'm afraid i do enjoy turning the volume up; and that might have been how i had managed to blow the one satellite.

I  was wondering if this would be too little impendance for my amp?  http://www.thonet-vander.com/web/thonet_eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84&Itemid=199  ..or will the internal amps in these speakers prevent impendance/current problems?

The basic specs of the speakers must be that each bookshelf can handle at least 40W RMS of power & are rated at 8 ohms.

From what I can make out (with what little I know about watt, amphere, and volt), it sounds like your woofer is at 6 ohms and your tweeter is also 6 ohms. To me it sounds like your resistence is 6 ohms = woofer + 6 ohms = tweeter = 12 ohms total speakers, though I could be wrong. 

Here's an article you might try reading. Scroll down to where it starts talking about impedence, and continue reading downward.

Speaker Basics

Thanks, Alien.  However, i had meant that the impendence of the one satellite that i'm going to add to the system must be 8 ohms.  The impendance of the woofer has already been brought into account.

..or were you talking about the woofer and tweeter of the bookshelf 2.0 speaker that i had linked to? the one that i want to use?  See, it's total impendance must be 8, once the impendances of it's own woofer and tweeter are calculated--but, as i said, it already has it's own built in amp.

It basically comes down to that i will be doing some sort of bi-amplification.

Plus as i had understood it, 6 ohms plus 6 Ohms would equal 3 ohms.  I might have gotten that wrong, but that's the part i'm worried about. If it really is 12 ohms, then i'm fine.  If 3, then it's a problem.

Trav,

I'm terribly impressed.  I still don't really know what electricity is, never mind ohms, watts and volts.  I mean.... is that like fahrenheit and celcius only with electrons? 

Don't answer that.  The bit of my brain that would understand all that was stolen at birth...

Originally Posted By Traveller (22 NOV 2012 11:21pm)

 

..or were you talking about the woofer and tweeter of the bookshelf 2.0 speaker that i had linked to? the one that i want to use?  See, it's total impendance must be 8, once the impendances of it's own woofer and tweeter are calculated--but, as i said, it already has it's own built in amp.

 

Yes, I was talking about the one you linked to.

Originally Posted By Traveller (22 NOV 2012 11:21pm)

 

Plus as i had understood it, 6 ohms plus 6 Ohms would equal 3 ohms.  I might have gotten that wrong, but that's the part i'm worried about. If it really is 12 ohms, then i'm fine.  If 3, then it's a problem.

Trav, it appears I was wrong about saying that 6 ohms plus 6 ohms equal 12 ohms (so sorry!). I've linked you to another article about speakers and impedence. Remind me to take a basic electronics class at school (in addition to computer classes), to get some basic electricity books and work with my electronic lab wiring board so I can learn how electricity works.

Speaker impedence

Electricity:  1.  A discovery to make people see things in a new light.  2.  It's future depends on current matters.  3.  What I didn't have for 9 days after hurricane Sandy hit.

Electrician:  1.  A person who wires for money.  2.  A person who is used to shocking things.

LOL, thanks for all your interesting input, guys.

Guess what.

 All that edification i just gave myself about ohms, currents and amperes, are rather moot. Guess what i can do, but never realized that i can do...-  I have discovered that since i have more than one music jack port thingie on my PC, i can actually plug in two separate sound systems into my PC and play them at the same time!!!! 

Cool, yeah?  I tested it with a very linferior little system, and it seems to work!

So, i saw a 6 speaker (a 5.1 set) surround sound going for a good sale price at a local store yesterday 

If i have 2 systems going at the same time like that, i'll never have to turn the volume up enough to blow either set, so i can't wait to try out the experiment.

Will let you know how it works. 

Since i'd already ordered those two bookshelf speakers that i mentioned in my earlier post, (ok, actually i decided to go with an even better set than those- with a 70-Watt one) i might still use them with my PC's-one jack and two of the 6 speaker's speaker into the older system; and then give the remaning woofer and three satellites either to my kids who have crappy-ish speakers for their PC, or i can use it for the TV which i don't think currently has as much base as the 5.1 surround-sound system should give you.  I'll also see what simultanous kind of surround- setup i can do with that.

The only problem with all of the above, is that things might get a bit mixed up while gaming-- i might for instance hear footsteps coming from the left when they should be coming from the right--but i'm sure a speaker re-arrangement would be a simple cure for such a mix-up.

Originally Posted By Traveller (24 NOV 2012 12:52am)

So, i saw a 6 speaker (a 5.1 set) surround sound going for a good sale price at a local store yesterday 

  because it's an older model -the Logitech X530), which hasn't got a fantastic woofer, and possibly not the best clarity in the world, (not for my purposes of super-crisp high sound for classical music) but for that price-- what the heck, why not--and then i can play it in conjunction with my current woofer, with one or two of that set's sattelites plugged into my current system to make up for the blown speaker.

 

Did you buy them, Trav?

The salesman convinced me that the Logitech Z506 has better clarity of sound.  So i got that one, (a 5.1 set) and now what i've done, is i've set the base at it's highest on my big woofer, and plugged in one of the sats to that, so it now has 2 satellites again, and then i plugged the entire rest of the 5.1 surround sound into the PC's other jack.  It seems to be distributing sound between the two nicely, but only if i set the Z506 on stereo- doesn't work on surround sound setting (like for gaming) - then two speakers just make noise. 

But, set on stereo, i have packed the speakers around me, and listening to Carmina Burana by Orff, i could be sitting in a concert hall- it's beautiful, and i must admit that the clarity of sound is above my expectations.

In fact, i'm sort of having a soundgasm here...     hearing little instrumental bits that i'd never even noticed before..-and the voices!!!!!      I'm actually getting tears in my eyes.  

I was a bit apprehensive initially, since my initial purchase was going to be the Logitech Z623, which is THX certified; but then I would have had another huge woofer, and with only 1 speaker on it to boot. The way i have it now seems to work nicely.

Also, i erm.. *cough* haven't cancelled my order for those bookshelf speakers yet either, so, er *cough* not sure if i should because i feel pretty tempted to still get them as well.

You know, just in case some speaker of some set blows again some time... 

Originally Posted By Traveller (25 NOV 2012 4:22am)

But, set on stereo, i have packed the speakers around me, and listening to Carmina Burana by Orff, i could be sitting in a concert hall- it's beautiful, and i must admit that the clarity of sound is above my expectations.

I love Carmina Burana, Trav.  Twice I've seen the Pennsylvania Ballet Company, based in Philadelphia, perform the whole piece with dance, chorus, soloists and full orchestra, and it was goosebump making.  Orff tortured his singers with those high notes, but it is simply splendid when done well.

It's definitely a goosebump-initiating piece of music, LadyK!  I must admit that i don't think i've ever been to a live performance of it;- i should really make a plan and look out for a performance of it.

As far as sound systems go, it's a good piece of music to use as a benchmarking tool.

I would think it would be a good test.  If O, Fortuna doesn't blow your speakers out, then you're probably safe.

interesting Trav - I just realized I have the X-530 myself, the one you were thinking of getting. It came bundled with a hot new PC I bought in 2005. The little speakers are very nice but I agree the subwoofer is nothing spectacular. But the funny thing I have gone in the opposite direction and cut it down from from a 5.1 to a 2.1 setup, in an effort to simplify the cable nightmare festering under my gaming computing desk... All under control now..

But I usually only listen at low volume so it doesn't tax the system too much or expose the weaknesses of less superior parts. I use the even smaller Logitech LS-2.1 system for my retro rigs.

To complete the circle I just happened to see the Logitech set you did buy at BestBuy today, and they do sound very good. Enjoy your new sounds..

This is how it begins....

You move up to better speakers, hear something you never heard before and have an eargasm. Then you start tinkering with things and before you know it you're checking audiophile forums and making your own home theater setup with an independent receiver and buying each indivudal speaker that sounds best for you until you have your own high end frankstien's monster of a home theater.

Originally Posted By Stiler (1 DEC 2012 7:27pm)

This is how it begins....

You move up to better speakers, hear something you never heard before and have an eargasm. Then you start tinkering with things and before you know it you're checking audiophile forums and making your own home theater setup with an independent receiver and buying each indivudal speaker that sounds best for you until you have your own high end frankstien's monster of a home theater.

 

 

Heh.  I'm picturing something from China Mieville's Perdido Street Station - all the electronic components coming to life in your living room.