Output power versus output impedance

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greiswig
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Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:19 pm
Location: Oregon

Output power versus output impedance

Post by greiswig »

So in a PA power amp that has only one output impedance, hooking it up to the lowest impedance speaker makes it output the most power.

In an amp that has multiple taps on the OPT, does the 4 ohm tap into a 4 ohm load have any difference in power over a 16 ohm tap into a 16 ohm load?
Last edited by greiswig on Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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rdjones
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Location: Music City, TN

Re: Yet another silly question

Post by rdjones »

greiswig wrote:So in a PA power amp that has only one output impedance, hooking it up to the lowest impedance speaker makes it output the most power.
Only to a point beyond which there is a plateau and then a falloff.
greiswig wrote:In an amp that has multiple taps on the OPT, does the 4 ohm tap into a 4 ohm load have any difference in power over a 16 ohm tap into a 16 ohm load?
It "shouldn't".
But because there are slight increases in winding losses at lower impedances there may be some small advantage to the higher tap.

rd
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