I want some knowledge here, about impedance!

[Jens Wulvik]

So I've read a little about impedance, but everywhere I read about it, it's written in a very complicated way.

So...can some clever guy, in a simple way tell me: What does impedance mean for me, as a producer/sound engineer? What is most important for me to know about it?

[Fray]

I'm going to get myself in trouble if I talk about this too much, but -- most gear is designed so that inputs have very high impedance and outputs have very low impedance, which makes matching gear up a lot easier. Because if you have a mismatch the other way (input impedence < output impedence) I think you can end up frying stuff... It has something to do with the direction of power transfer, I think. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will jump in here

[Fray]

Well damn, if no one else is going to help I think this article does a pretty good job of explaining it all:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jan03/articles/impedanceworkshop.asp

So yeah the way most gear is designed now, you don't really have to give impedance any thought. The only time it usually gets mentioned is for headphones.

[Jens Wulvik]

Thanks, I guess that article explains it pretty well, yes. I don't have time to read it all now, but it looks good. Thanks for helping=)