FAQ's
Q. How much wattage can a QED speaker switch handle?
Answer: The switches on most* of the SS boxes are 16A rated, so assuming an 8 ohm load, they can cope with a 2 kW amp flat out with a 1 kHz sine wave. *All except the SS50, because it has transformers in it. For this reason you can only use 60W amps.
SSxx - Q. What's the difference between the two two-way parallel loudspeaker switches?
Answer: The two are identical in terms of what they are doing, switching 2 pairs of loudspeakers in parallel, but the terminations on each are different. The SS20 uses standard screw down terminations, whereas the SS21 offers 4mm binding posts for ...
Switching Units - Q. Can I use the QED WM14 volume control with a loudspeaker switch?
Answer: Yes, the QED WM14 is compatible with switches such as the QED SS50, when used inline with the switched loudspeaker outputs.
Switching Units - Q. What is the technical definition of 'transmatch'?
Answer: For the 5 way speaker switch we don't use parallel or series switching, using use transformer coupling instead. Again you have to use 8 Ω speakers minimum if your amp is a 4 Ω minimum amp. The impedance is then matched by the transformer, so ...
Switching Units - Q. Can I use the switch in reverse e.g. as an amplifier switcher?
Answer: No, because the speaker switches are designed to have two sets (or more) of speakers attached to one amp. If used in reverse, there is always the possibility of connecting two amps at once to one pair of speakers, resulting in damage to one ...
Switching Units - Q. If my amp is rated 6-16 Ω should I really be running a 4 Ω load?
Answer: No, never; you should use 12 Ω minimum speakers if they are to be parallel wired. You can get 16 Ω speakers, but it may just be easier to change the amp.
Switching Units - Q. How do the switches deal with power, e.g. if I have an amplifier with more than 150 watts?
Answer: These accessories use mains switches which are rated at 6A, which means the max power they can handle is 288W given an 8 Ω load.
Switching Units - Q. All QED switches load on 4 Ω using 8 Ω speakers. What happens if my speakers are 6 Ω?
Answer: 1. Check your amp; if it can cope with a 3 Ω load or less (and some can), then your setup will be okay. The rule is, you must always use speakers with double the impedance of the amplifier's minimum. 2. If you only have two pairs of speakers, ...
Switching Units - Q. What are the benefits of series vs parallel wiring?
Answer: The switches which have more than two sets of speakers use a combination of series and parallel switching to achieve the minimum impedance of 4 Ω no matter what combination of speakers are switched on. For the two way switches, there is a ...
Switching Units - Q. What are the differences between the speaker switches in terms of impedance?
Answer: All of our speaker switches are configured so that if you use 8 Ω speakers, the minimum impedance seen by the amplifier will be 4 Ω.