Stereo lighting christmas light bulbs

[Rickedafied]

Is it safe to connect a small strand of Christmas light bulbs to the speaker outputs of the stereo?

 

[Harald Kapp]

It is safe, but what is the use of this? They probably won't light up at all because the voltage at the speaker output of a typical amplifier is too low for the light bulbs to turn on.

If you expect the lights to flicker to the rhythm of the music, build a light organ.

 

[Rickedafied]

Ive seen the lights that flash to the sound of music, but i like how the light bulbs of christmas lights start off dim and get brighter ass you add volume and bass. I tried it years ago on a different stereo using about 4 or 5 bulbs and it worked, i wanted to try it again, but I wanted to make sure im not overheating any components in the stereo that might blow out. I never thought about ohms and resistors back then when i was messing around connecting different ohm speakers and light bulbs. I just wanted to be sure that this time when connecting them, that I'm doing it right.

 

[Harald Kapp]

Check the resistance of your bulbs. It should not be less than the rating of your amp (typ. 4 Ω/speaker). If your light bulbs show less resistance, you risk overloading the amplifier.

 

[Rickedafied]

The stereo powers 8 ohm speakers. So anything higher than 8 ohms is safe right?

 

[Harald Kapp]

Most probably yes.

 

[Rickedafied]

Ok, thanks!