High-Low Voltage and Speaker wire
- Thread starter mikeu
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- Massachusetts
Re: High-Low Voltage and Speaker wire
Besides it being a very bad idea as far as sound quality is concerned it is a violation of 725.55
Besides it being a very bad idea as far as sound quality is concerned it is a violation of 725.55
Re: High-Low Voltage and Speaker wire
While I agree that it would be a very bad idea, and would never do it myself...some of the larger power amps used in concert/theater sound deliver enough power that their output is considered class 1. Depending on the load (4 ohms, 8 ohms, or even 2 ohms), the output voltage can get into 200 volts, at up to 9000 watts! This is THE most overlooked aspect of many audio system installaions. Check the back of the amps, it will say "outputs are rated class 1 when using x ohms". In this case, you must use a Ch 3 wiring method (ie thhn and pipe, or MC cable), speaker cable won't cut it!
Went to a trade show where they had one of these large amps. They fed it with a 60Hz sine wave, and had drills, lights and other power tools hooked up to it. You could run a drill all day, and changing the volume acted as a VSD for the drill motor. Made it a very expensive, but precisely sine wave, var speed drive/light dimmer!
While I agree that it would be a very bad idea, and would never do it myself...some of the larger power amps used in concert/theater sound deliver enough power that their output is considered class 1. Depending on the load (4 ohms, 8 ohms, or even 2 ohms), the output voltage can get into 200 volts, at up to 9000 watts! This is THE most overlooked aspect of many audio system installaions. Check the back of the amps, it will say "outputs are rated class 1 when using x ohms". In this case, you must use a Ch 3 wiring method (ie thhn and pipe, or MC cable), speaker cable won't cut it!
Went to a trade show where they had one of these large amps. They fed it with a 60Hz sine wave, and had drills, lights and other power tools hooked up to it. You could run a drill all day, and changing the volume acted as a VSD for the drill motor. Made it a very expensive, but precisely sine wave, var speed drive/light dimmer!
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