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In Reply to: RE: 4 ohms vs. 8 ohms posted by Presto on March 14, 2012 at 21:59:32
The speakers are PSB Image B6.
The amp is a Yamaha A-S500.
Guess my question is which setting will do the best job of driving the speakers?
Follow Ups:
Looking at the Stereophile review these speakers dip to 4 ohms in a couple of spots despite their 6 ohm rating. This can be expected in some cases with "nominal" loads. Impedance is not a "number" - it's a frequency dependent phenomenon, aka a graph.
Your speakers are 6ohm so according to the manual you can set the switch to the "HIGH" impedance position.
If you get amp overheating or distortion, you should try the "LOW" setting.
This amp is rated down to TWO OHMS which is amazing for an amp in this price range. Due to it being only a 2 channel amp (weighing in at 26 pounds) they had room for wonderfully large heatsinks in there.
Survey Says: Set it to HIGH and give her a go! Risk to the amp is almost non-existant.
Cheers,
Presto
Hmm. I'm doing some searches and it looks like the consensus is to use the 8 ohms setting.
What about for a Harbeth C7 which is at 6 ohm? Which setting is best, 4 or 8?
Any 6 ohm or higher rated speaker, run on the HIGH imedance switch.
Any 4 ohm speaker run on the LOW impedance switch.
If a 6 ohm speaker gives you problems (overheating, etc.) then just switch to the LOW setting.
Your amp will be fine. If you want to experiment, run your 6 ohm speakers on each switch setting and pick the one that sounds the best.
In this case, Elizabeth was right! ;)
Cheers,
Presto
Hey Presto I post on several forums and it is always great to see someone who is willing to go above and beyond to research specs and help people out.
The world of forums needs more guys like you
Bravo!
Hey Prosound!
I notice you jump in a lot with help and advice too. The nice thing about so many people seeing the same question is that we can formulate what amounts to the best "collective response". Plus we all learn in a collective way too... it's a win win. When we're all playing well with others, that is! ;)
Cheers,
Presto
Great - thanks a lot.
Learned some things from all of the responses.
Jeffery
If your amp is a ss one then, as Presto said, in all likelihood the switch merely introduces a current limiter.
As long as you don't push the amp hard it should not make a blind bit of difference and 8ohm will be fine.
If the amp is a tube job impedance settings are important but I could not answer your question as I don't use them.
I have 4-and 8-ohm speakers, run pretty stout 70's receivers and have no problems whatsoever when swapping speakers in and out (just that I never mix pairs, common sense, and never mix impedances on any one amp, again common sense). Just my experience here, YMMV.
Freedom is the right to discipline yourself.
.
If the amp is shutting off because it is overheating...you can't use your ears anymore! ;)
Although this can affect sound, it's really more about the amps ability to handle the heat of the higher current due to the lower impedance.
Edit: Except this time you're correct! ;) He can probably use either setting safely.
Cheers,
Presto
Edits: 03/15/12
Wow this really sounds great....POOF puff of smoke..what the heck just happened?
My ears said it was good!
ROFL
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