Can you connect a large speaker to a small radio?

Answer

Hello, I can understand what you mean…

In my opinion there are 3 options:

1) If the impedance of the large loudspeaker is too small (eg: 4 ohms) and if no protection is provided for the amplifier in the radio, this radio amplifier may break. The chance of this happening is small, because most loudspeakers (large or small) have approximately the same impedance and the radio amplifier is designed for this.

2) If the protection of the radio amplifier is good, then everything will run normally and you will hear the power that the amplifier can deliver in the speaker. You have to take into account the efficiency of the loudspeaker (between 80 and 90%) so that you will hear slightly less sound (music) tomorrow. Also keep in mind that there is max. power transfer if the output impedance of the radio amplifier is equal to the impedance of the speaker. This actually applies to all amplifiers and speakers.

3) However, there is a good chance that the setting of the radio amplifier will not be optimal and distortion will therefore occur. Many extra harmonics will be created and there will be a clipping up to the max. output voltage of the radio amplifier. The ‘tweeter’ of the large speaker is not resistant to this and can therefore break. The ‘woofer’ can normally withstand that.

So it sounds strange: a small sound amplifier can therefore make a ‘heavy’ loudspeaker defective, where a large sound amplifier will not make the loudspeaker defective (because there will be no distortion, there is normal operation).

tip: always use a suitable loudspeaker with a certain audio amplifier. (impedance matching and power matching).