How to Convert 8 Ohm Speaker to 16 Ohm- Different Ways

Almost all audiophiles would wish to have an exciting music environment around them. However, any mismatch of the speakers and the amplifier can lead to poor sound quality. But, there is this idea of converting an 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm for convenience.

There is no need to listen to rumors on whether you can and how to convert an 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm. For the love we have for you, everything will be covered in this report. Therefore, by the time you are through reading this article, converting 8 ohm speakers to 16 ohm will be a breeze.

The process doesn’t involve running certain software, but how to play with cables and understand the impedance rating. There are several actions that you can put into practice to comfortably convert an 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm.

When to convert 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohmWhen to convert 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm

A friend told me that he had an Edifier R1280T Standing Speaker, but it accidentally fell down and one of the cone speakers refused to work. Now what she is having is a distorted sound. Now this issue might not affect her alone, but anyone with electronics.

Sometimes you may even order a replacement from the same manufacturer, but the speaker you get has different impedance. Your problematic speaker might be 16 ohm and yet the new one is 8 ohm. One of my buddies has tried and testified the following actions to be effective when converting 8 ohm speakers to 16 ohm. Well, without wasting much time, allow me to  take you through some useful steps or approaches that you can implement to get a 16 ohm speaker from 8 ohm.

Ways to convert 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm

Approach 1: Voice coilhow to convert 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm

Use of voice coil can be one of the best solutions or ways to convert 8 ohm speakers to 16 ohms. Now that you are unable to get a correct replacement, maybe it’s time to take your speaker for reconing. If you can do it yourself, well and good, but if you are unable, leave it to the expert. The most important thing is to equip the speaker with a 16 ohm voice coil.

Alternatively, you can choose to remove the blown speaker completely and restore rich music. Therefore, if you have no other way to go, consider reconing your 8 ohm speaker with a 16-ohm voice coil. It will be amazing.

Approach 2: Change the driverChange the driver

When the current driver isn’t compatible with an 8 ohm speaker, replacing the driver can be the best solution to make it operate at 16 ohms. Generally, the 8-ohm driver plays a vital role in producing louder sound compared to 16-ohm drivers when other things are kept equal. Since there seems to be two similar drivers, it’s likely that the 16-ohm one was selected based on the two 16-ohm drivers’ ideas in parallel. Replacing the driver will therefore make the 8-ohm speaker operate like a 16 ohm speaker.  

Connecting your 8 ohm speakers in series will yield 16 ohms, which will no longer be an 8-ohm speaker. Therefore, your amplifier will be happy and operate excellently. To achieve this, you should detach and get rid of both the bass drivers. Block one of the holes with the board and then insert the 16-ohm driver. Attaching a 16-ohm driver to your 8-ohm is great as it prevents it from completely damaging the system.

Approach 3: Install significant resistor

Install significant resistor
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Using a resistor can be another incredible way to convert your 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm. To achieve this, you are required to build a little box with 2 8-ohm 50 Watts power resistors, which can be the best idea as long as you connect them in series. Inserting the large enough resistors serves the best purpose of protecting your cab from overheating.

They should be then put in parallel format with your 16 ohms cabinet. Such a technique will make your amplifier see the 16-ohm speaker load in parallel with a 16 ohms power resistor for 8 ohms. However, resistors can easily attenuate the output power of your amp halfway.

Approach 4: AccuswitchAccuswitch

You can also do a lot of things once you own an Accuswitch’. You may try to get a small converter box so that you can help you make an 8 ohm speaker to resemble a 16 ohm one to your 20W amplifier. Opting for expensive models like Accuswitch’ can be a bit strenuous to your needs.

Alternatively, you can opt for Z-matcher and still achieve the same results. With the Z-matcher, its transformer is great at converting the load without affecting the signal flow. There will be a significant signal consistency. Therefore, it’s advisable to understand the 16 ohm speaker configurations. With such knowledge, you will be good to go and nothing will hinder you from converting your 8 ohm speaker to 16 ohm.

You might be interested to read our another comprehensive article of: Can I Hook Up 8-Ohm Speakers To A 4-Ohm Amplifier?

How to Change a 16 Ohm Speaker to 8 Ohms- Easy Ways

FAQs:

  • Can I replace an 8-ohm speaker with a 16-ohm speaker?

Replacing an 8-ohm speaker with a 16-ohm speaker is possible. However, it can pose some challenges as the crossover will not work to the fullest. Therefore, damage is likely to occur.

  • Which one is better between 8 ohm and 16 ohms?

You should understand that low impedance speakers tend to support more power. For instance, 16-ohm speakers will attract a significant amount of power from the amp compared to the 8-ohm speaker. The main problem comes in when you fail to correctly combine the speaker safely; that’s when you don’t understand the speaker impedances.

  • Do more ohms imply better sound?

Yes, higher ohms are better since they enhance impressive sound experience. However, this fact is based on if you own an appropriate and reliable amp to supply necessary power.

Final words

Difficulties in converting 8 ohm speakers to 16 ohm should be a thing of the past. Make use of our article and make your amplifier happy again. Remember, you are likely to get poor sound quality with wrong connection or incompatible speaker impedance to the amp.

For more about 8 Ohm and 16 Ohm, You should watch this video below;

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