Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Question about ohms

Wow! Thanks everyone for the extra education. As I mentioned before, I am only in the introductory phase right now and am only learning about Direct Current theory. Next week we will be delving into Alternating Current.

From my readings, most lower to mid-grade receivers will have a hard time driving M80s. I decided to purchase an Emotiva UPA-5 for the provisions of me getting M80s later in the future. The specs say 185 watts RMS at 4 Ohms. Will this be sufficient to drive these speakers to insane listening levels before shutting off? I do not intend to listen at crazy volume.

A little off topic. I used to be an air traffic controller for the united states air force. I hated the job and am now retraining into aircraft avionics. I get to work on aircraft electronics and instrument controls and such. It sounds like such an awesome job and I get to learn more about the theory of A/V electronics that I love. The classes are fun but it can become information overload after a while since we're learning for about 8 hours a day. I forgot how grueling it was to be in tech school.

I only have 7 more classes in order for me to finish my bachelors in a business degree. I was thinking of continuing school and getting an MBA, but with the supposed dilution of an MBA degree these days, the appeal is not as great.

When we first got our briefing on the new training, I was really excited to know that by the time tech school was done for avionics, I would have roughly enough credits for an associates to apply to an electrical engineering degree. I will be finishing up my business degree and then will be looking into getting an electrical engineering degree. My only concern is that my math skills is not as great as I would like it to be but I do not think I will have any issues if I apply myself.

Is anyone on here an electrical engineer and can tell me what level math is involved? I heard the most difficult it gets up to is calculus 2. Can anyone tell me what the job prospect is for an electrical engineer?

thanks

The UPA-5 will be fine for the volumes you are looking for, as would any of the receivers you see us mentioning on the forum, you can achieve loudness levels that can leave you deaf with as little as 100W. To get really insane levels, say constant a 105db you need much more power than most people are willing to buy, I estimate it to be around tha 700W the M80s are torture tested with, but the power required is all relative to the room and listening distances.

Most of the Electrical Engineers I know have no trouble finding jobs within their feild of choice or even outside of it

Calculus 2 brought down the GPA's of some of the brightest people I knew in University. I only looked at it briefly from their notes and I didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Off Topic, but...

It so happens that I'm an electrical engineer and a pilot Just a Cessna 172, but I get enough time in "the system" to have a ton of respect for the job you had. I totally understand you not wanting to transition to the civilian system though. I know a couple of ATC folks and they really look forward to retiring.

If you are pumped about electronics and figuring out how stuff works (and it sounds like you are), don't sweat the math. You'll get it. It will suck greatly, and you'll have to dig in, but once you're done with it, it's all downhill from there.

A long time ago when I went to school (graduated in '88) we had three Calc classes (1, 2, and 3) and then Differential Equations. The last one was the hardest only because it got more abstract and more difficult to visualize what was going on. I'm not a math whiz by any means so I really had to buckle down on it but did well. I'm passionate about electronics though and that's what got me through

Cary

Cary,

Not off-topic at all! I was looking for some insight like yours.

I do thank you for your kind words about ATC. I am very proud to have been an air traffic controller and I, myself, have a lot of respect for the career field. It just was not what I wanted to do. Some of my colleagues enjoyed the fact that they were able to tell pilots (officers) what to do, which I found was amusing.

I think you may have misunderstood my posting, but I do want to transition back into the civilian world. I still have about three years left in the service. I am glad I got to train into avionics because everyone tells me there are great prospects when I get out. I still want an electrical engineering degree because I just want to learn that much more about electronics and theory and all that good stuff.

Its great to hear that you're an electrical engineer. You're exactly what I want to be at this point in my life. All the math courses sounds rough. That is certainly a lot higher than calc two as someone has mentioned to me. Well, the guy that told me that was supposedly an electrical engineer himself, but he's in the same basic principle class as I am. I am not sure if I believe him just yet.

What are your experiences as an engineer and what were some of your most rewarding jobs in the career field? Do you enjoy being an engineer?

I did a stint of 2 years as an ATC tower operater in S. Korea back in 1974-1976 (and 1 1/2 years working in a flight following station in Ft Hood, TX prior to that.) I wanted to do that when I got out, but fortunately ran into computers instead.

Calc was OK for me (enjoyed it) and Diff EQ depends on the professor. It can be a purely plug-n-chug affair or pure theory. Linear Algebra (not the ones people take in high school!) was really tough for me. After CALC I & II and Diff Eq, Linear Algebra tied it all in - but was very difficult at times.

Seek, the only thing that I'll add is that you've been reading the wrong stuff about receivers supposedly having trouble with the M80s. Again, the question is simply how loud a listening level. There should be no problem at levels not insanely loud which are dangerous to hearing.

Johnk,

Well, I get most of my information about axiom speakers here, but I also hang out on Bluray.com and I read under the axiom speakers there. I previously owned an onkyo 606 and now I own a yamaha 667. The onkyo 606 definitely sounded more powerful and truer to the wattage rating than the 667. I got the 667 because it offered the right features that I needed at just the right price. With that said, when I do get M80s, i would want to pair it up with a VP180 center. I would think that the 667 would have a little trouble driving those speakers. But then again, I haven't owned them and tried it out myself.

Seek, the 667 has preouts for an amp so no matter what you are good to go with M80s and VP180 and the 667. Once you have the speakers and have tried the 667 on it's own, if you find it to be lacking or going into protect mode at the volume levels you listen to, all you have to do is buy that separate amp and use the preouts from the 667 to feed the amp and your power issues will be solved, you can stop worrying about it.

jakewash,

I have already bought an Emotiva UPA-5 about a month back and I am confident it wouldn't have any trouble driving those speakers. I just really wanted to verify some facts that maybe an entry to mid grade receiver like mine would have trouble driving all three ohm speakers louder than normal from time to time.